Improvisation in the Medical Encounter by Paul Haidet, MD, MPH in Annals of Family Medicine

Improvisation is an important aspect of patient-physician communication. It is also a defining feature of jazz music performance. Paul Haidet uses examples from jazz to illustrate principles of improvisation that relate to an individual communication act (ie, building space into one’s communication), a physician’s communicative style (ie, developing one’s voice), and the communicative process of the medical encounter (ie, achieving ensemble). At all 3 levels, the traditions of jazz improvisation can inform efforts to research and teach medical interviewing by fostering a contextualized view of patient-physician communication.

A communicative event: cultivating ensemble. "Group improvisation is a further challenge. Aside from the weighty technical problem of collective coherent thinking, there is the very human, even social need for sympathy from all members to bend for the common result" (Bill Evans).

What does it take for physicians to enter into ensemble with patients? As implied by the previous quote from Bill Evans, it takes recognition that all voices in the medical encounter have things to say that are as important as one’s own statements. It takes listening aligned toward understanding, not just the collection of factual data. And it takes raising one’s awareness to clues—nonverbal signals, fleeting glimpses of emotion, and key words (such as worried, concerned, and afraid)—and following up on these clues when they present themselves. The essence of ensemble, whether in jazz or in medicine, lies in looking beyond one’s own perspective to see, understand, and respond to the perspectives of others.

New Evans Tribute by Roberto Mattei: "A time Remembered"

The Italian bassist Roberto Mattei released a tribute to Bill Evans album, with piano trio, guitar and string quartet: "A time Remembered". (2010, Abeat)
1. Evan's tune
2. Very Early
3. Turn out the Stars
4. Time remembered
5. 34 Skidoo
6. Re: Person I Know
7. Alfie
8. Show-Type Tune

"Jazz Insights" by Dr Gordon Vernick

For iTunes owners like iPad or iPod on ITunes U: "Jazz Insights" by Dr Gordon Vernick, Associate Professor of Music at the Georgia State University and produced by WMLB 1690 Atlanta "Voice of the Arts." Each segment is intended for jazz lovers and those that are merely interested in this important American musical form. Four programs on "Kind Of Blue" with Miles Davis and Bill Evans, one program on Bill Evans Early Years and four on bassist Scott LaFaro.

"THE BIG LOVE ~ Life and Death with Bill Evans"
by Laurie Verchomin

The pre-release of the book "THE BIG LOVE ~ Life and Death with Bill Evans" by Laurie Verchomin is finally ready in a Limited Collectors Edition, but it won’t be available on Amazon or in bookstores for about a month. Laurie Verchomin, the "Laurie" of Bill Evans's famous composition. This gorgeous ballad has been written for her by Bill on May 31, 1979. After some changes the final version is dated July 29, 1979. During the final year-and-a-half of his life, when he was in physical deterioration and creative resurgence, Bill and Laurie had a romantic and intellectual relationship of depth and intensity. His years of drug addiction had doomed him, and he knew it. She dedicated herself to him in his final months. On September 15th 1980 she accompanied him to the Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died. The book is available on Amazon.com. See the review of the book by bassist Win Hinkle on his blog Win's Bill Evans Blog. He is bassist and lecturer on Bill Evans, in Boston and Florida. He is the author of the 26 "Letter from Evans".

Jazzinstitut Darmstadt

The Jazzinstitut Darmstadt in Germany has a extensive periodical collection comprises almost 1050 periodicals, more than 55.000 single issues. About 60 % of the collection have been indexed. They have a huge collection of articles about Bill Evans.

New Bill Evans tribute.

"The Touch Of Your Lips", a tribute to Bill Evans (Naive 2010) by the French pianist Manuel Rocheman. He previously released the tribute CD "Round about Bill" (Sysiphe, 2007) with singer Laurent Naouri. He won the Martial Solal Jazz Piano international competition in 1989. In 1991 he won the best disc award from the Académie du Jazz for his first CD "Trio Urbain". In 1992 he won the Django d'Or for the best French disc for his second CD "White Keys" and in 1998 the Django Reinhardt Prize of the Académie du Jazz for the musician of the year. "A perfect synthesis between the lyricism of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, the graceful touch of a Chick Corea and the harmonious swing of Herbie Hancock". He recorded with George Mraz and Al Forster.

