The Individualism Of Gil Evans by Gil Evans Verve Records (V-8555) Publication date 1964

 The gifted young composer, arranger, and

critic Bill Mathieu once wrote of Gil Evans:

“The mind reels at the intricacy of his or-

chestral and developmental techniques. His

scores are so careful, so formally well-con-

structed, so mindful of tradition that you feel

the originals should be preserved under glass

in a Florentine museum”

Mathieu’s feelings about Evans are not

unusual. Without doubt the most individual-

istic and personal jazz composer since Duke

Ellington, Evans is held in near-reverence by

a wide range of composers, arrangers, in-

strumentalists, and critics. This feeling is

only intensified by the fact that he is a rather

inaccessible man—not unfriendly, or anti-

social; just politely, quietly inaccessible —

whose output has been small, and all of it

is indeed remarkable.

What is it that makes Evans’ work

unique? This is impossible to say in mere

words, but with your indulgence, I’m going

to try to clarify some of it. What I want to

say is not for the professional musician but

the layman; the pros are invited to skip the

next few paragraphs.

Every “song” is built of two primary com-

ponents: its melody and its harmony.

Rhythm is the third major factor, but I want

to confine myself to the first two.

As the melody is played, a certain sequence

of chords occurs beneath it. Now the bottom

note of these chords sets up a sort of melody

of its own. This is referred to as the “bass

line;’ and it has great importance to the tex-

ture and flavor of the music. As a first step

to the appreciation of Gil Evans, try not

hearing the melody but listening to the bass

line on some of these tracks.

Between the bass note and the melody note

fall the other notes of the chord. You can put

them down in a slap-dash fashion, so that

you've got merely chords occurring in

sequence like a line of telephone poles holding

up the wire of melody; or you can link the

inner notes of one chord to the inner notes of

the next one, setting up still other melodies

within the music. These new lines are called

the “inner voices” of the harmonization. How

well he handles inner voices is one of the

measures of a composer’s or an arranger’s

writing skill.

Gil’s handling of them is often astonish-

ing. His original melody, his bass line, and

his inner lines are always exquisite. The re-

sult is that one of Gil’s scores is faintly anal-

ogous to a crossword puzzle: it can be “read”

both vertically (up through the chords) or

horizontally in the form of the various melo-

dies he sets up. Heard both ways simultane-

ously, his music can be breath-taking.

That’s part of it.

Another and important part is his use of

unusual instrumentations. Evans has virtu-

ally abandoned the standard jazz instrumen-

tation of trumpets-trombones-saxes. He uses

flutes, oboes, English horns (the standard

classical woodwinds), along with French

horns and a few of the conventional jazz

instruments to extend the scope of the jazz

orchestra. Evans was one of the first to use

French horns in jazz, in the days when he

was chief arranger for the celebrated Claude

Thornhill orchestra. Not only does Gil use

“non-jazz” instruments (usually played by

jazz players, however), but he puts them to-

gether in startling ways, to create unearthly

and fresh lovely sounds.

Finally, there’s his sense of form, of logi-

cal construction. Everything he writes builds

to sound and esthetically satisfying climaxes,

beautifully developing the previously-

stated material. I know of no one in jazz with

a more highly-developed sense of form than

Gil Evans.

Yet, with all his gifts, Gil is oddly down-to-

earth about his music. Once, when I told him

that some people were having trouble decid-

ing whether an album he had done with Miles

Davis was classical music or jazz, he said,

“That’s a merchandiser’s problem, not mine’

Another time he said, “I write popular

music’? What he meant, of course, is that he

wanted no part of pointless debates about

musical categorizations ; that he was making

no claims on behalf of his music; and that

since that music grew out of the traditions

of American popular music, he was content

to call it that.

On another occasion he said, “I’m just an

arranger” This comment I reject. Even when

Gil is working with other people’s thematic

material, what he does to it constitutes

composition.

He uses several different instrumenta-

tions in the course of this album. You will find

the personnel listed elsewhere on these pages.

No trumpets are heard in The Barbara

Song, a Kurt Weill melody from the Three-

Penny Opera. Gil elected to use two French

horns, a trombone, tuba, flute, bass flute,

English horn, bassoon, tenor saxophone,

piano, bass, drums and harp. Note how he

uses harp to add vinegar to certain parts of

the orchestral texture. I was struck by

Wayne Shorter’s beautifully lyrical tenor

solo, and so was Gil. Many people (previously

including myself) are unaware of this facet

of Shorter’s ability.

