The Harmony of Bill Evans [Paperback]

Jack Reilly (Author), Bill Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1994

Bill Evans, the pianist, is a towering figure acknowledged by the jazz world, fans, musicians and critics. However Bill Evans, the composer, has yet to take his place alongside the great masters of composition. Therein lies the sole purpose of this book. A compilation of articles - now revised and expanded - that originally appeared in the quarterly newsletter Letter from Evans, this unique folio features extensive analysis of Evans' work. Pieces examined include: B Minor Waltz * Funny Man * How Deep Is the Ocean * I Fall in Love Too Easily * I Should Care * Peri's Scope * Time Remembered * and Twelve Tone Tune. Author Jack Reilly is a pianist, composer and educator in both the jazz and classical genres. He has chaired the Jazz Studies departments of the New England Conservatory of Music, Mannes College of Music, and The New School. He is presently Jazz Piano Professor at Rowan College in New Jersey.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793531527
• ISBN-13: 978-0793531523
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique and Useful, December 31, 2006

By 

Fly By Light (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Harmony of Bill Evans (Paperback)

This book is unique in a couple of ways. It is a compilation of articles on how Bill Evans used harmony. Obviously, Evans' extensive studies in college and beyond went far beyond what one thin book can cover, but it does what it does efficiently and well. The author is an unabashedly effusive fan of Evans and throws this energy into the work to make it as clear and understandable as possible.

Articles include:
Peri's Scope-Harmonic Analysis (includes Evans' intensive regimen for learning new songs)
Peri's Scope-Thematic Analysis (good discussion of developing a musical theme)
Times Remembered-Harmonic Analysis
Times Remembered-Modal Analysis
Times Remembered-Intervalic Analysis
"Funny Man" and "I Should Care" (lots of practical discussion of reharmonization techniques
I Fall in Love Too Easily (more reharmonization)
Twelve Tone Tune (probably of more academic than practical interest)
How Deep is the Ocean (advanced reharmonization)
B Minor Waltz (more advanced reharmonization)

For instant gratification, the book provides a rigorous method for learning new songs. For reassurance, it reminds the reader of how much Bill Evans worked on songs before they were "battle ready" and how long the author took to work out fingerings to one Evans song (eight months). It is amazing that jazz musicians have any time to perform at all, given all the techniques they have to learn. For future reference, the book constantly trumpets the virtue of Arnold Schoenberg's 1911 Theory of Harmony, the influence of which is pointed out periodically in Evans' work.

The book presents articles in a fairly logical order of increasing difficulty. It is presented in a fashion easily understandable to me, who knows a good deal of theory, but has no degree in music.

The bad news is, this book will not have an instant and noticeable effect on your piano playing. The good news is, this book is by a highly skilled, true blue Evans fan, who provides enough material to keep most musicians of above-average skill very busy for a long time. Plus, with careful reading and intensive practice, the book should eventually move the dedicated Evans fan a few steps closer to understanding how to play a bit more like him.

I may be a little hard giving this bargain of a music book only four stars. Except for the author's "groupie" tone, the lack of instant magic for my piano playing, and lack of chapters on my favorite tunes, this book would rate five stars from me. It definitely gets my recommendation for people seeking what it offers.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tapping into the universal mind (and art) of Bill Evans: an ecumenical study for all players and serious students of music., June 11, 2007

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Harmony of Bill Evans (Paperback)

I suspect there are musicians who get some use out of books presenting the transcribed solos of an Art Tatum or Charlie Parker, but I have yet to meet one who has claimed any benefit from trying to read page after page of seemingly endless note-streams. Thankfully, that is not the approach of this book. Nor is this necessarily the book for the impatient pragmatist who, having recently heard "Kind of Blue" or the 1961 "Village Vanguard Sessions," wants to be able to play like the pianist on the recording.

If you're looking for a simplified approach to sounding like Bill Evans, or for a book offering lots of hand-holding, good luck finding one. Reilly places Evans' music in the category of the greats--Bach, Chopin, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Art Tatum--and, rather than wasting words, devotes sixty solid pages to helping the reader understand not only Evans' greatness but the very criteria by which "greatness"--at least in the areas of music composition and jazz improvisation--must be measured.

In short, it's a book from which any reader with a serious interest in music along with some familiarity with musical notation and a willingness to be challenged by a modicum of theory can benefit. Certainly its relevance should not be limited to Evans' enthusiasts or even to pianists. Erasing the often-superficial, misleading and narrow boundaries between classical and modernist art, "high" art and "popular" art, Reilly is able to "freeze" and then dissect those representative moments of musical consciousness that allow privileged access to creative genius. Whether the reader chooses simply to marvel at the recognition of a universal pattern and its permutations or to play and apply the author's revelations is a personal decision not essential to reaping the rewards of this heady study.

This is not to say that the book is "impractical" or in any way inaccessible. The author may not underestimate the challenges but neither does he underestimate the ability of the reader or aspiring player who is willing "to work." Supplementing his cogent analyses with personal anecdotal material and occasionally talking directly to the reader in plain and no-uncertain terms, he makes the final destination seem within reach if only because of its inherent value. It's no longer your mother's voice ordering you "to practice" but the author simply reminding you that "Bill Evans' music is worth it." And by that point, you will understand why.

One quibble: Because some listeners' experiences with Bill Evans' music are limited to the two aforementioned recordings, a short list of recommendations of the best recorded examples for use in connection with the analyses in the text might be welcomed by some readers.

12 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best suited for academics, March 2, 2008

By 

Jamie Tatro (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Harmony of Bill Evans (Paperback)

This book, though well done, reads more like an academic Master's thesis than a truly "helpful" book. If you've been schooled in jazz theory, it won't be hard to follow the logic of the tunes' analyses; without a strong theory background, however, you'll probably get lost rather quickly. But at some point with these kinds of (academic) books - and there are WAY too many of them out there - you have to wonder how much of this stuff is helpful, how much of it is MUSICAL, and how much of it is academic simply for academic sake. "How many ways is it mathematically possible to dissect this particular tune?" For example, if Wes Montgomery begins a musical phrase with an Eb note over a C minor chord, is Wes "thinking" of it as the third of the C minor chord, or the ninth of a tritone substitution for the G7 chord, or the fifth of an Ab Major 7 chord? Does it matter... as long as it's "musical" and sounds good, as long as it "works?" I found Jack Reilly's book to be a little too immersed in hero worship, and despite his best intentions, more of an oddity than the helpful book I was expecting. If you really want to understand reharmonization, etc., in a way that is both musical AND helpful, try Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano Book." By the way, I'm a guitarist.