Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings

Rating:
Summary: A Musicians Delight
Review: As I anticipated from a concert pianist and author Peter Pettinger, his book about Bill Evans is a brilliant account of the musical development of the keyboard genius. This is a book which focusses much of the time on the musical finesse of Bill Evans. As a jazz musician I was very enriched by the great love and attention Pellinger has given to the musical details - with a lesser entanglement with the side tracks or curiosities and value judgements which are pursued by some biographers. Neither is this a superficial account of Evans life; the pianistic and other life challenges of Bill's ever increasing drug addiction are adequately covered. The biography excels in presenting rich musical insights about a musicians musician; the technical analysis of Bill's musical talent is surely the integral part of his story. This biography of Bill Evans is outstanding because it has been written by a fellow musician who has the ability to understand and document the sheer musical genius of Bill Evans - at a higher professional level than most writers could ever achieve.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on a jazz musician's life I've ever read.
Review: I have always been an admirer of Bill Evans work. I am a musician and have spent many hours at the Village Vanguard and Village Gate in NYCity listening to his music. In 1979 I had the pleasure of interviewing him for a radio show I did in Stamford,Ct on WYRS. As a bassist I have learned from many of his recorded works and marveled and respected Scott LaFaro's work with his 'First Trio". When I began reading the book I was both amazed and pleased that Mr. Pettinger was a musician and decided to approach the subject from both a personal and musical level. He has captured the essence of the music, the man and the mystique that we, as jazz musicians, have felt about Evan's since our first hearing. It is quite uplifting to read a story and be able to see the entire spectrum of a persons work rather than a superficial writing of dates,cliches and hearsay. Mr. Pettinger has evoked all the emotions a writer can hope for in me for I have smiled, laughed, shook my head in disbelief, nodded in appreciation and even shed a tear when reading of the complete abandonment Evans felt at the loss of Scott LaFaro. To be able to share these private moments and also revel in the delight of so many of his peers, reviewers and band mates in his unique and superior talent is a real treat. I have read and re-read sections and shared many passages with friends. Now I will make sure I buy copies for all the musicians I can think of that may not have heard of this marvelous writing. Three cheers for Mr. Pettinger. I only wish that writers who wish to tell us about someone read this book and do as much research as he has. In my forty years as a professional musician and 30 years as a jazz educator, writer and broadcaster this is the best book written about the life of a musician I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Waltz for Bill
Review: I love Bill Evans. It took me a while to find this book but I'm glad I did. There are so many great pianists in jazz it's hard to choose one. After hearing Evans on Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" I knew I had found a pianist unlike any other. Pettinger does a wonderful job of bringing Evans back to life through this book. Truly a great read about a great musician.

Rating:
Summary: Bill Evans--the companion
Review: Reading this book, I was struck how, compared to biographies of figures from other fields, biographies of jazz figures really have no set mold. Perhaps that's because there aren't very many "definitive" jazz bios out there that define the field (the best books tend to remain autobiographies, like those of Hampton Hawes or Art Pepper; or bundles of quick but incisive sketches like Whitney Balliett's _American Musicians II_). Unlike, say, a novelist, a jazz musician doesn't produce artworks that are obviously enhanced by a biographical reading, nor (conversely) do they provide much useful information for a biographer. There are good books out there, but they range wildly from books basically interested in the life & its socal context (Hadju's _Lush Life_) to those that are highly technical in their focus on the music (Porter's _John Coltrane_). & of course there's lots of bad stuff out there by hacks like Leslie Gourse.

So where does Pettinger's book fit in this? Think of it as if it were retitled _Bill Evans: A Companion_, & you'll be happy with it. It's got the basic facts of the life, & more; & it often has revealing information (for instance, it's fascinating to know Evans' favourite author was Thomas Hardy); but it's basically a recording-by-recording companion to his musicial output. Pettinger was a classical pianist, & his slant is useful in some ways, unhelpful in others. He's immensely articulate & revealing about Evans' piano technique, for instance, but says virtually nothing about his harmonic innovations, which are precisely where Evans' influence on subsequent generations has been most pervasive. Some of his judgments will anger jazz fans: for instance, that Rudy Van Gelder was a terrible sound engineer (see p.136); or that Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh play too sharp (p.242); or that when played as a ballad "Lover Man" is "vapid" (p.148). On the other hand he's very useful & detailed on demonstrating how classical music informed Evans' music.

This is unlikely to be the final word on Evans. But it's a good start, & will reward any fan of Evans' music.

Rating:
Summary: Critics Miss the Boat on This One!
Review: Setting aside the strange comment that "this book was written by someone who knows nothing about jazz," which is, and virtually everyone who has written about this book agrees, simply not true, I wonder why more people didn't understand the gentle essence of what Pettinger is really saying. We can't read a book and get to know Bill Evans because very, very few people, if any, actually knew Bill Evans. The man let his music define who he was, how he felt, what he believed, etc. If you read this book, which I thought was wonderful, and are still searching for the real Bill Evans, you will only be disappointed. Pettinger paints a clear picture: the man was his music and there isn't much else there. Sure, a great writer, on the scale of say, Norman Mailer, could craft an image of bits and fragments but would they be true to the subject? How My Heart Sings is probably true to the subject and would have been applauded by Evans himself. Of course, we'll never know.

Rating:
Summary: Get to know the life of Bill Evans
Review: This book is more of a commented discography than a biograhpy, at least as compared to most bios. The story of Bill's life is presented here more through his recordings than anything else. The early part of his life is sketched briefly, but once he started making records, each individual disc is mentioned, and the circumstances discussed.

For fans of Bill Evans, who tend to be obsessive, this is the ideal guide to his work. While some of the author's judgements about the quality of certain recordings or live performances are perhaps a bit subjective, this is the companion that all Bill Evans fans must have.