Bill Evans Quotes

7 Sourced Quotes

It just doesn't attract me. I'm of a certain period, a certain evolution. I hear music differently [...] I mean, for me, comparing electric bass to acoustic bass is sacrilege.

Bill Evans
Music should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise. It's easy to rediscover part of yourself, but through art you can be shown part of yourself you never knew existed. That's the real mission of art. The artist has to find something within himself that's universal and which he can put into terms that are communicable to other people. The magic of it is that art can communicate to a person without his realizing it... enrichment, that's the function of music.

Bill Evans
I am interested in other keyboard sounds, but basically I'm an acoustic pianist. I've been happy to use the Fender-Rhodes to add a little colour to certain performances but only as an adjunct [...] It's hard for people to recognize individuals on an electric piano. Because it is an electric instrument, it's hard for a personality to come through.

Bill Evans
Bill Evans talking about Miles Davis's change of style to jazz fusion:
I would like to hear more of the consummate melodic master, but I feel that big business and his record company have had a corrupting influence on his material. The rock and pop thing certainly draws a wider audience. It happens more and more these days, that unqualified people with executive positions try to tell musicians what is good and what is bad music. It's tempting for the musican to prejudice his own views when recording opportunities are so infrequent but I for one am determined to resist the temptation.

Bill Evans
I don't think too much about the electronic thing, except that it's kind of fun to have it as an alternate voice. Like, I've used the Fender- Rhodes piano on a couple of records. I don't really look on it as a piano— merely an alternate keyboard instrument, that offers a certain kind of sound that's appropriate sometimes. I find that it's kind of a refreshing auxiliary to the piano— but I don't need it, you know. I guess it's for other people to judge how effective it's been on my records; I enjoyed it, anyway. I don't enjoy spending a lot of time with the electric piano. I mean, if I play it for a period of time, then I quickly tire of it, and I want to get back to the acoustic piano.

Bill Evans
I went through a lot of mental pains and anguish about choosing between jazz and classical. I realized that where I functioned was where I should be, and where I functioned was in jazz, so that was it.

Bill Evans
As the painter needs his framework of parchment, the improvising musical group needs its framework in time.

Bill Evans