Short part of an interview with Bill Evans

An interview by Canada’s preeminent jazz broadcaster and producer Ross Porter with Bill Evans in 1979, while driving in his car to an appointment in the hospital.

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Thirtieth anniversary of Bill Evans’ passing in the French and German Media

The French Jazz Magazine is preparing for its October issue an extensive review about Bill Evans. France Musique consecrates from 13 to 17 September a series of radio programs to Bill Evans. Mezzo Television dedicates an entire evening of September 16 to Bill Evans with 5 concert recordings between 1964 and 1975. France Culture broadcasts on 16 september a program on the Bill Evans Trio. The German jazz-author, jazz journalist and jazz violinist Marcus A. Woelfle published in the German "Jazzzeitung": "I remember Bill - Vor 30 Jahren verstarb der Pianist Bill Evans"

Thirtieth anniversary of Bill Evans’ passing in the USA and UK Media

A 2010 Tribute to Bill Evans by the Billevanswebpages of Jan Stevens. Jazz critic Doug Ramsey wrote a tribute in the Wall Street Journal of september 14. A broadcast of Ross Porter in an interview with Bill Evans in a podcast at Jazz.FM91. "Bill Evans - 30 years on" by Jed Distler in the authority UK magazine "Gramophone".

New Bill Evans release:

Bill Evans Live in Koblenz 1979
(Domino Records, 2010)

This edition on a 2 CD set presents a complete never before released live performance by the last edition of the Bill Evans Trio. Taped in Koblenz, Germany, December 9, 1979.
Among its highlights are beautiful versions of Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks”, various Evans’ originals and an unusual reading of Miles Davis’ “Solar”, a tune he only rarely recorded. Marc Johnson on bass, Joe LaBarbera on drums.

Thirtieth anniversary of Bill Evans’ passing

Re: Person We Knew, a Bill Evans tribute
with
Laurie Verchomin, writer (see photo on the left)
Bill Zavatsky, writer
Jed Distler, piano
Arnold Barkus, director

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:45).
Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, NYC.

Serial Underground’s 2010/11 season opener commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of Bill Evans’ passing with two writers closely associated with the late, legendary pianist/composer, director Arnold Barkus, and CCi artistic director Jed Distler, who worked with Evans in 1980. Bill Zavatsky offers poems and stories about his friendship with Evans in the 1970s. Laurie Verchomin reads from her upcoming memoir The Big Love/Life and Death with Bill Evans, with Jed Distler at the piano, directed by Arnold Barkus.

Serial Underground, is a new music variety show, curated and hosted by CCi Artistic Director Jed Distler. Composers, writers, visual artists and performers mix and match together and with the audience as they showcase new projects in an intimate, informal setting, fueled by superb food and drink.

Little Jammer PRO

Little Jammer PRO by Bandai, with sound by Kenwood, "based on the concept of aiming to create a whole new world of entertainment audio". 3-D Live-Sound through independent speakers, and miniature robotics adds to the experience. Each character speaker plays it own independent channel, and each character moves in synchronicity to that sound! Recently Bandai and Kenwood withdrew all Little Jammer project and production. That's a good thing, because the project reflects a bad taste in musical terms. Seven tracks are included: "You and the Night and the Music", "Waltz for Debby", "My Foolish Heart, "Sweet Dulcinea", "I Should Care", "My Romance" and "Alice In Wonderland".

Bill Evans Trio: Waltz For Debby played on Little Jammer PRO on next Youtube videoclip.

Hand-written score by Bill Evans

Bill Evans' hand-written score of "Nardis" for bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera. Bill Evans considered his last trio as important as his first trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian. He recorded "Nardis" on innumerable albums and reworked the piece with modal explorations each time it served as the final tune of his performances. Just a week before Evans' death on September 15, he recorded "Nardis" between August 31 and September 8, 1980 at San Francisco's Keystone Korner on an eight-CD set. His closing signature "Nardis" is heard here in six different versions in one week, each of them with a different exploration, from a brief seven-minute version to a last performance that stretches as his swan song of nearly 20 minutes with extended unaccompanied introductions on the piano. Here, for example, is all he needed to scribble down for Nardis, published here with permission of Peter Hum (Ottawa, Canada) from his Jazzblog:

A new Bill Evans blog

This Quiet Fire (Celebrating the Life and Music of Bill Evans)

By Michael Conklin, adjunct professor of music at the College of New Jersey. It will be an extension of his graduate research of his thesis entitled "The Poet and The Priest", an examination of the divergent piano styles of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk.

