Bill Evans

In late 1950s, he had his first long-term romance with a black woman Peri Cousins. It lasted until the end of the decade when they parted ways.

In 1960, he met a waitress named Elaine with whom he was in a relationship for twelve years. In 1963, they moved from his flat in New York and settled in his parent’s home in Florida. In 1973, she committed suicide due to her own infertility and Evan’s interest in a new woman, Nenette Zazzara.

In 1973, he married Nenette Zazzara and after two years of their marriage, they were blessed with a son, Evan. The new family also included Evan’s step-daughter Maxine but the marriage did not last - they remained quite close until his death.

He was born to Harry and Mary Evans. His father was of Welsh descent while his mother was of Ukrainian ancestry. His father had many alcohol-related disorders which led to a troubled home atmosphere. He was two years younger than his brother Harold, with whom he maintained a very cordial relationship

At the age of six, he began his piano lessons along with his elder brother at Somerville, and also studied violin, piccolo and flute which had a deep impact on his keyboard style. Later, he went to take piano lessons in Dunellen with a local teacher Helen Leland.

In his high-school days, he got introduced to 20th century music like Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and Milhaud’s Suite Provencale. Around this time, he got his first exposure to jazz and also started playing in high-school band.

Later on, he started playing throughout New Jersey in musical gigs exploring various genres of music, especially boogie-woogie and polka. During this period he met George Platt, who introduced him to the harmonic principles of music.

In September 1946, he enrolled himself at Southeastern Louisiana University on a flute scholarship, where he received a comprehensive knowledge of classical piano interpretation. He also led the fraternity’s football team to a league championship as a quartet.

In 1950, he graduated with high honors as a piano major receiving the Bachelor’s degree in music education. He performed Beethoven’s piano concert number 3 for his senior recital. In the same year, he formed a trio with guitarist Mundell Lowe and bassist Red Mitchell, and relocated to New York. However, low bookings forced them to leave for Calumet city, Illinois.

In July 1950, he collaborated with Herbie Field’s band based in Chicago and started to tour with them in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. Soon he received conscription from the US Army and got placed in the Fifth army band at Fort Sheridan near Chicago for three years.

In 1954, he went back to New York after serving three years in the US Army, and started playing in Tony Scott’s quartet. In the same year, he undertook postgraduate studies at Mannes College of music.

In September 1956, he recorded his debut album, New Jazz Conceptions, featuring the original versions of "Waltz for Debby", and "Five". New Jazz Conceptions was initially a failure as it sold only 800 copies in the first year but received critical success.

In April 1958, he embarked on an eight-month gig with the Miles Davis’s sextet. Soon he made his first studio album, ‘Jazz Track’ with Davis but he left the sextet by November, as he became tired of high expectations. In December, he released the album ‘Everybody digs Bill Evans’ with Sam Jones and Philly Joe Jones, for which he received great attention.

In early 1955, he recorded ‘The Singing Reed’ with Lucy Reed, an American jazz singer. During this period he came across composer George Russell and his model jazz theory. In the following year, he worked with him in a series of recordings called ‘Jazz Workshop’.

In 1959, he came back to the Davis’s sextet to record the ‘Kind of Blue’, which is regarded as the best jazz album of all the time. It is also the highest-selling acoustic jazz album. It opened the whole new world of melodic and harmonic possibilities.

In 1962, after re-forming his trio, he released two albums ‘Moon Beams’ and ‘How My Heart Sings!’ In the same year, upon signing with Verve, he recorded ‘Conversations with Myself’, which was an instant classic for the Jazz community.

In 1971, he released ‘The Bill Evans Album’. Soon, other albums followed namely, ‘The Tokyo Concert’ (1973), ‘Since we Met’ (1974), ‘But Beautiful’ (1974). After Mart Morell left, Evans and Gomez recorded two duo albums, ‘Intuition’ and ‘Monteux II’.

In 1974, he recorded a jazz masterpiece entitled ‘Symbiosis’, which was written for him by Claus Ogerman. He also collaborated with singer Tony Bennett on ‘The Tony Bennett and "Bill Evans Album’ (1975) and ‘Together Again’ (1977).