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 Gymnopรฉdie. 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 Bรฉla 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.
My Foolish Heart
Bill Evans Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love's knocking at the door
But oh my heart, I'm reluctant to start
For we've been fooled before
The night is like a lovely tune
Beware, my foolish heart
How white the ever constant moon
There's a line between love and fascination
That's hard to see, on an evening such as this
For they both give the very same sensation
When you're lost in the magic of a kiss
Her lips are much too close to mine
Beware, my foolish heart
But should our eager lips combine
Then let the fire start
For this time, it isn't fascination
Or a dream that will fade and fall apart
It's love
This time it's love, my foolish heart
For this time, it isn't fascination
Or a dream that will fade and fall apart
It's love
This time it's love, my foolish heart
The first verse of My Foolish Heart by Bill Evans sets the scene for dreaming and implies that love is here and waiting, but the heart is reluctant to engage fully due to past failures. It's as if the heart knows that love can be a dangerous game, and it's hesitant to open up again. The second verse warns the heart to beware and take care, as the beauty of the night and the moon can be deceiving. It's a reminder that love can look good on the surface, but can be treacherous below.
In the third verse, the lyrics explore the thin line between love and fascination. The magic of a kiss can produce similar sensations between both emotions, and it can be hard to discern which is which. The next two lines suggest the possibility of two lovers coming together but warns the heart of the danger of getting too close, while the final verse insists that this time it is really love, and not just fascination or a dream that will fade and fall apart.
Overall, the lyrics to My Foolish Heart by Bill Evans are a cautionary tale about the hazards of love. The heart has been fooled before and is wary of engaging deeply with another person, but the magic of a kiss can be hard to resist. However, the song ends on a hopeful note, insisting that this time it is really love, and the fire should be allowed to start.
Line by Line Meaning
The scene is set for dreaming
The situation is perfect for dreaming about love.
Love's knocking at the door
Opportunities for love are present and available.
But oh my heart, I'm reluctant to start
Despite the opportunities, the singer is hesitant to pursue love due to past disappointments.
For we've been fooled before
Past experiences of being deceived or misled in relationships influence the artist's current reluctance.
The night is like a lovely tune
The romantic setting enhances the possibility of falling in love.
Beware, my foolish heart
The singer advises caution to avoid heartbreak or disappointment once again.
How white the ever constant moon
The moon signifies the enduring nature of love but also the potential for illusions or misinterpretations.
Take care, my foolish heart
The artist repeats the warning to be cautious and take care of one's heart.
There's a line between love and fascination
It can be difficult to distinguish between true love and a temporary infatuation.
That's hard to see on an evening such as this
Romantic settings can make it even harder to distinguish between love and fascination.
For they both give the very same sensation
Love and fascination can both create strong feelings of attraction and passion.
When you are lost in the magic of a kiss
Physical intimacy can cloud one's judgment and make it hard to differentiate between love and lust.
Her lips are much too close to mine
The proximity of physical intimacy increases the risk of becoming lost in the moment and confused about true feelings.
But should our eager lips combine
If physical intimacy leads to a deeper connection and mutual feelings, the relationship can ignite into passion.
Then let the fire start
The spark of passion and love can ignite and grow into something lasting and real.
For this time, it isn't fascination
The artist is convinced that the feelings are genuine and not temporary.
Or a dream that will fade and fall apart
The artist believes that the love will endure and not simply be a fleeting fantasy.
It's love, this time it's love, my foolish heart
The singer confirms that this time the feelings are true love and not a delusion or mere fascination.
Lyrics ยฉ BMG Rights Management, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Ned Washington, Victor Young
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-br2pg7vg5i
๋ฐ๋ถํ ํ๋ฃจ๊ฐ ๋ ๊ฑฐ ๊ฐ์
์ธ์์ด ๊ฐ์๋ก ์ข์์ง๊ณ ๋ง๋ ์ฌ๋๋ ์์ด์ ธ
๋ง์์ ๋๋ด๋ ์ฌ๋๋ค์ด ์์๋ ๊ฑฐ ๊ฐ์๋ฐ
์ด๋ค ์ด์ ์์ ์ฐ๋ฆฌ๋ค์ ์๋ก๋ฅผ ๋ ๋ฌ๊ณ
๋๋ก๋ ๊ทธ๋ฆฌ์์ผ๋ก ๋ฏธ์ํจ์ผ๋ก ์ ์ํ๊ฒ ํ๋ฌ๊ฐ๋
์ด ์๊ฐ์ ๊ทธ๋ฅ ํ๋ ค๋ณด๋ด๋ฉฐ
์ค๋๋ ์๋ฌด ์ผ์ด ์ผ์ด๋์ง ์๋ ํ๋ฃจ์
๋ง๋ ํ ๋ชธ์ ๋น๋น๋ฉฐ ์ ์ ํ ๋ง์์ ๋ฌ๋ ์ผ ์์ด
๋จ๊ฑฐ์ด ํ๋น์ ๋์ ๋๊ณ ์๊ฐ๋ ์ฌ๋ผ์ง๊ณ
๊ฐ๊ฐ๋ ๋ํด์ง๋ฏ ์ฆ๊ฑฐ์์ด ๋ฌด์์ธ์ง ๋ชจ๋ฅผ
์น์์น์ ๋ง๋ฅธ ์ ๋ง ์ต์ด๊ฐ๋ค.
@ChrisBandyJazz
All he's doing is running up the pentatonic scale while comping on every note.
However, the lengths of the notes alternate between 8th note and quarter note. That's called a 2-against-3 swing (quarter note is equivalent to an on-beat 8th note; the 8th note is equivalent to an off-beat 8th note, which is shorter because of the swing).
However, he starts with an 8th noteโso it's a reverse 2-against-3 swing.
However, the actual 8th notes are still swingingโwhich means while each quarter note stays the same, the lengths of the 8th notes alternate by a factor of 2.
So his final rhythm (in terms of triplet 8 notes) is 2 - 3 - 1 - 3 repeating.
If anyone needs an auditory explanation I can make a quick video about it.
@l.a.covers8400
Be still, oh foolish heart of mine
Look before you leap
You will sow what you reap
If you step out of line
A chance encounter that was all
A happenstance
A dormant romance
A windy day in fall
She smiled, i returned it
Perhaps her smile is what i needed
Perhaps her love, i conceded
Can relieve me of my burdens
My heart, oh so broken
So frail
Like a frigid icy hale
Thrown about with a word unspoken
Perhaps she could break this spell
I hope she does
I hope, because
For long have i been unwell
Yet i stop and start
I stick to my walls
Safe in my halls
That stop my foolish heart
@matthewficco7090
Listening to Bill evans music is like watching the rain. ย Sometimes we feel sad, other times we are calmed by it, but mostly we are entraced in the beauty of it. ย ย
@templarknight206
A beautiful comment...
@jenssenkuek5998
I'm feeling calm right now :)
@whitecrow20XX
Melancholic
@jamesredgrave1331
Wet
@EricR971
that is some poetry right here
@sindrimareydalfridriksson500
My father passed away under tragic circumstances in October 2020. He was a marine biologist, but he loved jazz, progressive rock and many interesting artists from all genres. He was very much into strong individuals with a strong sense of groove and beauty. He himself was a sensitive man full of life and inner conflict. He loved listening to Bill Evans during the last years of his life. I hope he is at peace and I hope he is somewhere out there enjoying this beautiful music. I will join him later in life.
@tomsangster5907
beautiful soul ^
@legendboy3003
Wish you well <3
@atombomb31458
God bless you and your family