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I was browsing the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is not typically known for its articles about piano, so I was surprised to see this one on Bill Evans. There were a couple of amusing anecdotes in it, including a time when Evans arrived late for a concert holding a popsicle and started playing after resting the popsicle on top of the piano, which of course started to melt all over the keyboard.

Article about Bill Evans

Thanks, Monica. A touching article; of course, these stories about the lost geniuses of music always make me grind my teeth--- my dentist has already admonished me. Three appointments with him next week, but of course, Bill Evans is not to blame and might even be a remedy.

All the same, I'm looking forward to the book. Yale University Press has published several especially good ones about contemporary (at least if you're pushing 60, as I am) musicians. Yale, Harvard, Oxford, and Indiana; I feel so educated (and Da Capo if we're going to include Lost Genius itself, Bazzana's appalling, yet wonderful, profile of Nyireghazi.

Put on some Verve and Blue Note re-releases, crack a biography, and immerse myself... thanking my lucky stars I didn't slip down the many slippery slopes, with bear traps at the bottom, which are out there for musicians.



Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings (Yale University Press: 1998), Pettinger, ISBN-13: 9780300097276

There are, probably, in excess of 40 books in print about Bill Evans (the musician, not the author), including bio, transcriptions, history of jazz. I knew he was big in my eyes ever since I used to listen to his recordings on KJAZ, but I had no idea of what an important figure he is.

It seems a lot of people don't understand their importance... or even if they do, it's not enough to save them. I wonder what does, or might.

Very beautifully written, Jeff.

I know I found the quote by one of Evans' friend referring to his death as the "longest suicide in history" to be quite sad.

Thanks for the Bill Evans post! A great pianist and composer. His liner notes from the "Alone" album (yes, I am pushing 60 - and what a great album it is)are very telling about the general public's attitude toward this genre:

"...My solo piano professional experience has been negligible and it is sad that this grand tradition in jazz is in danger of extinction because of the prevalent public attitude relegating a solo pianist to background for conversation or dinner..."

Perhaps this was one of the reasons for the "longest suicide in history".

That's the nerdiest article - and comments [those at the end of the linked article - not the comments of posts here] - I have ever seen. I am struck by the notion in that article that academics can compare their lives and themselves to Bill Evans' life. It's like the author does not know who he is writing about. Bill Evans was a genius who changed jazz forever. Maybe academia is too square to relate. just my two cents

It's something that they even wrote the article; I give the writer credit for that, anyway. It's better than just being flat-out in the dark, and that is most of us.

Maybe if they tried being Bill Evans, they would find out it's not all that easy.

I read a lot of biographies of musicians, and it's astonishing what heavy burdens of trouble, and how little recognition (or pay), most of those whom we now see to be great masters--- and not just musicians, either--- lived out. Sixteen or seventeen out of any twenty fit the profile.

I keep hoping the ending will be happy for a change, or anyway to find out how they kept going. Once they're safely dead, however, they become more respectable. Publishers and critics hold the memory to their bosom. And who knows, maybe the struggle is partly what made them; if they knew, maybe it would have ruined them.

Someone wrote (I'm wracking my brains for the author's name) that one responsibility we have as musicians is to hear the work of others: the lowly and unknown as much as the great and celebrated. Whether it's in a smoky dive with a sticky floor, or an overheated concert hall with an uncomfortable collar and a tie, or keeping a hawk eye for the new releases which are so quick to vanish from the catalog, or rummaging through secondhand stores for books and CDs no longer in release.

A thought. One I should remember more.

LOL. I can't fault your logic. Especially in the humanities, too many professors make the mistake of thinking that their writing ABOUT great artists (authors, poets, musicians, etc.) is as good as the artistic creations themselves, when most of the time it ain't even close.

Monica +1