They were creative, too, but Jack seems to find his own things to put in the same places. Jack has brought something to the group that we’ve never had: a sort of creativity on the drums that is different from any of the other drummers. And by the end of the job I felt completely confident about the group and our appearances here in Europe. It took about a week–and–ahalf or so before we started to feel that things were going to really get together in a brand new way.

Plus we were also fortunate to have that three weeks in New York, in a rather relaxed club atmosphere to break in the new group before we had to record. I think we were very fortunate to get Jack. we went to the Montreux Jazz Festival, where we recorded live our appearance there. Jack did three TV spots in New York with us, then three weeks at the Top Of The Gate. In Les Tomkins’ third interview with the Bill Evans Trio in 1968, Evans, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Eddie Gomez talk about their individual experiences working with the trio and what they bring to it. After leaving Davis, he led his own trios, using a succession of top bassists (including Scott LaFaro, Chuck Israels and Eddie Gomez) and toured widely in the US, Europe and beyond.Įvans wrote memorable compositions, such as ‘Waltz for Debby’ and ‘Very Early’, but was perhaps at his best in his lustrous re-interpretations of standard tunes which he could lift to new levels of subtlety and lyricism. The pressure of working in Davis’ sextet, perhaps the leading jazz unit of its time, aggravated Evans’ narcotic habit which very seriously affected his later career. Evans’ contribution was crucial, helping to define the album’s unique mood. He influenced Davis’ interest in modal jazz and returned to play on the trumpeter’s 1959 Kind of Blue album, one of the most important recordings in jazz history. His breakthrough to real prominence came as a member of Miles Davis’ sextet from April to November 1958. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey as William John Evans, he introduced an original, attractive style of piano playing to jazz, with distinctive harmonies, great sophistication in chord voicings, and a new conception of the piano trio in which bass and drums assumed almost equal responsibility with the pianist for developing a performance.Įvans, classically trained from the age of six, worked with various jazz groups before attracting notice on recordings by Charles Mingus and George Russell.

It is hard to over-estimate Bill Evans’ influence on subsequent jazz pianists.

Bill evans so what transcription