Pianist Randy Ingram Pays Tribute To Bill Evans

“The thing that’s most important to me about Bill Evans is not a style. It’s not the way that he plays, or the devices that he uses. It’s the sound of the piano, and that’s something that comes from deep inside. So I made sure to hone in on my own sound for this album.”—Randy Ingram

It’s been 46 years since Bil Evans died but tributes to the legendary New Jersey pianist have continued to be released in 2024, 2025 and now, with the appearance of Sound Within: A Celebration of Bill Evans (Chill Tone Records), 2026.

What is it about the self-destructive tendencies of the addicted when housed in the same body and mind as pure genius? How many of our great jazz artists, for instance, were also slaves to the high? Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker and Bill Evans were all addicts. Evans was born in Plainfield, moved to New York City, joined Miles for the seminal Kind Of Blue (still the biggest-selling jazz album of all-time), all before he set the standard for piano trios which still stands to this day. His trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian remains the gold standard.

On Sound Within, Ingram has recruited drummer Joe Barbera who was part of the last Evans trio with bassist Marc Johnson. On bass is Rufus Reid, 82, the composer-educator from William Paterson University in Wayne. Reid played bass behind Evans at gigs in Boston and New York City back in the day.

Ingram portrayed Evans in the 2013 Swedish film Waltz For Monica. Here, he gets underneath, sideways and through the many layers of the Evans mystique, be it on his “Aloft” and “Remembrance” originals or on such Evans classics as “Turn Out The Stars” or “Letter To Evan,” a piece Evans wrote for his son.

The highlight has to be “My Foolish Heart,” about which Ingram says “that has been a very important song for me for a long time. I remember driving home from high school when I probably should have been blasting Pearl Jam. But I had Waltz For Debby in the car stereo and would just sit there pressing repeat on the CD to hear ```` My Foolish Heart’ again because it was just so beautiful.”