Miles Davis once described the music of Bill Evans like ‘waterfalls’ of sound. I agree with him and Bill still stirs my own mind when I bring myself to the piano.
Bill is never more present than on on Kind of Blue. A song he co-wrote with Miles Davis on one of my favorite and still a mesmorizing moment of jazz named after the song…and best selling jazz recording of all time….’Kind of Blue.”
This past Saturday, I had to play for a wedding brunch at Ridgefields Country Club early in the morning. So it was a wake and bake jazz morning indeed and the first thing I thought about when I walked into the garden room and saw the old Chickering piano was Bill Evans.
It was a beautiful August morning and the golfers were getting started on their early morning tee times and here I was with Bill Evans on my mind, but it seemed appropriate. The day before we had played in the heat outdoors in Abingdon and this morning was cool. I decided to start off the gig with Peace Piece.
Peace Piece is an elegant composition that features an ostinato. Recorded in 1958, this is one of my favorite songs by Bill Evans and each year that list grows. It was a perfect song to begin the morning performance at 9am and I had my first mimosa (hardly the compliment to Bass Ales at Hardware Company from yesterday).
Not a bad gig. I ran though most of my improvisations and got carried away with a new sense of clave’ that I’m working on with the Rueben Gonzalaz material. I played till about 11am and never knew the name of the bride and groom, but left with a wad of dollars in my pocket and a full day of chores at home, including the new server I’m working on.