tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805095272435181099.post3908062744235571423..comments2024-02-10T04:02:19.545-06:00Comments on Jazz Note SDP: The Two Pianos on Kind of BlueKen Blanchardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09580209017016829598noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805095272435181099.post-49068066889554660782009-03-02T01:07:00.000-06:002009-03-02T01:07:00.000-06:00Thanks for another fine comment, André. I share y...Thanks for another fine comment, André. I share your source's admiration for Scott LaFaro. <BR/><BR/>I have only a few regrets in life. One of them is that I didn't purchase a ticket when Bill Evans came to Tuscan, Arizona. I was a student at the U of A at that time. What was I thinking? <BR/><BR/>But I didn't know then what I know now.Ken Blanchardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09580209017016829598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4805095272435181099.post-37858258670672815282009-03-01T11:21:00.000-06:002009-03-01T11:21:00.000-06:00Glad you liked my previous comment. Bill Evans, Sc...Glad you liked my previous comment. Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian were one of the best piano trio's of all time. I think the following passage illustrates Evans life very well:<BR/><BR/>"After he left Davis in 1959, he went on to form in the following year what became, for many listeners, his greatest trio, with bassist Scott La Faro and drummer Paul Motian —both of whom had been members of Tony Scott's groups, alongside Evans.<BR/><BR/>LaFaro's speed and accuracy in the upper register, and the uncanny way his melody lines intertwined with Evans' own made him an ideal partner for the pianist. Motian's ability to sense minute variations in tempo—from hesitations and spaces to slight accelerations or skips and jumps— without losing an overall sense of swing and momentum, completed the exceptional lineup. At the moment they achieved their highest level of cooperation, LaFaro was tragically killed in an accident, a few days after recording two outstanding albums of material at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Evans was devastated, and did not play for some months. <BR/><BR/>"When you have evolved a concept of playing which depends on the specific personalities of outstanding players, how do you start again when they are gone?" he asked in one interview. He was already addicted to heroin, and the emotional shock of his bassist's death did little to help him overcome his use of the drug —something he did not manage to do for some years. Even then his life was a constant battle against returning to his addiction, and he suffered other emotional upheavals, including the suicide of his first wife, who had also fought drug addiction."<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>"In his final years, Evans's appearance altered. He grew his hair and beard, and during the parts of the late 1960s and 1970s when he managed to conquer his<BR/>addiction, he looked fitter and healthier than at any previous time in his career. His powers of invention continued to the very end of his life, many critics marveling at the degree to which there was constant movement and development in his work, but ultimately the demons inside led him back to addiction and a shockingly early death."<BR/><BR/>From: "Jazz Makers: Vanguards of Sound" by Alyn Shipton, page 195-197<BR/><BR/>Sad to see such a talented man mired with such great tragedies.<BR/><BR/>AndréAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com