Born and raised in New Jersey, Evans was recruited for Southeastern Louisiana University on a flute scholarship, where he received a thorough background in theory, played in the marching band, and also led his football team to a league championship as a quarterback. Graduating as a piano major in 1950, he started to tour with the Herbie Fields band, but the draft soon beckoned, and Evans was placed in the Fifth Army Band near Chicago. After three years in the service, he arrived in New York in 1954, playing in Tony Scott's quartet and undertaking postgraduate studies at Mannes College, where he encountered composer George Russell and his modal jazz theories. By 1956, he had already recorded his first album as a leader for Riverside, New Jazz Conceptions, still enthralled by the bop style of Bud Powell but also unveiling what was to become his best-known composition, "Waltz for Debby," which he wrote while still in the Army.
In spring 1958, Evans began an eight-month gig with the Miles Davis Sextet, where he exerted a powerful influence upon the willful yet ever-searching leader. Though Evans left the band that autumn, exhausted by pressured expectations and anxious to form his own group, he was deeply involved in the planning and execution of Davis' epochal Kind of Blue album in 1959, contributing ideas about mood, structure, and modal improvisation, and collaborating on several of the compositions. Although the original release gave composition credit of "Blue in Green" to Davis, Evans claimed he wrote it entirely, based on two chords suggested by Davis (nowadays, they receive co-credit).
Evans returned to the scene as a leader in December 1958 with the album Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which included the famous "Peace Piece," a haunting vamp for solo piano that sounds like a long-lost Satie Gymnopédie. Evans' first working trio turned out to be his most celebrated, combining forces with the astounding young bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian in three-way telepathic trialogues. With this group, Evans became a star -- and there was even talk about a recording with Davis involving the entire trio. Sadly, only ten days after a landmark live session at the Village Vanguard in June 1961, LaFaro was killed in an auto accident -- and the shattered Evans went into seclusion for almost a year. He re-emerged the following spring with Chuck Israels as his bassist, and he would go on to record duets with guitarist Jim Hall and a swinging quintet session, Interplay, with Hall and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.
Upon signing with Verve in 1962, Evans was encouraged by producer Creed Taylor to continue to record in more varied formats: with Gary McFarland's big band, the full-orchestra arrangements of Claus Ogerman, co-star Stan Getz, and a reunion with Hall. The most remarkable of these experiments was Conversations with Myself, a session where Evans overdubbed second and third piano parts onto the first; this eventually led to two sequels in that fashion.
By 1966, Evans had paired with Puerto Rican bassist Eddie Gomez and formed a trio with drummer Jack DeJohnette. Though short-lived, the group garnered attention, picking up a Grammy Award for the 1968 concert album Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival. That same year, DeJohnette left to be replaced by Marty Morell. This version of Evans' trio continued to work for a decade, releasing albums like 1969's What's New and 1971's Grammy-winning The Bill Evans Album. Evans also picked up a Grammy in 1970 for his solo piano date Alone.
In his only concession to the emerging jazz-rock scene, Evans dabbled with the Rhodes electric piano in the 1970s but eventually tired of it, even though inventor Harold Rhodes had tailored the instrument to Evans' specifications. He recorded further trio sessions with Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund before launching a final trio in the late '70s with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe La Barbera. Often considered one of the pianist's best configurations since the LaFaro-Motian team, their brief time together was documented on 1979's Grammy-winning We Will Meet Again, also featuring trumpeter Tom Harrell and saxophonist Larry Schneider.
By the late '70s, Evans' health was rapidly deteriorating, aggravated by long periods of heroin and cocaine addiction. He died on September 15, 1980, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 51 years old. Along with a 1994 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a flood of unreleased recordings from commercial and private sources helped to further elevate interest in Evans' work. Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings arrived in 1996, followed by 2000's The Last Waltz, recorded at Keystone Korner in 1980. Resonance Records also released three archival albums featuring Evans' late-'60s trio: 2016's Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest, 2018's Another Time: The Hilversum Concert, and 2020's Live at Ronnie Scott's.
Biography by Richard S. Ginell
There are other artists with the same name:
2.) Bill Evans (born 9th February 1958 in Clarendon Hills, Illinois, USA) is an American jazz saxophonist. His father was a classical piano prodigy and until junior high school Evans studied classical clarinet. Early in his studies he was able to hear such artists as Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz live at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. He attended Hinsdale Central High School and studied with jazz tenor saxophonist Vince Micko.
