Bill Evans Records with Cannonball
Donald Macleod focuses on Bill Evans's performances with Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley.
Bill Evans performs alongside Cannonball Adderley
He was called the Poet of the Piano, and the Chopin of Jazz, this week Donald Macleod delves into the life and music of Bill Evans. Although Evans started off in the world of classical music, it wasn't long before he got the Jazz bug. His classical training wasn't wasted though, for it went on to influence the way he performed for the rest of his life. His touch at the piano became legendary, and his preferred ensemble for performing his own compositions, and those by others, was the Jazz trio combining piano, bass and drums. Evans came to prominence when invited to work alongside Miles Davis and, in time, Evans would go on to perform with the likes of Tony Bennett, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Stan Getz and Monica Zetterlund.
Performing alongside Miles Davis had brought Bill Evans to a much wider audience. Evans soon left the band though, and pursued his own career making a new album called Everybody Digs Bill Evans, which included a new work Peace Piece. Towards the end of the 1950s, things were looking good for Evans, although his addiction to heroin was starting to take its toll. He'd agreed to work with Davis again on the album, Kind of Blue, which included a work by Evans called Blue in Green, although Davis claimed it as his own. By the time Evans was thirty, he was well known, popular, and was soon to form his own historic trio including Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro. They gelled together perfectly, and went into studio to record works such as Autumn Leaves, and Evans's Peri's Scope. This pinnacle of perfection for Evans, though, was short-lived; bassist Scott LaFaro died in a traffic accident shortly afterwards.
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Music Played
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Bill Evans
Epilogue
Performer: Bill Evans
- Riverside.
- OJCCD-068-2.
- CD1 tk10.
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Bill Evans
Peace Piece
Performer: Jean‐Yves Thibaudet.- Decca.
- 4555122.
- CD1 tk10.
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Miles Davis
Blue In Green
Performers: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chamber, Jimmy Cobb
- Columbia.
- CK64935.
- 3.
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Bill Evans
Peri's Scope
Performers:Bill Evans, Scott LeFaro, Paul Motian
- Riverside.
- OJCCD-088-2.
- 6.
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Johnny Mercer
Autumn Leaves
Composer: Joseph Kosmo. Composer: Jacques Prévert.Performers: Bill Evans, Scott LeFaro, Paul Motian
- Riverside.
- OJCCD-088-2.
- 2.
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Bill Evans
Re: Person I Knew
Performers: Bill Evans, Chuck Israels, Paul Motian
- Riverside.
- OJCCD-434-2.
- 1.
Broadcasts
- Tue 12 Nov 2013 12:00BBC Radio 3
- Tue 12 Nov 2013 18:30BBC Radio 3
- Tue 15 Nov 2016 12:00BBC Radio 3
- Tue 15 Nov 2016 18:30BBC Radio 3
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