I interviewed Bill at his home in New Jersey in 1977. We had a good talk, not as granular at this piece, but touching some of the same themes. If he was using, it wasn’t obvious - nor was I aware of all that at the time. In any case, the music is the only thing that matters.
Thanks for sharing that interview, Paul. If you'd like to have it up on my JazzProfiles.blogspot.com site, just let me know and I would be pleased to format it for that purpose. I had lunch with drummer Joe La Barbera last year and we talked about how Bill rushed during the time that he and bassist Marc Johnson worked with him. There is some conjectured that Bill was turning to "speedballs" and that this may have been responsible for hastening a number of things, including his death.
That would be great - I’m flattered! As I said, he didn’t seem like he was using - no visible signs like nodding out, or the seedier signs of addiction, as chronicled in his last girlfriend’s seedy (too much for my taste) memoir, He did seem a bit more interested in watching the Knicks game on tv than the interview - he’d been through so many of them before - but I chalked that up to being a sports fan. I felt the same way about the Warriors (until recently.) Anyhow, thanks again. I have other pieces I did for the late New Jersey section of the Times if you’re interest, including a nice chat with Dizzy Gillespie. I was just a copykid, buI was encouraged in my work by the late, great Robert Palmer, who was on staff at the time (and had his own demons, I later became aware of.)
Lovely piece. I agree with him about Herbie.
Thank you for sharing your response to the feature. Sadly, many of us agree with Bill's comments about Herbie.
I interviewed Bill at his home in New Jersey in 1977. We had a good talk, not as granular at this piece, but touching some of the same themes. If he was using, it wasn’t obvious - nor was I aware of all that at the time. In any case, the music is the only thing that matters.
Here’s a link to the piece:
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/25/archives/new-jersey-weekly-jazz-pianist-life-on-the-upbeat.html
Thanks for sharing that interview, Paul. If you'd like to have it up on my JazzProfiles.blogspot.com site, just let me know and I would be pleased to format it for that purpose. I had lunch with drummer Joe La Barbera last year and we talked about how Bill rushed during the time that he and bassist Marc Johnson worked with him. There is some conjectured that Bill was turning to "speedballs" and that this may have been responsible for hastening a number of things, including his death.
That would be great - I’m flattered! As I said, he didn’t seem like he was using - no visible signs like nodding out, or the seedier signs of addiction, as chronicled in his last girlfriend’s seedy (too much for my taste) memoir, He did seem a bit more interested in watching the Knicks game on tv than the interview - he’d been through so many of them before - but I chalked that up to being a sports fan. I felt the same way about the Warriors (until recently.) Anyhow, thanks again. I have other pieces I did for the late New Jersey section of the Times if you’re interest, including a nice chat with Dizzy Gillespie. I was just a copykid, buI was encouraged in my work by the late, great Robert Palmer, who was on staff at the time (and had his own demons, I later became aware of.)
Hi Paul: Your Bill Evans article just posted to my JazzProfiles blog. Let me know what you think after you've had a chance to review it.
Looks great, many thanks! Loved the “Peace Piece” clip, too, needless to say. Another Bill masterpiece, along with the (uncredited) “Blue in Green.l