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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Bill Evans (1929-1980)

Composer of the Week: Bill Evans (1929-1980): Episode 1: Bill Evans Works with Miles Davis

Bill Evans (1929-1980)

Episode 1

Episode 1: Bill Evans Works with Miles Davis

Bill Evans Works with Miles Davis

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Bill Evans (1929-1980), Bill Evans Works with Miles Davis

Donald Macleod on how Bill Evans's career took off after he began working with Miles Davis

Donald Macleod explores how Evans's career took off after he started working with the great trumpeter Miles Davis and his ensemble.

He was called the Poet of the Piano, and the Chopin of Jazz, this week Donald Macleod delves into the life and music of Bill Evans. Although Evans started off in the world of classical music, it wasn't long before he got the Jazz bug. His classical training wasn't wasted though, for it went on to influence the way he performed for the rest of his life. His touch at the piano became legendary, and his preferred ensemble for performing his own compositions, and those by others, was the Jazz trio combining piano, bass and drums. Evans came to prominence when invited to work alongside Miles Davis and, in time, Evans would go on to perform with the likes of Tony Bennett, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Stan Getz and Monica Zetterlund.

Family was very important to the composer Bill Evans. His earliest musical influences came from his mother, and his most famous work, Waltz for Debbie, was inspired by his niece. Evans won a scholarship to Southeastern Louisiana University, and around the same period he composed his earliest known composition, 'Very Early'. After a brief spell in the army, and by the time he was twenty-six, Evans recorded an album called New Jazz Conceptions, which included his new work, 'No Cover, No Minimum'. Bill Evans was starting to make quite a name for himself, and then came the call from Miles Davis offering Evans the chance of performing alongside the legendary trumpeter and his ensemble.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Bill Evans, dubbed the 'poet of the piano'

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Bill Evans, the 'poet of the piano' and the 'Chopin of jazz'. He came to prominence working with Miles Davis and played with Tony Bennett and Stan Getz

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Composer of the Week

Bill Evans (1929-1980)

Episode 1: Bill Evans Works with Miles Davis

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