Results for "Bill Evans"

Bill Evans

Who Was Bill Evans?

Bill Evans, one of the most influential and tragic figures of the post-bop jazz piano, was known for his highly nuanced touch, the clarity of the feeling content of his music and his reform of the chord voicing system pianists used. He recorded over fifty albums as leader and received five Grammy awards. He spawned a school of "Bill Evans style" or "Evans inspired" pianists, who include some of the best known artists of our day, including Michel Petrucciani, Andy Laverne, Richard Beirach, Enrico Pieranunzi and Warren Bernhardt. His inescapable influence on the very sound of jazz piano has touched virtually everybody of prominence in the field after him (as well as most of his contemporaries), and he remains a monumental model for jazz piano students everywhere, even inspiring a newsletter devoted solely to his music and influence.

In memoriam: Alessandro Giachero

By FRANCESCO MARTINELLI

Only with a very heavy heart one can write an obituary for a young friend and great musician who left this world suddenly, prematurely and unjustly, leaving his colleagues and pupils, but above all his family, in mourning. It will hopefully be useful to leave a trace of his musical contributions and a lead for future ...

Brian Andres: Mayan Suite

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Drummer and percussionist Brian Andres may have been born in Cincinnati but his musical homeland is Latin America. A drummer by age ten, Anders studied at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and eventually followed his Latin musical muse from local gigs with Cincinnati Slim & The Headhunters to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he ...

The Michael O'Neill Quartet: And Then It Rained

By DAN MCCLENAGHAN

San Francisco area-based reedman Michael O'Neill, noted most prominently for his work with vocalist Kenny Washington, takes his artistry on a new tangent with And Then It Rained. The set features a top-tier Bay Area quartet which digs deep into a set of O'Neill originals. Recording-wise, this is new territory for O'Neill, who, in addition to ...

Josh Nelson: D+N+A: David/Nelson/Agreement

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY

Vocalist Mon David and pianist Josh Nelson's D+N+A: David/Nelson/Agreement has two recorded antecedents in John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Impulse!, 1963) and Emilia Vancini's And If You Fall, You Fall (Espira, 2020). This new release favors the former in that David is a baritone voice as was Hartman and his repertoire on D+N+A is one of ...

Hal Galper: Adventures In The Zone

By PAUL RAUCH

The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more recognition, Galper sought out a career path where acclaim would be genuine among his peers ...

Love Letters & Postcards from the Jazz Heart

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Brian Andres Trio Latino Mayan Suite Bacalao Records 2020 Drummer and percussionist Brian Andres may have been born in Cincinnati but his musical homeland is Latin America. A drummer by age ten, Anders studied at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and eventually followed his Latin ...

David Sills Double Guitar Quintet: Natural Lines

By MARK SULLIVAN

Los Angeles-based reed player David Sills has usually led a quintet with guitar, piano, bass and drums. Most of his recent performances have taken place in venues lacking a piano, so he began adding a second guitar. The change in instrumentation had a side benefit, opening up new musical possibilities and colors. Having two guitars in ...

Chet Baker: An Alternative Top Ten Albums To Get Lost In

By CHRIS MAY

Chet Baker was born to a farmer's daughter and a hard-drinking, weed-smoking singer and guitarist in a Western Swing band in Yale, Oklahoma in 1929. Like many Okies, the family fared badly during the Great Depression but did a little better after moving to Glendale, California in 1939. Largely self-taught as a trumpeter, Baker honed his ...