| Part of Series | Night Lights Classic Jazz |
| Length | 59:00 |
| Licensor | WFIU |
| Producer(s) | WFiU Public Media (David Brent Johnson) |
| Formats | Documentary, Weekly Program |
| Topics | Entertainment, Historical, Music |
| Produced | December, 2007 |
| Added to PRX | December 27, 2007 |
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one-hour program of classic jazz focusing on the recordings of pianist Bill Evans
http://nightlights.blogs.wfiu.org/2007/12/11/after-the-vanguard-the-return-of-bill-evans/
Authoritative, Engaging, Thorough
English
After jazz journalist Gene Lees heard Bill Evans for the first time, he told the pianist that his recordings "sounded like love letters written to the world from some prison of the heart." Lees was just one of many to feel such an emotional connection with Evans' playing, which inspired a cult-like following that continues to this day. The group that he formed in 1959 with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian helped set the template for the modern jazz trio, and the albums they made?particularly the live Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard?have become jazz classics. But this group came to an abrupt end shortly after those albums were recorded, when LaFaro died at the age of 25 in an automobile accident.
LaFaro's passing was personally and professionally devastating for Evans. "After LaFaro's death, Bill was like a man with a lost love, always looking to find its replacement," Gene Lees later wrote. For a few months he stopped playing the piano and withdrew from the jazz scene, also sinking deeper into a drug habit that LaFaro had tried to get him to quit. Orrin Keepnews, who had been producing Evans for the Riverside label, finally managed to coax him back into the studio for an appearance on vocalist Mark Murphy?s album Rah. We'll hear music from that record as well as recordings that Evans made with flutist Herbie Mann, vibraphonist Dave Pike, and composer Tadd Dameron?in addition to a rare live February 1962 broadcast of Evans' new trio ( featuring Motian and bassist Chuck Israels), Evans' spring 1962 collaboration with guitarist Jim Hall, and music from the pianist?s "official" return to the scene, the trio albums Moonbeams and How My Heart Sings.
Night Lights is available as a weekly series, contact cboyce@indiana.edu for subscription and carriage information.
Producer David Brent Johnson also maintains a widely read jazz blog and archived programs can be found at: http://nightlights.blogs.wfiu.org
