In September of 1946, on the back of a flute scholarship, Bill got an admission to the Southeastern Louisiana University where he thoroughly studied the interpretations of classical piano with musicians like John Venettozzi and Louis P. It was this musician who exposed Bill to the melodious theory of harmony. Another significant incident that happened with Bill during these times was his meeting with the bassist George Platt. When he was thirteen years old, an opportunity came knocking at his door when Bill had to substitute a sick pianist, where he had to play alongside Harry James who was on the trumpet. Although these instruments lost Bill’s interest, their impact can easily be found in the composer’s keyboard style.īill got a flavor of the 20th-century music when he listened to Petrushka by Stravinsky, which he later recalled as a “tremendous experience” along with Milhaud’s Suite “provencale,” which in his own words “opened him to new things.”Īt the age of twelve, came his first exposure to jazz as he heard the band of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey on the radio. When he was seven years old, Bill started taking violin lessons and soon became inclined towards learning piccolo and flute. Here, between the age of five and seven, a local piano teacher, Helen Leland, introduced Bill to the music of a piano even though he was considered too young to be taking music lessons. Bill’s early piano lessons were in Somerville where his mother stayed with her sister due to the destructive character of Bill’s father. His mother Mary Evans came from a family of coal miners. Bill’s interpretation of traditional jazz, use of block chords, rhythmically independent melodic lines, and style of impressionist harmony continue to influence the world of jazz today.īill Evans was born in New Jersey’s North Plainfield and his father Harry Evans was a Welshman who ran a golf course. William John Evans (usually called Bill Evans) was an American composer and jazz pianist whose musical brilliance shone as a leader of a trio.
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