He plays primarily tenor and soprano saxophones. Evans attended North Texas State University and William Paterson University, where he studied with Dave Liebman, who had played with Miles Davis. Moving to New York City in 1979 he spent countless hours in lofts playing jazz standards and perfecting his improvisational style. At the age of twenty-two he joined Miles Davis. In the early to mid-1980s, Evans played with Davis and was instrumental in his musical comeback. Notable albums recorded with Miles include The Man with the Horn, We Want Miles, and Decoy.
In addition to playing with Miles Davis he has played, toured and recorded with artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Mclaughlin (and his Mahavishnu Orchestra), Michael Franks, Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Les McCann, Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb, Ian Anderson, and Randy Brecker, among others. He is featured on the Petite Blonde album with Victor Bailey, Dennis Chambers, Mitch Forman, and Chuck Loeb.
Two of his most recent albums Soul Insider and Soulgrass were nominated for Grammy awards. Soulgrass was a groundbreaking bluegrass-jazz fusion concept involving such musicians as Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, and Vinnie Colaiuta. Although his latest projects are musically eclectic, his stylistic roots remain in the history of jazz saxophone, influenced by such players as Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Stan Getz, and Steve Grossman.
3.) San Francisco Bay Area musician and Virginia native Bill Evans has been involved with bluegrass music and the banjo for over twenty-five years as a player, teacher, writer, and historian. He occupies a unique niche in the banjo world: celebrated worldwide for his traditional and progressive bluegrass banjo styles as well as his innovative original compositions, he also enjoys a reputation as an outstanding instructor as well as being an expert player of nineteenth-century minstrel and classic/parlour banjo styles.
Driftin'
Bill Evans Lyrics
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Like a ship out on the sea.
Well I'm drifting and drifting,
Like a ship out on the sea.
Well I ain't got nobody
In this world to care for me.
If my baby would only take me back again
Well you know I ain't good for nothin' baby
Well I haven't got no friends.
I give you all of my money,
Tell me what more can I do.
I give you all my money,
Tell me what more can I do.
Well you just a good little girl
But you just won't be true.
Bye-bye baby, baby bye-bye bye-bye,
It's gonna be too late baby
I'll be so far away.
The lyrics to "Drifitn'" by Bill Evans & Eddie Gomez speak about a sense of aimlessness and loneliness in life. The song is a blues number that begins with the lyrics "Well I'm drifting and drifting, like a ship out on the sea," which suggests that the singer feels lost and adrift just like a ship without any direction or purpose. The repetition of the phrase throughout the song further emphasizes the feeling of being unanchored and unmoored from anything stable or consistent.
The singer goes on to share his feelings of abandonment and isolation, stating, "Well I ain't got nobody in this world to care for me," which reveals his lack of relationships and a support system. He reflects on his own shortcomings and faults, expressing a desire for his lover to take him back, but also acknowledging that he's not a good person. The lines "Well you know I ain't good for nothin' baby, well I haven't got no friends," show a profound sense of self-awareness and self-deprecation, indicating the singer's state of mind.
Overall, "Driftin'" conveys a sense of hopelessness and despair, despite the singer's desire for companionship and belonging. The song's bluesy rhythm, minor key, and melancholy lyrics all combine to create a powerful emotional experience that resonates with the listener.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I'm drifting and drifting,
I am aimlessly moving forward, like a ship that roams the ocean with no particular destination in mind.
Like a ship out on the sea.
Just like a ship that knows not where to go, I too am lost and uncertain about what the future holds for me.
Well I ain't got nobody
I don't have anyone who cares for me or is by my side in the difficult times that I face.
In this world to care for me.
There is no one in this world who would stand by me, support me or give me strength during tough times.
If my baby would only take me back again
If only my lover would forgive me and accept me back into their life.
If my baby would only take me back again.
Then, maybe I would have someone who cares about me and would be there for me when I need them.
Well you know I ain't good for nothin' baby
I know I am not worthy of your love and support, but I still yearn for it even though it may be unattainable.
Well I haven't got no friends.
I don't have any friends who would stand by me, support me or give me strength during tough times.
I give you all of my money,
I have given you everything I have, including my money and possessions.
Tell me what more can I do.
I am at a loss about what else I could do to gain your love and affection.
Well you just a good little girl
You are a good person who deserves love and respect.
But you just won't be true.
But you are not sincere or trustworthy, and that makes it hard for me to trust you or have a stable relationship with you.
Bye-bye baby, baby bye-bye bye-bye,
Goodbye, baby, farewell, I am leaving now.
It's gonna be too late baby
You will realize my worth only when it's too late and I am already gone.
I'll be so far away.
I will be long gone, far from your reach or influence, and you will have to live with your choices.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BRONISLAW KAPER, KIM GANNON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind