When I wrote about Brad Mehldau’s very fine solo album, “Live in Marciac” I discussed how differently he performs as a soloist versus his usual trio setting. Bill Evans and all the other solo pianists Therefore, what I desired to present in a solo piano recording was especially this unique feeling. Yet, to know one is truly alone with one’s instrument and music has always been an attractive and conducive situation for me to find my best playing level. This has nothing to do with my desire to communicate or not, but rather I think just a problem of personal self-consciousness which had to be conquered through discipline and concentration. Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience. At those times when I have achieved this sense of oneness while playing alone, the many technical or analytic aspects of the music happened of themselves with positive Tightness which always served to remind me that to understand music most profoundly one only has to be listening well. In retrospect, I think that these countless hours of aloneness with music unified the directive energy of my life. Perhaps the hours of greatest pleasure in my life have come about as a result of the capacity of the piano to be in itself a complete expressive musical medium. Evans’ liner notes to his first official solo album, “Alone”, 1968: I have always preferred playing without an audience Without mediation, without technical obstacles. But they are performances in which the man’s soul is speaking directly. The four cuts–the Irish standard ‘ Danny Boy‘ a Dave Brubeck original ‘ In Your Own Sweet Way‘ and two standards, ‘ Easy to Love‘ and ‘ Like Someone in Love‘, have been considered Evans eulogy to Scott LaFaro. The recordings were shelved until they were released in 1981 without fanfare on a posthumous hodgepodge album of outtakes, “Conception” and then later tacked on to a 1963 trio set on the album “Time Remembered”. He recorded four cuts and aborted the session. On April 4, 1962, Evans made his first attempt to record a solo album. Bill’s brother remembers him wandering around NYC wearing some of LaFaro’s clothes. I didn’t even play at home.” His only recording sessions were unenthusiastic efforts, done only to earn a few bucks to support his habit. Evans: “Musically everything seemed to stop. He lost interest in playing for half a year. But LaFaro’s death had a debilitating effect on Evans. LaFaro harped at Evans frequently to give up his voracious heroin habit, to no avail.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |