The most important difference between victor youngs changes and the chords played by bill evans lies in the first 2 bars. Pdf a diachronic analysis of harmonic schemata in jazz. When learning a new song, you should listen to as many vocal versions as possible. As played by bill evans on the universal mind of bill evans tv special in 1966. How to navigate autumn leaves learn jazz standards. Compositions are influenced by a persons background and everything with which an individual comes into contact. Good versions to check out are bill evans versions with his trio, and also the duo with tony bennett. The bill evans guitar book by sid jacobs hal leonard online. The point here is that the subject of harmonic analysis is a point of view and a collection of tools, and harmonic analysts continually seek new venues in which to ply their wares. You can use it anytime you are improvising over any minor 251. Changing scales every bar is not easy and doesnt sound very musical, so its better to rely on arpeggios or focus on voice leading a good voice leading makes your improvised solos sound natural and gives you a framework to base your solo on. Two solos were selected from each pianists work with davis for transcription and are presented in chronological. Sep 01, 2002 in this bookonline audio pack, musicians institute instructor sid jacobs, who organized the schools jazz guitar elective, translates the playing of quintessential jazz pianist bill evans for guitarists to enjoy. I transcribed quite a bit of bill evans in college, and i have a few observations about his playing that mig.
In this lesson, we will create a solo piano arrangement of johnny mandels song emily. Automatic harmonic analysis of jazz chord progressions. A major step towards the modern approach to harmonic analysis was made by the work of hugo riemann around the end of the 19th century, whose most important contribution was to introduce the idea of the tonal function of. Handwritten and typed notes about bill evans probably used by ann brinkerhoff beatty to write a thesis. The four significant pianists from this era were red garland, bill evans, wynton kelly and herbie hancock.
William john evans august 16, 1929 september 15, 1980 was an american jazz pianist and composer who mostly played in trios. The piece has come to be associated with pianist bill evans, who recorded it repeatedly. To like a white sound, or worse, a white musician who sounded black, was cultural treason. Miles gave evans the opening gm6 and asked him to compose a tune which started with that chord. Quote was taken by kahn from hennessey the four bar opening was then apparently used by evans as the intro to alone together on a chet baker session on dec. Stella by starlight chord melody arrangement for guitar. Its an excellent example of his approach to vertical chordal playing on the piano. Bill evans kahn, ashley, kind of blue, the making of the miles davis masterpiece, 2000, p. How to improvise over stella by starlight learn jazz. Blue in green from the jazz pianists ultimate guide to the.
Despite my aversion to transcribing, i did get a few books of his voicings,the most interesting ones being jack reillys books and his analysis of bill s harmonic system. John mclaughlins solo on very early from the woodshed. When musicians approach improvising by playing within the tonal centers of major keys, their ideas often center on the diatonic notes of that major key. I also contacted as many of bill s disciples as i could to confirm the counterpoint thing. Includes music, instruction and analysis of 14 evans pieces, all in their original keys and with full demonstration tracks on the accompaniment cd. With respect to chord components 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and, there are certain consistent harmonic practices in bill evans playing. Although the composers credit went to davis on the album, the piece was actually composed by pianist bill evans the miles davis estate has acknowledged this fact. Discover the connection between jazz pianist bill evans and the playing of guitar greats like lenny breau, jimmy wyble, john stowell and sid jacobs. My goal was to find out, how evans avoids the typical jazz standard iivi ending in his pieces. The harmony of bill evans by jack reilly and bill evans sheet. Pdf issues in your adobe acrobat software, go to the file menu, select preferences, then general, then change the setting of smooth text and images to determine whether this document looks bet. My bill evans problemjaded visions of jazz and race. Lets take a close look at some of my favorite chord voicings from his playing.
Step 1 write out fingerings for all keys if needed. If you can understand how the harmony of autumn leaves works, you are well on your way to understanding hundreds of other jazz standards. Play slowly through the line in all 12 keys and make sure you do not have any technical issues with any of them. A pdf with the entire arrangement is available for download at the very bottom. Bill evans, the pianist, is a towering figure acknowledged by the jazz world, fans. Here is a summary of the harmonic activity for the days of wine and roses broken down into 4 measure segments. The price of this book includes a unique code that provides access to audio tracks online, for download or streaming.
Bill evans was so creative in the way he chose voicings for chords. Special thanks to judy bell of the richmond organization tro in nyc for allowing us to reprint excerpts from both waltz for debby and very early. This tune is played in many different keys, but for this lesson, we will create an arrangement in the key of g similar to the bill evans recordings of the tune. Portrait of his life, example in his style of motivic development and rhythmic displacement from solar and autumn leaves solos, a harmonic analysis from when i fall in love, university of denver, august 1985. Waltz for debby, music by bill evans,transcription analysis including chord progression, chord voicings, drop 2 voicings. A guitarists approach to the harmony of bill evans mikes. It was held at the fields institute in toronto, canada, from june 2 to june 27, 2003. In addition to the composerarranger usasge, quartal harmonic language in a jazz context was ushered in largely by the comping, improvising, and compositions of pianists bill evans, mccoy tyner, herbie hancock. Bill evans iivi transcription in 12 keys i really enjoyed working on this transcription more like adaption of bill evans. Following is a brief harmonic analysis of the piece, designed to help you identify the cadences eg. In the bsection, consecutive harmonic inversions created by the descending bass.
Regarded as one of the most influential jazz pianists of all time, bill evans changed the way jazz piano is. In this bookonline audio pack, musicians institute instructor sid jacobs, who organized the schools jazz guitar elective, translates the playing of quintessential jazz pianist bill evans for guitarists to enjoy. How to play days of wine and roses with chord melody jazz. Chapter 21 harmonic analysis because of the wide and ever increasing applications of power electronic devices, such as variable speed drives, uninterruptible power supplies ups, static power converters, etc. An analysis of the compositions of bill evans, billy strayhorn, and. Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves, and the study of and generalization of the notions of fourier series and fourier transforms i. As one of the most commonly called workhorse songs on gigs and jam sessions, this is a mustknow tune for jazz musicians. In this enhanced version of the 2006 masterclass from sid jacobs, you will get to see how understanding guide tones, voice leading, counterpoint, melody and using open strings can create a unique.
You will find that this is typical for bill evanshe is sensitive to the strength of the key. Rehearsal strategies a night in tunisia by reginald. Stein and his school introduced the idea of studying classical harmonic analysisfractional. How to play days of wine and roses with chord melody. Pdf on jan 1, 2012, mark mcfarland and others published bill evans and the limits of schenkerian analysis find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Born in plainfield, new jersey in 1929, bill evans began to study the piano at age six. May 31, 2017 any answer to this question coming from anyone other than bill evans himself will be at best informed speculation, so thats what this is. Automatic harmonic analysis of jazz chord progressions using. The next harmonic challenge for playing over the form is in playing in a minor key. Against that historical backdrop, i also practiced a form of racial profiling of musicians. As you can see in the scale analysis above, stella by starlight is not simple to improvise over.
The main goal of the school was to introduce graduate students and young mathematicians to three broad and interrelated areas in the theory of automorphic forms. Emily piano tutorial harmonic analysis, chords, voicings. The melody contains many of the interesting upper extensions and alterations which. Letter from evans, this unique folio features extensive analysis of evans work. Includes music, instruction and analysis of 14 evans pieces, all in their original keys and with full demonstration tracks.
Evans had a habit of following jazz themes last iiv progression with something else than the expected tonic chord. In this lesson we explore and apply altered harmony and chord alterations. I have analyzed each ending first in detail, and then compiled summaries and conclusions. The purpose of this study is to provide transcriptions and analyses of eight historically significant jazz piano improvisations from the miles davis groups between 19551968. Please be sure to watch the video lesson if possible with your guitar in hand for additional technique related info and a better overall. Evans harmonic method of incorporating the 3rd and 7th. An analysis of the tune and debby as well, in factthat goes measure by measure and runs six pages can be found in the special bill evans issue of of jazz improv, vol. In this bookcd pack, musicians institute instructor sid jacobs, who organized the schools jazz guitar elective, translates the playing of quintessential jazz pianist bill evans for. Sep 06, 2017 stella by starlight is arguably one of the most popular jazz standards of all time. A guitarists approach to the harmony of bill evans mike. In this piano tutorial, i break down an insane minor 251 lick from a bill evans solo. Stella by starlight is arguably one of the most popular jazz standards of all time.