New Bill Evans releases:

"Bill Evans: Sunday In Spring" (Le Chant du Monde, 2009)

A Bill Evans compilation on two CD's with a biography of 44 pages released by one of the heading French magazines for music "Le Monde de la Musique" and "Le Monde du Jazz" from the newspaper "Le Monde", edited by the French music journalists and writers André Francis and Jean Schwartz. Inclusive rare registrations like the songs "Kimona, My House" (with Dick Garcia), "Jack's Blues" (with George Russell), "Aeolian Drinking Song" (with Tony Scott) and "Mother of Earl" (with Joe Puma).



Collectors item

From the radioprogram "Voices of Vista No. 41", a 12" transcription disc from the mid-1960s 33 RPM Record Size LP. Vista (Volunteers In Service To America), produced for the Office of Economic Opportunity by M. A. Mangum, Inc. for the use of radio stations. The Bill Evans side is 23 minutes & 50 seconds long and features Bill Evans with Jim Hall playing "Jazz Samba" from "Intermodulation"; "Time Remembered" and "Prelude" from the "Bill Evans Trio With Symphony Orchestra" arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman. The other side of the LP has only VISTA promos. Also interviews by Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (1920 – 1996). He was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television.


"Bill Evans Trio & Guests", Live in Nice, 1978, 2 CD (Jazz Lips, 2010)

This release presents a complete never before released live performance by Bill Evans with an unusual trio that never made a studio album (featuring drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Marc Johnson). Joining them are Lee Konitz, Curtis Fuller, Stan Getz on some tracks. An unissued concert by the same trio taped in Italy a few days later has been included, as well as a rare interview with Evans made right after the Nice concert with Leonard Feather. First short part:

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"Bill Evans & Luis Eça - Piano Four Hands, 1979 (Label Jazz Lips, 2010)

Recorded live in Chico's Bar in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), on September 29, 1979, when Bill Evans sat in during Luiz Eça's regular gig at Chico's (one of Rio's top intimate nightclubs at that time) and shared the piano with his friend. Evans was touring Brazil with his trio (Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums), had performed at the Sala Cecília Meirelles in Rio, and took his musicians to jam with Eça, whom he admired since the recording of Eça's tune "The Dolphin" on Bill's 1970 LP "From Left to Right". Anyway, this bootleg issue on the UK-based Jazz Lips label, is an amazing set, although poorly recorded (the master transfer used a cassette tape as the original source). Bassist Marc Johnson joined the pianists in some songs, but Joe LaBarbera didn't play simply because there was no drum set at the club.



Bill Evans Trio "Live at LuLu Whites", 1979 (Label Gambit, 2010)

An archive release containing a beautiful never-before-released live performance by the last incarnation of the Bill Evans Trio with Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera. Taped in Boston just a few months before the pianist's untimely death, its highlights include beautiful versions of Jimmy Rowles' 'The Peacocks', various Evans originals and an unusual reading of 'I'm Getting Sentimental Over You', a tune he rarely recorded. This Boston set at a club named Lulu White’s was probably broadcasted live and fortunately recorded for posterity. This is the first time it appears on CD. The pianist plays here with his last trio. Bill’s first known version of pianist Jimmy Rowles’ notable tune The Peacocks was taped during an exceptional 1974 concert in Belgium with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. Evans would record it in the studio three years later for his You Must Believe in Spring album. The most unusual piece on this set is I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, a tune made popular by Tommy Dorsey, but which Thelonious Monk regularly played with his quartet in the mid 1960s. Evans recorded it on a Lee Konitz album titled You and Lee in 1959, then as a duet with Jim Hall for the album Undercurrent in 1962, and finally as a trio piece in 1966 for the album A Simple Matter of Conviction. Apart from that, only four other versions seem to exist, two taped live at the Village Vanguard in 1967, another one from January 15, 1978 (with Michael Moore and Philly Joe Jones), and the one presented here, which was apparently the last one preserved. The sound quality is very good.


