French Music Reconfigured in the Modal Jazz of Bill Evans
Keywords:
Eclecticism of Bill Evans, Hybridism in music, French music and modal jazz, Music transformation and improvisation, Influence between classical and popular musicAbstract
Although French classical music, especially that of the twentieth-century, is commonly understood to have played a role in the improvisational thinking of the American modal jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-1980), its relevance has rarely been probed in scholarly depth. Using critical ideas of RAVEL (1928) and others, I argue that in French repertory particularly, Evans discovered an affinity with, and catalyst for, his improvisational priorities: lyricism, polyphonic lines, a rich harmonic palette of sevenths and ninths, subtle textures, voicings and exquisite tone - a vehicle for expressivity and imagination. Conversely, it is intriguing that relatively old French music has lived on, reconfigured - chameleon-like - within a new postwar context.
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Gravações
DAVIS, M. Kind of blue. (CD CK 64935). Columbia, 1959.
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Bibliografia adicional
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Transcrições adicionais
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Gravações adicionais
EVANS, B. New jazz conceptions (CD Riverside 223). Riverside, 1956.
______. Peri’s Scope. In: Portrait in Jazz (CD Riverside 1162). Riverside, 1959.
RUSSELL, G. The Jazz workshop (CD LPM 2534). RCA Victor, 1956.
Website
EVANS, B. www.billevanswebpages.com
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