Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano Review

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Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano ReviewI am a piano player and serious student of jazz. I played professionally for 11 years on a variety of instruments and I probably own every CD that Bill Evans ever made and many other pianists as well. In addition, I have studied both classic and jazz piano, so I have some real credibility in this space.
I have seen mixed reactions to this book and I believe the critical reviews are because very good pianists want the Evans transcriptions, not Bill Evans as interpreted by someone else. However, I don't believe it was the author's purpose to provide transcriptions, but rather to make the music of Bill Evans accessible to beginning-intermediate pianists.
With respect to the goal above, I think the arranger achieved his goal quite admirably. What this book contains is simplified Bill Evans compositions, but the genius here is that the "essence" of Bill's sound and spirit is still present. In my opinion, this is quite a feat particularly when limited to simple arrangements.
The musical score is easy to read, but there are no fingerings provided. This is not a big deal to me, but it might be someone else. For a better pianist, these are excellent for sight-reading purposes because some of the chord changes may really catch you by surprise. I am addressing this point to the classic painists out there with some interest in jazz.
The chords are written above the music, but I think this is not very useful or accurate. If you stick to what is written on the page, you will often conclude that the chords are misnamed. However, they might be quite close to what is in the actual transcriptions. I don't see this as a big minus because you can reharmonize the pieces and use the chord symbols as an alternate interpretation of the harmony.
If you are a more advanced jazz pianist, I think you will also enjoy this book because it provides some good material for improvisation, using different types of voicing, etc. While the arrangements are simple, they are effective and have musical punch. Sometimes less is more, even in jazz and it wouldn't hurt any pianist to see how simple ideas could be combined to make a sublime sound.
EVERY piece in this book sounds excellent. Unlike many other books of this type, it starts off as quality and sticks to the best pieces, good arrangements, etc. Frankly, I wish this arranger would do more Bill Evans arrangements. I would certainly buy them all!Bill Evans - 19 Arrangements for Solo Piano Overview

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