Northern Overexposure
  • Home
  • Musical Interludes
  • Blog
  • Contact Me

Bill Evans and Marian McPartland

10/26/2013

0 Comments

 
I found a collection of this interview/conversation with Bill Evans on You Tube and fused the parts together so that the interview/conversation could be heard in one sitting. Bill Evans is not only a great musician, he is a philosopher as well. In this wide ranging interview/conversation he shares his philosophy of music and provides example. It begins with his most famous tune, "Waltz for Debbie".

He discusses the change in his music, aiming for more depth, and rhythmic construction. He also discusses the idea of "displacement of phrases" which is most important to him and what he says is his basic conception of jazz structure. Evans illustrates what he means by displacement of phrases, against the melody, by playing, "All Of You" at the 4:30 mark.

 Nobody can explain post-structure in jazz better than he. He does not just frame jazz as structure free. There is structure but, at the same time, there is freedom outside of that strict structure, where the music can move in and out. For Evans, the structure is not the melody or tune necessarily, it is more abstract that that. The structure is just "indicated" and not imposed. He explains what he means at the 19:00 minute mark. He suggests that the musician should have a complete picture of the basic structure. By structure he means it in an abstract sense. For example, the key of C to its dominate G 7th and back to the C and that is over a petal point. The song springs from there in a creative movement. He displays exactly what he means by that at the 20:00 mark and on. What a great teacher!

The explanation and example is awesome and as Marian mentions, there is a mystery there when you listen to it. There is so much in this exchange for the fan and for someone just interested in both the music and theory. Evans has an aphorism that it is better to practice one tune for 24 hours than 24 tunes in an hour! A good metaphor for many other things.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    My Pensées

    The title of this blog is an allusion to the famous work of Blaise Pascal.  This blog represents the variety of my interests and thoughts on any given day and are  strung together, like Pascal's Pensees, in no particular order. I work in the field of mental health,  education, and human rights. I write and am a human rights advocate. I enjoy poetry, jazz, spirituality, politics and a potpourri of other interests that you will see reflected in this blog.

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.