Las Vegas Tango uses one of Gil’s own

themes. “It’s a plain traditional minor blues,”

he said. You'll find nothing plain about it. “I

used this title because it had a kind of open

sound like the plains, to me;’ he said. “I grew

up in the West?’ Note the entry of Jimmy

Cleveland for a trombone solo. The opening

few notes are so appropriate that I thought

Gil must have written them. Not so: they are

Cleveland’s own. The deep sound of Paul

Chambers’ bass, and his striking ability to

sustain notes, contribute considerably to the

brooding quality of this track.

I asked Gil why he so often used Spanish

titles for his works. “I don’t know?’ he said.

“Perhaps because I can’t find English titles

for them. I’ve always inclined to Spanish

music, but I didn’t really absorb it from the

Spanish. I got it from the French impression-

ists—and, of course, the Spanish impression-

ists, like DeFalla”

Flute Song, another Evans composition, is

a two-minute flute solo for Al Block. It goes

without pause into Hotel Me. “Miles and I

wrote this number for a play, called ‘The

Time of the Barracuda.’ Listening to the

track, he said of his own piano work, “I play

real broad on this. I don’t know why, I

just did”

El Toreador, another Evans composition

with a Spanish title, features Johnny Coles,

trumpet; Osie Johnson, drums; and three

bassists — Paul Chambers, Richard Davis,

and Milton Hinton.

To say that this album has been long-

awaited is no cliché. It is the first Gil Evans

recording in three years. “I stayed away

from music for two years,’ he said. “I wanted

to look around and see what was happening

in the world outside of music”’

Welcome back. We’ve missed you.

(rene Lees

RECORDING INFORMATION:

A bh dation New Yous.

A. & R. Studios, New York City

Engineer: Phil Ramone

PERSONNEL:

Composer, arranger, conductor, piano: Gil Evans

Bass: Paul Chambers, Richard Davis, Ben Tucker

Trombone: Jimmy Cleveland

Reeds & woodwinds: Al Block, Eric Dolphy,

Steve Lacy, Bob Tricarico

French horn: Gil Cohen, Don Corado, Julius Watkins

Guitar: Barry Galbriath

Harp: Margret Ross

Drums: Elvin Jones

Bf f oreador—recorded September, 1963 at

A. & R. Studios, New York City

Engineer: Phil Ramone

PERSONNEL:

Composer, arranger, conductor, piano : Gil Evans

Bass: Milt Hinton, Paul Chambers, Richard Davis

Drums: Osie Johnson

Reeds & woodwinds: Jerome Richardson, Eric Dolphy,

Steve Lacy, Bob Tricarico

Trumpets: Hrnie Royal, Johnny Coles, Louis Mucci

French horns: Jim Buffington, Bob Northern

Trombones: Jimmy Cleveland Tony Studd

Hotel Me and Las Vegas 1 ango—recorded April

6, 1964 at Webster Hall, New York City

Engineer‘ Bob Simpson

PERSONNEL:

Composer, arranger, conductor, piano: Gil Evans

Bass: Ron Carter, Paul Chambers

French horn: Ray Alonge

Tuba: Bill Barber

Guitar: sey Burrell

Reeds & woodwinds: Garvin Bushell, Erie Dolphy,

Bob Tricarico, Steve Lac;

Trombones: Jimmy Cleveland, Tony Studd

Trumpets: Johnny Coles, Bernie Glow

Drums: Elvin Jones

Sarbara Song—recorded July 9, 1964 at Van Gelder’s

Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder

PERSONNEL:

Arranger, conductor, piano Gil Evans

French horns: Ray Alonge, Julius Watkins

Tuba: Bill Barber

Reeds & woodwinds: Al Block, Andy Fitzgerald,

George Marge, Bob Tricarico, Wayne Shorter

Drums: Elvin Jones

Bass: Gary Peacock

Harp: Bob Maxwell

Piaaukancs Hemi Malek:

This record has been engineered and manufactured in accord-

ance with standards developed by the Record Industry Associ-

ation of America, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to

the betterment of recorded music and literature.