Very Early

Bill Evans's music is widely appreciated for its nuance and beauty, for its sophisticated harmonic language, and for the extraordinary gradations of touch in his piano playing. All of these are highly developed in his music, but each of them can be heard to some degree in music that precedes Bill's. There are superb classical pianists whose touch rivals his, a rich history of piano music that includes other characteristics of his music, and wonderful examples of creative and expressive jazz piano playing. But there is one feature of Bill Evans's music that is nearly unique and usually overlooked; its unparalleled rhythmic variety and invention. Immersion in this music was the richest experience of my bass playing life. As a composer/arranger, I have taken what I understand from Bill's aesthetic system, the balanced qualities that made it so rewarding to hear and to play, and included those elements in my writing in every way I could. Playing an accompanying role while Bill played those extraordinary rhythms was relatively easy, since his execution was rock solid and independent of his surroundings. His consistently reliable control of those complex cross rhythms against a deeply felt pulse made it possible to participate in the music with an intuitive understanding of how they related to the more usual rhythms I could create without fully understanding how complex and sophisticated they were. Notating them so that others can experience how it feels to perform them has been at the same time a more daunting and an illuminating process. These rhythms have informed all of my music, but they are especially prominent in these interpretations of pieces on which Bill has left his indelible stamp. They are difficult to read, but not impossible to play, and they are an unending source of inspiration and out and out fun. The waltz melody is introduced by the baritone against running eighth note figures in flute and clarinet. A piano break sets up a brisk 4/4 solo and ensemble section for piano and flugelhorn followed by a swinging out chorus in a broader 3/4 tempo. The tempo and time signature changes add interest to what is already an attractive piece. This is a fine example of controlled pacing and tempo changes within a jazz context. -Chuck Israels