Chuck Israels wrote:
In Bill Evans' music, there was far more fixed arrangement than most
people realized, or were willing to admit. Sometimes the stability
of that reliable framework served as a springboard for creativity,
and sometimes it just provided assurance that the shape and meaning
of the piece would come across consistently. Nevertheless, the
illusion of spontaneity, or perhaps real emotional spontaneity, is
more important than whether or not new notes are being played. I've
heard jazz improvisations that sound dead in the water, in spite of
the fact that they were being improvised, and performances of late
Beethoven quartets that sound as if the music is being made up by the
players. Go figure.
As someone who has straddled the two musical divides for 20 years (and
Yes, it does hurt!) I would love to have someone say to me what Chuck
has just written. I am always trying to make Bach sound improvised, and
to approach my jazz playing with a classical aesthetic (e.g. use
dynamics, phrasing, sub divide the beats into parts other than 2 or 3
etc). My first mature musical insight was the realisation that Glenn
Gould's Goldberg's and Bill Evans jazz albums came from very similar
musical minds.
Take that for whatever you want.
Bruce Petherick
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