just started listening to him. I am addicted to his style and playing. I have gotten my hands on some of my favorite piano transcriptions and play them daily. Crazy about Bill Evans. How amazing that his music/playing has this effect still. it says it all. God bless him.
Beautiful. There is something about his tone, like you can feel the wood of his bass creaking and resonating with some notes where with most bass players it's all strings.
Drug addiction is an attributable influence on a person's music to the same extent that any personal tragedy is an influence -- they always are. But that is all drug addiction is, really. It is tragic and painful. When people dealing with that manage to express themselves so brilliantly as Bill Evans, it is more reasonable to presume that it was despite their addiction, not because of it.
I disagree.
Being emotional as it is, Evan's music is clearly effected by everything that he's through, weather it's drugs, emotional crisis, or anything else.
That's what makes his biography so interesting.
Don't you think?
Bill was, and still is, my favorite musician. Occasionally I would catch him alone at the Village Vanguard and we'd chat for a few minutes. He was very shy, very introverted. He had very little confidence and was not aware just how extraordinary he really was. He'd always play my favorite piece "All the Things You Are." He was an amazing talent, a true artist, gifted beyond measure.