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Jazz Articles about Bill Evans
Verve's Bossa Nova U.S.A.
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Paul Desmond: Samba with Some Barbecue Originally titled “Struttin' with Some Barbecue" in 1941, this Satchmo tune lost its Dixie beat and got a bossa groove in the hands of the infallible Don Sebesky. Brazilian drummer Airto Moreira, then a newcomer in the New York jazz scene, provides a fiery propulsion to Paul Desmond's lyrical approach and “dry martini" alto sound. Different from the sad results of pseudo-bossa albums by Gene Ammons, Sonny Rollins, and so many others, this is ...
Continue ReadingTadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Maurizio Zerbo
Le linee guida di Fontainebleau e Magic Touch, i due capolavori di Tadd Dameron qui riuniti in un solo CD, furono teorizzate dal pianista di Cleveland sulle pagine della rivista Record Changer, in cui descrisse come la sua adesione all'estetica del bebop fosse mediata dalla classica scrittura swing. Le forme multitematiche ABA e i trasporti di chorus di “The Scene Is Clean," nonché i quattro movimenti di “Fontainebleau" che non contengono una sola nota improvvisata, forniscono prove tangibili ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: Explorations
by Richard J Salvucci
It is not easy to review a masterpiece. The celebrated American intellectual historian Perry Miller was once reduced to muttering something like “What am I supposed to say about the damn thing?" The damn thing in question being Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Professor Miller, meet pianist Bill Evans. Trying to say something intelligent about Bill Evans after so much has been written and said in the now nearly fifty years after his death defines a Fool's Errand. So why ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
by Ian Patterson
The release of In Norway: The Konsberg Concert coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the Konsberg Jazz Festival. Double cause for celebration. The steady flow of archival Evans recordings shows no signs of abating, with In Norway: The Konsberg Concert, recorded in 1970, coming hot on the heels of the previously unreleased Bill Evans: Behind The Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings (2021), Bill Evans: Treasures: Solo, Trio and Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969) (2023) and Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans: In Norway
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Bill Evans' career lasted from the late 1950s until his passing in 1980, but beginning around about 20 years into the 21st century CD releases under Evan's name have been rolling along at a brisk clip, thanks to the Resonance, Elemental and Ess- thetics Record labels. Zev Feldman, often called “The Jazz Detective," has played a big part in this steady release of mostly laudable recordings, uncovering lost or shelved tapes of Evan's concerts, resulting in albums like Bill ...
Continue ReadingTadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Chris May
There is much that is tragic about Tadd Dameron's story. The composer, arranger and pianist fell prey to the heroin epidemic that gripped New York's jazz world in the 1940s and 1950s. He did jail time for his addiction in 1959-60. He died at the woefully young age of 48 years in 1965. But there is nothing tragic about Dameron's legacy as a composer-arranger, the field in which he made his most important contribution to jazz. His work was unfailingly ...
Continue ReadingYour Favorite Legacy Jazz Pianists
by Michael Ricci
Member votes were tabulated and this list represents our favorite legacy jazz pianists. Fully transparent and easily verifiable, All About Jazz's favorite legacy pianists poll was conducted during the 2023-2024 calendar year and ran up through June 28, 2024. We want to thank every member who participated in creating this impressive list for the next generation of jazz enthusiasts to discover. 1Bill Evans2Thelonious Monk3Oscar Peterson4McCoy Tyner5Bud Powell6Duke Ellington7Chick Corea8Art Tatum9Ahmad Jamal10Horace Silver11Dave Brubeck12Jelly Roll Morton13Count Basie14Red Garland15Erroll Garner16Wynton ...
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