A Letter To Bill Evans
Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, Union County, in 1929. He is generally perceived as being the most influential piano player of the 1960s, as his brilliant use of impressionist harmony, block chording and innovative rhythmic complexity directly influenced Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and all who followed. When he joined the band of Miles Davis, it resulted in Kind Of Blue, the biggest-selling jazz album of all time. His trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian is still the gold standard for piano trios. Many of his compositions are now jazz standards. He died at 51 in 1980 after a lifetime of heroin abuse.
Now pianist Michael Wolff, drummer Mike Clark and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey—known collectively as Wolff Clark Dorsey—have written A Letter To Bill Evans, released on the Jazz Avenue 1 label. Dorsey and Clark have already recorded seven albums together. For this Letter, they’ve added a pianist steeped in the Evans legacy. Wolff had previously played with these two on 2020’s Play Sgt. Pepper. Together again, they infuse LeFaro’s “Gloria’s Step” with a delectable Brazilian rhythm. Most if this swings as if bebop had never been invented, taking time out for a waltz. Clark’s brushwork—subliminal as it may be—is complex and right-on-time. The two-minute solo-piano intro to “Time Remembered” conjures up images of Evans at his best. Closer “You, The Night and the Music” sounds as if Wolff has 20 fingers instead of merely 10.
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