Bill Evans & Chet Baker "The Complete Legendary Sessions", 1959 (Label: 101 Distribution, 2009)

The album is a compilation of only 14 tracks from "The Lyrical Trumpet of Chet Baker" and "Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Lowe". The exception track," Almost like Being in Love" includes Baker but excludes Bill Evans. However, if the above titles are not included in your jazz collection, this CD is highly recommended. The sessions dates are identified as Dec. 1958, plus January and July 1959. Both featured artists are in top musical form. Their interpretations of these jazz standards are exceptional. The backing musicians are truly the gold standard of jazz recording artists. All these individuals are legendary jazz icons with very successful solo careers. The ensemble includes Herbie Mann, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, Connie Kay and Philly Joe Jones. All these artists turn in stellar performances. The production values and mix are spot on, courtesy of Orrin Keepnews. The entire project maintains a leisurely tempo and a rich melodic and moody interpretation of these classic compositions. Listeners are blessed that these sessions, the only recorded work between Baker and Evans, are available on one CD with a crystal clear sound to enjoy. (From Amazon.com)


"Bill Evans - Tony Scott Quartet ,The Complete Recordings", (Lonehill Jazz, 1979)

Tony Scott and Bill Evans recorded together eight albums. This double album suggests the complete recordings, but it is only a arbitrary compilation of mainly three recordings "I'll Remember", "Golden Moments" and "Sung Heroes" (1959). From the incomplete, incorrect liner notes: All known quartet performances by Bill Evans with Tony Scott on clarinet reunited here for the first time ever on a single collection. A very interesting combination, their collaborations mixture very melodic and lyrical moments with more adventurous and advanced improvisations related to the various styles modern jazz was experiencing during those years. Featured here are splendid jazzmen like Jimmy Garrison, Scott LaFaro, Paul Motian and Pete LaRoca. As a bonus, Evans and Scott's only two clarinet piano duets, as well as a Bill Evans trio selection that completes their August 1959 quartet session.

Concerts

"Letter From Evans Concert" featuring Bobby Shew & The Mike Ning Quintet
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: Outpost Performance Space
Street: 210 Yale SE
City/Town: Albuquerque, NM

This tribute to Bill Evans concert features world renowned trumpet/flugelhorn player and Albuquerque native Bobby Shew. The Mike Ning Quintet are: Mike Ning (piano), Patty Stephens (vocals), John Truitt (saxophone/flute), Mike Olivola (bass), Victor Perelmuter (drums).


Jazz at Lincoln Center: Intuition: The Music of Bill Evans.

With pianist Bill Charlap, special guest Jim Hall and the JALC orchestra. Rose Theater, Broadway, New York City. Performances: 5/14/2010 —5/15/2010.
One of the most influential pianists of modern jazz, Bill Evans' lyrical style has inspired generations of musicians. Pianist Bill Charlap shows what made Bill Evans great by playing his classic compositions ('Waltz For Debby') with his great collaborators, like legendary guitarist Jim Hall. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be on hand to play big band arrangements of Bill Evans' best-loved works. The poet Bill Zavatsky, a friend of Bill Evans has been accorded the honor of being the official Evans family representative at the gig. One poem of him, "Live at the Village Vanguard" is addressed to the audience heard on the historic recordings at the Village Vanguard in July, 1961. See the review by Jan Stevens from the Bill Evans Webpages.

"Further Explorations of Bill Evans". The Blue Note, New York City.

May 4 - 9 and May 11 - 16. A two-week stand at the Blue Note with Chick Corea, Paul Motian and Eddie Gomez who salute Bill Evans. Motian and Gomez played in Evans’s piano trios for significant, non-overlapping stretches in the 1960s and ‘70s, and Chick Corea is a serious admirer. Accordingly, the gig has been billed as “Further Explorations of Bill Evans,” and is being recorded for a live album.



Southeastern presents annual Bill Evans Jazz Festival 2010 HAMMOND

Southeastern Louisiana University will pay homage to jazz legend and alumnus Bill Evans with a festival in his honor this month. The ninth annual Bill Evans Jazz Festival honors the seven-time Grammy Award winner and 1950 Southeastern graduate who was the most influential jazz pianist of his generation. Throughout his life, Evans fondly remembered his college years, calling his time at Southeastern the happiest period of his life. He returned to campus for a concert 30 years after his graduation, shortly before his death in 1980. The 2010 festival will feature a special concert with pianist Bill Carrothers on April 22 at Southeastern’s Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Called “the new monster of the piano” by the French magazine “Telerama,” Carrothers has performed in the world’s most significant jazz venues for over 25 years.

