The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 7, 1974 Page: 10 of 16
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Jazz pianist Bill Evans: "I started playing when I was 6"
by VAUGHAN JOHNSON
Jazz pianist Bill Evans and his
Trio appeared at La Bastille last
Thursday through Tuesday. The
five-time Grammy winner was a
member of the renowned 1958
Miles Davis Sextet, which also
boasted such seminal jazz figures
as John Coltrane, Paul Cham-
bers, Philly Joe Jones, and Julian
"Cannonball" Adderly.
This interview, backstage last
Friday night, began with a
thumbnail autobiographic
sketch:
Evans: I started playing
when I was six. That was classi-
cal music. I started playing jobs
when I was about 13, and began
to get interested in jazz. I did
that all through college, and got
a degree in music from South-
eastern Louisiana College. After
college, I went on the road with
Herbie Field's band, when I was
20. After about 10 months, on
the road, I was drafted into the
Army, so I enlisted to get into a
particular band and spent three
years in the Army around Chi-
cago. Then, when I got out of
the Army, I went back home to
New Jersey for about a year, got
myself together, and then moved
to New York in 1955. In a few
months, T had a recording con-
tract with Riverside Records, and
made my first Trio album. I
started to record and play gigs
around New York. During that
time, I also did a little post-
graduate work at Maness College
of Music.
After about 3 years, Miles
called me up and asked me to go
with the band. I was with Miles
for most of 1958 and recorded
two albums with him. I then felt
that I might be able to get a trio
off the ground, so I left Miles to
form my own trio, which origin-
ally consisted of Scott Lafaro on
bass and Paul Motian on drums.
By the time the Trio was just
getting off the ground, Scott was
killed. From then on, though,
it's just been the Trio, and we've
made about 40 records.
Thresher: Do you feel that
the recent Columbia release of
the Miles Davis Sextet, Jazz at
the Plaza, from 1958, was very
representative?
Evans: No, I don't. I was
really very unhappy about them
releasing that, because, for one
things, we didn't even know we
were being recorded. It was just
an afternoon party gig. Also, the
■quality of the recording is bad.
However, I suppose that, histori-
cally, anything that band did
was important, considering the
personnel. You really can't fight
a large corporation like that,
though, anyway.
T: Some of Keith Jarrett's
style reminds one of some of the
work you were doing in 1958.
E: It's possible. I think
Keith, having come up 5 or 10
years later than I did, had to,
in some ways, be influenced by
what I did.
T: Who do you listen to?
E: Well, Keith Jarrett is my
idea of what a musician should
be. I feel the same way about
Chick Corea and Herbie Han-
cq$Jt, as far as pianists go. They
f^Nartnly have it all covered, and
are doing just great work. I listen
to them. 1 don't listen nearly as
much as I used to. I really feel
that I have consolidated a lot of
my own thoughts and I just
work with those concepts pretty
much. I want to do more writing
and continue along my own
lines.
T: How do you feel about
the use of the electronic instru-
ments in jazz? Could you see
yourself getting into them?
E: It's possible. I hear things
here and there that I like. A lot
of it, I feel, is overblown, but it
all depends on who's handling it.
If a person of great taste and tal-
ent is handling it, he's going to
get great music out of it. How-
ever, I feel that mostly, the elec-
tronic instruments still leave
something to be desired. But
there are things that can be done
with electronic instruments that
would be impossible to do on
other instruments.
I really don't have them at
my reach, though, so I don't
fool around with them too
much. Maybe if I had a synthe-
sizer at home, I might get into it
more, but I really don't feel a
strong desire to, so far.
T: Do you take a very spiri-
tual attitude toward your music?
E: Yeah, I think that for any
really good artist, his art is his
religion, or is very closely allied
to his entire spiritual life. I
definitely try to reflect my deep-
est spiritual feelings in my mu-
sic.
T: Tell me something about
your most recent release on Fan-
tasy The Tokyo Concert.
E: Well, it was the final con-
cert of our first Japanese tour,
which happened a couple of
years ago. They did a very fine
job recording it. I feel it was
very successful and I'm very glad
about it.
T: How did the Japanese
audiences compare with the U.S.
Audiences?
E: They turned out in great
numbers and were very informed
and enthusiastic, although not
quite as demonstrative as U.S.
audiences. It was one of the best
tours I've ever had, though, bar
none.
T: What are your future
plans?
