Enrico Pieranunzi on Bill Evans

“There is a strong classical aspect to Bill’s playing. The first issue is touch. Bill Evans’s is very much the touch of a great European classical pianist. Not just a good classical pianist, but a great one. It’s well-documented that he got his degree in classical piano. In researching my book, I found the program that he performed for his graduation recital. He played quite difficult pieces. His touch was an absolutely great touch. And he knew a lot of theory and harmony. But he also knew a lot in terms of how to treat materials. The way that Bill used to approach creating variations on themes is very closely related to compositional techniques of classical music. For me. Bill Evans is one of the most European of the American pianists. This may explain why also he is so beloved in Europe. First in Scandinavia and then in France, where he also became very popular. There is even an Academy Bill Evans in Paris.

There were many things that made Bill great, but one, for me, made him truly unique: Interpretation. When he would start playing alone and he started to tell a story, there was a huge amount of magic. It’s interpretation. The way you express the notes, the way you place the notes, is more important than the notes themselves. Bill was a great interpreter of music and in particular, his own music. That may have been something he developed through his classical background.

Bill Evans had an orchestral sound. He was a real orchestra. Bill Evans had such a musical mind that when he played, you could hear different sections, different voices. That is really unique. He made the piano sing, he made it have a full sound.

Bill put all of himself into that sound. There’s another word that I always link to Bill Evans’s playing: innocence. Despite all the problems, despite all the private life tragedies, there was always a purity to his playing; a purity like, “Okay, this is music. I’m here. I feel bad. There may be a disaster around me, but now I’m playing and I’ll try to be the best possible.” And he really was the best possible virtually always.”