Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano [Paperback]

Bill Evans (Author), Andy LaVerne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

This exceptional songbook presents Bill Evans' most beloved melodies and songs arranged by noted jazz pianist/educator Andy LaVerne, himself a student of Evans. Titles include: Bill's Hit Tune * Children's Play Song * For Nenette (in both C and Db) * Laurie * Letter to Evan * One for Helen * Only Child * Orbit * Peace Piece * Show-Type Tune * Time Remembered * Turn Out the Stars * Very Early * Walkin' Up * Waltz for Debby * Your Story * and more. Features a reminiscence by LaVerne, with performance notes on his adaptations.

Product Details

Sample Music Notation [20kb PDF]

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: TRO - The Richmond Organization (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634018728
• ISBN-13: 978-0634018725
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect book, for the intended audience....., May 4, 2007

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano (Paperback)

I am a piano player and serious student of jazz. I played professionally for 11 years on a variety of instruments and I probably own every CD that Bill Evans ever made and many other pianists as well. In addition, I have studied both classic and jazz piano, so I have some real credibility in this space.

I have seen mixed reactions to this book and I believe the critical reviews are because very good pianists want the Evans transcriptions, not Bill Evans as interpreted by someone else. However, I don't believe it was the author's purpose to provide transcriptions, but rather to make the music of Bill Evans accessible to beginning-intermediate pianists.

With respect to the goal above, I think the arranger achieved his goal quite admirably. What this book contains is simplified Bill Evans compositions, but the genius here is that the "essence" of Bill's sound and spirit is still present. In my opinion, this is quite a feat particularly when limited to simple arrangements.

The musical score is easy to read, but there are no fingerings provided. This is not a big deal to me, but it might be someone else. For a better pianist, these are excellent for sight-reading purposes because some of the chord changes may really catch you by surprise. I am addressing this point to the classic painists out there with some interest in jazz.

The chords are written above the music, but I think this is not very useful or accurate. If you stick to what is written on the page, you will often conclude that the chords are misnamed. However, they might be quite close to what is in the actual transcriptions. I don't see this as a big minus because you can reharmonize the pieces and use the chord symbols as an alternate interpretation of the harmony.

If you are a more advanced jazz pianist, I think you will also enjoy this book because it provides some good material for improvisation, using different types of voicing, etc. While the arrangements are simple, they are effective and have musical punch. Sometimes less is more, even in jazz and it wouldn't hurt any pianist to see how simple ideas could be combined to make a sublime sound.

EVERY piece in this book sounds excellent. Unlike many other books of this type, it starts off as quality and sticks to the best pieces, good arrangements, etc. Frankly, I wish this arranger would do more Bill Evans arrangements. I would certainly buy them all!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for the intermediate pianist, May 26, 2006

By 

James F. Munro "Jim F Munro" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano (Paperback)

I don't know if the product description changed since the posting of some of the reviews below but I knew what I was getting when I purchased this book Andy Laverne's arrangements (as it says "songs arranged by noted jazz pianist/educator Andy LaVerne[...]with performance notes on his adaptations.")

However, I am quite pleased with this book. As a beginning to intermediate pianist who loves Bill Evans and his music it's a great deal to be able to sit down and play through some of these tunes. I find the arrangements good enough for someone who either doesn't have a lot of background with improvisation or with solo chord-melody playing.

I think Andy did a good job simplifying the tunes and this book seems to serve its stated purpose well. It's not Bill's notes but I think Andy did a good job of getting these tunes pared down to a playable level by an amateur player so I appreciate his work.

The music is large and easy to read to which lends to the playability of this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What It Is and What It Ain't, May 27, 2007

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Fly By Light (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano (Paperback)

This book is songs written by Bill Evans, arranged for solo piano by Andy Laverne, a respected player and student of Evans. Laverne sets out to serve three purposes: 1) provide solo arrangments for songs that Evans wrote but never (except one or two) recorded alone; 2) provide arrangements that mere mortals lacking Evans' reading skills and chops can play with satisfactory results; and 3) provide examples of techniques that can be used in other songs.

Laverne succeeds on all three counts. It's silly to criticize inauthentic arrangements when there are no Evans solo recordings to transcribe. The Hal Leonard transcriptions are trio arrangements that can't be played solo without substantial tweaking. The arrangements are melody lines played once through. Laverne freely states in the preface that the arrangements are simplified (I'm no great sight reader, but did not find them daunting), so the book cannot be faulted for being misleading. "Simplified" does not mean,"John Brimhall First Grade" arrangements; there are some very dense chords in places. As for techniques to study, the ones I can name off the top of my head include: upper structures, slash chords, polychords, Drop 2 voicing and cluster chords. You could teach several classes from what Laverne left IN the arrangements.

For those with intermediate piano skills that want to study Bill Evans' techniques in a fun way (as opposed to transcribing), this is a great place to start. Those with more time and ambition can combine these arrangements with the Leonard books, do their own transcriptions, or add their own improvisations. Until I find that time, this book will do nicely.