We spoke to pianist / composer Kate Williams (whose piece I’m Still Awake – based on an anagram of her name – is the jingle for our podcasts) about her new venture – the Interplay Series – Bill Evans and the Impressionists. These concerts are a collaboration with Bristol-based conductor/ composer/ orchestrator William Goodchild.
In this podcast, Kate demonstrates at the piano [2:12 on the audio], how she had the the original idea which set the whole programme and concept in motion.
Interplay is a series of two concerts in March 2014 featuring the Kate Williams Trio with Oli Hayhurst (bass), Tristan Mailliot (drums) and two different orchestras.
– Bristol’s Colston Hall – part of the Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival March 9th, with a professional chamber orchestra, the Bristol Ensemble, currently in its 20th year.
– Milton Court Hall, Silk Street, London EC2 on the 24th March – part of the Guildhall School Jazz Festival (Mar 22-28), with an orchestra from Guildhall School.
Bill Evans and the Impressionists celebrates the music of Bill Evans (with new orchestral arrangements of his music), alongside orchestral music by Ravel, Debussy, and Satie.
The concerts are produced by Peter Conway, and are supported by Arts Council England.
More information at the Interplay Series website.
Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival website
Musical Extracts:
1) Kate demonstrates voicings from the Forlane from Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin and Bill Evans’ Time Remembered at [2:12]
2) Untitled Peace Piece – Kate William’s Septet (Made Up. kwjazz737) – at [9:48]
Categories: Uncategorized
Hoping to try and get to the London concert.
Reading around this topic and the influence of Bill Evans by composers like Ravel and Debussy I found that a French poet Jacques Réda wrote a suite of 5 poems called 'Le Tombeau De Bill Evans' . One of the poems in the suite is called 'Peace Piece'. The title of the suite must be a nod to 'Le Tombeau De Couperin' by Ravel mentioned above.
Bill Evans was also a source of influence for composers around the world. E.g. US composer John Adams writes about meeting Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu in seeve notes to his composition Eros Piano. (http://www.earbox.com/orchestra/eros-piano)
“Eros Piano is a quiet, dreamy soliloquy for piano, played against a soft, lush fabric of orchestral screens and clusters. It was a direct response on my part to a piece by Toru Takemitsu, riverrun, that I had heard in a performance by the English pianist Paul Crossley. I met Takemitsu once when he visited my home…………… Among the things we discovered we had in common was a love for the jazz piano style of Bill Evans. I wrote Eros Piano as a tribute to Takemitsu, to Bill Evans, and also to Paul Crossley, whose exquisitly balanced sense of color and attack in music by Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen and Takemitsu reminded me so strongly of that of Bill Evans.”
There is a performance of John Adams’ Eros Piano on Youtube by Jay Gottlieb, & L’Ensemble Orchestral de Paris