E: Eddie Gomez (Ed: Evans'
present bassist and I are
going to do a duo album in
about a week, when we get to
San Francisco. There's an album
in the can that we did live at the
Village Vanguard a few months
ago. And there's another album
on M.P.S., an original orchestral
piece for a symphony orchestra
and various auxiliary jazz instru-
ments, with the Trio. It's a gor-
geous, very serious piece by
Klaus Overmann. That should be
out any time now.
I'm supposed to do an album
with Tony Bennett, just piano
and Tony, which 111 really en-
joy. They'll be good songs and
we'll try to get a good intimate
feeling.
I'd like very much to do more
writing, just trying to reach for
some really good music that
moves me and consequently, I
feel, will move somebody else.
★ ★ ★ MOVIES ★ ★ ★
The Longest Yard
starring Burt Reynolds.
Playing at area theaters.
I had never before seen a
movie where the audience
cheers, stomps their feet, and
generally yells over the sound-
track. What type of action could
inspire such audience participa-
tion? Football, of course. Noth-
ing else but football.
And that's how this film
should be viewed: as one big
football game, where the Mean
Machine is the home team.
Granted: 1) very few football
superstars take the cops on a
chase, finally dropping the hot
PIZZA HUT No. 10
presents
The PASTA DAY SPECIAL !
Cavatini & Spaghetti For Only $1.09
(reg. 179 & 1.59)
All Day Every Tuesday; Eat-In Only!
*Plus*
Here's $1.00 To Leave Campus
And Come To The Pizza Hut!
PIZZA HUT OF HOUSTON
I Hr. PIZZA HUTS
HOUSTON
ONE PIZZA HUT BUCK
2400 Holcombe
Open Daily*
i 11 am -12pm Sun.-ThuiT
i
| 11 am-lam Fr~i.&&Sat.
J Good on Giant/Large
664 -1391
car in a bay 2) few prisons con-
tain the luxuries of this one, out-
side of perhaps Allenwood pen-
itentiary 3) the prison officials in
a normal prison would never
leave their gates open, for any
reason
Forget those minor discrepan-
cies. This is not the real world.
Where but in the movies would
you find such lovable murderers
or such idiotic officials? No, the
point of the movie is setting up a
football game, giving the aud-
ience a chance to roar out their
approval of violence in the most
socially sanctioned way.
The game is violent — and dir-
ty. Set up originally to train the
official's team to crack some
bones in a pre-season try out,
the warden (ably enacted by
Eddie Albert) forces the super-
star to form a prisoner's team,
under threat of prison labor. The
swell-headed snot, who has no
respect for the lower-classes at
the outset of the film, displays
enormous skill at winning the
hearts and bodies of the most
muscular monsters. While having
a few drinks in a cozy little cell,
the friends of the quarterback
star (Reynolds, of course) plot
to break the officials by stealing
their plans, films, and even uni-
forms. It is truly hard to believe
some of the enterprising inmates
hadn't broken out already, given
their tremendous skill at subter-
fuge.
At last, the game begins. Both
teams play dirty, more interested
in maiming the opponents than
playing ball. Audience sympathy
lies with the poor, misaligned
murderers, whose self-respect is
tested in this game of brawn.
Reynolds, an old-time point
shaver, is asked to perform the
tiny trick again, under the war-
den's friendly threat of a longer
sentence. But. . .it is the prison-
ers day. The sidelines boo as the
Mean Machine (all humongous in
size) complete dirty play after
play. Watch for play no. 61 in
particular. It's an audience favor-
ite.
After the game, it seems that
Reynolds will make his break
with the departing law-and-or-
der fans. The guard sights down
his gun to get him but.. .
Of course this won't happen
in real life. It can't. Yet, what
better way is there to demon-
strate the prison battlefield but
on the socially sanctioned play-
ing field?
Action is played for laugh or
thrills, and the actors perfor-
mances don't surpass the script.
Neither does the directing.
The Longest Yard appeals to
our savage sense of humor as un-
subtlely as any recent movie. It's
not ah accurate portrayal of pen-
itentiaries, and it's not a real
football game. But, because of
the tenseness of the action and
gleeful bone-crunching, just try
to convince the average audience
that it's not a good film. You
can't.
— Nancy Taubenslag
THE WONDER
WHERE
IT'S
AT
3207 MONTROSE
%
NOON 'TILL 2am NITELY
the rice thresher, november 7, 1974—page 10
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Brewton, Gary. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 13, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 7, 1974, newspaper, November 7, 1974; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245208/m1/10/?rotate=180: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.