Books and magazines

During his life Bill Evans appeared several times on the covers of authoritative jazz periodicals around the world, always in combination with reviews on his music, awards or interviews with him. He appeared more ten ten times on the cover of the Japanese Swing Journal. Swing Journal, a long-standing monthly magazine that has led the jazz culture of postwar Japan, is suspending publication after its July edition hits newsstands June 19, mainly due to dwindling advertising revenues, its publisher said. The magazine, first published in 1947, played a central role in expanding the reach of jazz in Japan by featuring such renowned players as Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as Japanese musicians such as Sadao Watanabe and Terumasa Hino. Jazz pianist Makoto Ozone expressed disappointment with the magazine's imminent suspension. "I appreciate the fact that Swing Journal has respectfully introduced young and new musicians," Ozone said. Swing Journal R.I.P., hard to imagine, but the venerable Japanese jazz publication will cease publication after its July issue. On the cover of the penultimate issue of June: Bill Evans!

Two interviews in Down Beat, June 2010, Volume 77, Number 6

Interview with Chick Corea "Further Explorations of Bill Evans" by pianist Marius Nordal. Piano giant Corea joins bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Paul Motian to mark the 30th anniversary of Bill Evans’ death with a special engagement at New York’s Blue Note club. The group aims to rekindle the rare kind of trio interplay that Evans established on landmark albums like "Sunday At The Village Vanguard" and "Waltz For Debby". Chick Corea's statement from the interview: “It was Bill’s sound that I loved as soon as I heard it. He knew how to touch the piano gently and elicit such a beautiful and recognizable tone from the instrument. … Bill’s harmonic sense and approach to standards certainly made a big impression on me. I was more encouraged to produce a beautiful sound on the piano.” The second interview is "Bill Evans, New Intuitions" by Len Lyons, originally published in Down Beat March 11, 1976 (page 12-13). In this classic interview from DownBeat’s archives, Evans discusses the artistic motivation he discovered late in his career.

The Harmony of Bill Evans - Volume 2 Series: keyboard instruction.

Format: Softcover with CD. Artist: Bill Evans. Author: Jack Reilly.
Bill Evans died in 1980 but the compositional legacy he left behind is forever expanding. In Jack Reilly's second volume, he provides a deeper appreciation and understanding of Evans' compositions. It includes two important theory chapters, plus ten of Bill's most passionate and melodically gorgeous works. The voicing charts for all ten songs are more complex than volume one and pianistically more demanding, yet always worth the effort. The subjects of modulation and key relationships that are discussed in each chapter will help the player memorize faster and improvise with more facility; not an easy task when performing Evans' music. The “Lament for Bill” in chapter 13 is the author's tribute to the genius of this great artist. The accompanying audio CD will add to the enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of the written examples. From (Hall Leonard).

Obituary

Gene Lees died April, 22 at his home in California, after a stroke.

He was 82. Gene Lees is a Canadian journalist, lyricist, singer and composer. He was editor of the jazz magazine Down Beat, later he published on freelance basis and wrote among other things for The New York Times. He became a close friend of Bill Evans and he wrote the lyrics to his compositions “Waltz For Debby”, “My Bells”, and “Turn Out The Stars” and contributed liner notes to his recordings as “Conversations With Myself”. He introduced also Helen Keane to Bill Evans, who became his personal manager and producer and who would fashion his following career. In "Friends along the way": Helen and Bill (268-285) by Gene Lees (Yale University Press, 2003), he defined the music of Bill Evans as “Love-letters written to the world from some prison of the heart". "Bill Evans committed the longest and slowest suicide in musical history". (Timesonline). See also "Reflections of Gene Lees on His Birthday" by Harrigan Logan (2006).


Bassist Connie Atkinson passed away on December 5, 2009 at the age of 81.

He was born in New Jersey on July 4, 1928. A musician, composer, arranger, and educator, Connie, originally from Highland Park, NJ, was the original bass player in the very first Bill Evans Jazz Trio and long-time friend of Bill. After graduating from high school, the trio attended and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University. With Frank Robell on drums they played in clubs in New Jersey ( Bill Evans album "Very Early" with posthumous released rehearsal tapes).