His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, singing melodic lines continue to influence jazz pianists today. A diachronic analysis of harmonic schemata in jazz. Its a good exercise to sing and learn the melody, and also you will get familiar with the lyrics and the meaning behind the lyrics. Harmonic analysis reports are provided in two formats. And, as youll soon learn from pianist bill evans, the dominant chords in a minor ii v can be varied in a multitude of ways, even from chorus to chorus. Any answer to this question coming from anyone other than bill evans himself will be at best informed speculation, so thats what this is. Pdf on jan 1, 2012, mark mcfarland and others published bill evans and the limits of schenkerian analysis find, read and cite all the. And the theory of lie group representations provided a natural crucible for noncommutative harmonic analysis. Nardis is a composition by american jazz musician miles davis. Jun 01, 2001 this book is songs written by bill evans, arranged for solo piano by andy laverne, a respected player and student of evans. It appears that you do not have a plugin to view pdfs. But i still havent found anything printed of his latest harmonic approach. I didnt really know, but i went home and wrote blue in green. Jun 15, 2015 waltz for debby, music by bill evans,transcription analysis including chord progression, chord voicings, drop 2 voicings.
Feb 02, 2018 in this piano tutorial, i break down an insane minor 251 lick from a bill evans solo. What aspects of music theory did bill evans understand. Report manager click on the report manager button to select a format and view harmonic analysis output report. I also contacted as many of bills disciples as i could to confirm the counterpoint thing. Bill evans a stepbystep breakdown of the piano styles and techniques of a jazz legend by brent edstrom ro. Stella by starlight original victor young chord changes. Heres a quick look at how bill evans tended to voice his left hand jazz. Autumn leaves is an excellent jazz standard to start with because it covers some basic chord progressions and harmonic concepts found in jazz. The point here is that the subject of harmonic analysis is a point of view and a collection of tools. Blue in green tutorial bill evans chords, voicings, pdf. In the past two centuries, it has become a vast subject with applications in areas as diverse as number theory. John mclaughlin recorded bill evanss very early twice. Like rinzler, much of the musical analysis in paul berliners monumental thinking in. Improvisation, interaction and intermusicality in the bill evans trio.
Iivs that make up the overall chord progression along with their corresponding scales. Chromatic chord tones are most often used in functional applications i. What aspects of music theory did bill evans understand that. Despite my aversion to transcribing, i did get a few books of his voicings,the most interesting ones being jack reillys books and his analysis of bills harmonic system. Nenette evans, bill evans widow, was a great encouragement in the early. Stella, written by victor young, was featured in the 1944 film the uninvited. The bill evans guitar book by sid jacobs hal leonard. Soon after graduatingfrom southeastern louisiana and moving to new york city, he met russell and subsequently21 robert l. Bill evans, my foolish heart, art of the rootless voicing, chord analysis. The accompanying transcription and analysis is from the improvised solo. For example, the following solo idea is totally diatonic to f major and reflects the sound of the chord changes. Nov 30, 2017 autumn leaves is an excellent jazz standard to start with because it covers some basic chord progressions and harmonic concepts found in jazz. A comparative analysis of selected piano solos by red. Pdf bill evans and the limits of schenkerian analysis.
Throughout my life, it had been drilled into me that jazz was created by blacks and represented the apex of africanamerican musical civilization. Blue in green from the jazz pianists ultimate guide to. It was written in 1958, during daviss modal period, to be played by cannonball adderley for the album portrait of cannonball. Here are stellas original chord changes, composed by victor young for the movie the uninvited.
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