Discovering Bill Evans (Part 2: Master Arranger) 

Speaking as a pianist/composer, your videos reveal the highest level of musical instruction. Thanks for putting this out there for people, keeping not only the legacy of this great music alive but showing its inner workings. Your respect for the music and how to get it across is most commendable.

Beautiful job. But your speaking voice is also so beautiful it enhances the feeling of the lesson.

Thanks for putting these together. I don't understand any of the theory as I am not a piano player however, it is so good to see what he did. From the first time I heard Bill, it was like it was what he left out as much as what he played that made him so unique. Watching you explain the voicings I understand Bill was as much a mathematician as Monk was.

You're a very capable and engaging analyser of what makes art jazz so compelling. Like poetry, it seeks to remove the padding and present the essence of language (harmony) in a simple but very sophisticated way. To say (as you said in your previous video) that it is "minimalist" is strictly correct, except that "minimalism" has now regrettably come to mean a altogether different musical form which is not minimalist at all, but the phrase has unfortunately taken hold. Your videos on Bill Evans are better and more informative than a hundred musicologists' efforts. Well done.

Thanks for the video. Bill Evans is my favorite. Chord voicings are nothing short of amazing.

Thank you for taking time to do these videos. The quality of information is great!

Blue in green is the best recording of all times

Great arrangement analysis. Thanks for sharing!

Fantastically beautiful!

You give so much beauty. Thank you for it

Thanks so much Aimee for showing this on the keys, and giving time to really take it in and see the movements. It's almost like watching a ballet on the keys when you play his music. This is a very insightful and relatable analysis accessible to all levels.

I like Bill Evans so much... so thanks and hugs from italy

From Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, I salute you Aimee for your beautiful work!!

Btw, that Bb in the bass w the a and c on top I've used a lot. I think of it as a Bbdim7 w a 9th. I remember hearing that chord as a child in the song Stella by Starlight, in the movie, The Nutty Professor, of all things. It happens right out of the middle section of the tune. Gorgeous! Thnx again for your beautiful and clear instruction

Fascinating...couldn't be better done..you are pro.thanks from Australia 😊

Very inspirational... Thanks!

This video is so insightful and well explained. Just loved it. Keep it up, and thank you so much for sharing this knowledge.

Thnx for this series on the beauty and yet intricacy of Bill's lovely playing. I had the pleasure of hearing his trio the last year I was at NTSU and playing in the 1 o'clock. Marc Johnson came thru Dallas n borrowed my upright, so we had lunch n talked about Bill, and how sad it was that he passed before he could finish a piano concerto he was working on. Love your vids, girl!

These are incredible lessons. More Bill Evans please, if you have time!

Very touching.

This is a great case study of a harmonic genius who I would say brought the best out of Miles & we were the beneficiaries of their collaborations🙏🙏🙏

Fantastic lesson. Thank you so much.

wow, love it, you are the best

I really appreciate the work you put into these little mini-master classes. You've certainly done the homework. As a fellow piano player, I also admire what appears to be a near-limitless patience. Many things which I have absorbed years ago take on a valuable clarity when you bring your mind to bear on them. We share a similar heart rate for the beauties and mysteries of harmony, and you seem to be amply aware of the value of informed simplicity. Cheers...

I love the nod to Annie Ross at 2:40. I went to see a one-off show by Hendricks and Ross in a Culver City club in the nineties. This majestic white-haired man was sitting about three seats over from me, and everyone was sort of stealing glances at him. At the end of the show he slipped past me, stepped to the stage, complimented Hendricks and Ross, who received him deferentially, and left. I asked the guy next to me who that was, and he looked at me incredulously: "Artie Shaw!"

Hi Amy, stumbled across this wonderful site and feeling inspired even after 25 years of playing...thank you! Would love to see you playing an old Andrae Crouch favourite of mine called "My tribute". Blessings from Bonnie Scotland 😉

I love Evans, and I have transcribed Time remembered, we will meet again and always wait for spring. The level of detail and presicion in the voicings is unbelievable. I can't say If he arranged or improvised because he is the GOAT, but if we were talking about another pianist I would say Yes! It is an arrangement.

Fantastic Amy. Bill Evans was and is my idol and model of a sensitive, tasty genius. I’ve always heard about this story ; that he went out to work on the piano part before he recorded each song on Together and Together Again the albums with Tony Bennett. To me it’s amazing that he worked this out in only an hour or so for each piece. I don’t know if it’s true, but I always heard the story that after he did these albums with Tony Bennett he said he never worked with another singer. It was never clear if you meant that Tony Bennett was so sublime that no one would compare to him or that he didn’t enjoy working with a singer. Regardless, the end result was a thing of great beauty. Your explanations are wonderful as is your clear respect and love for the creativity that went into these recordings. As a fellow pianist, I deeply appreciate your commitment to educating fellow musicians. Keep up the great work! Bill in nyc.

¡Bravo for the PEOPLE!

fantastic inspiring sharing and i play guitar and absorb!!!!

:) This is good stuff. Thanks, Aimee!

you're so amazing 😔 thank you

Wonderful! Thanks for the fantastic transcription and analysis. The section where he has the descending bass reminds me of Vince Guraldi's harmony. He loved swapping 7 chords for tritone sub diminished, Am to Abdim to Gm...

The greatest

Wow... Since now when I play this song, it will remember me that I fell in love with u

still my favorite bar - right at 0:42 - i believe he repeats that lick several times in one of his recordings... reminds me of being a kid again or something...

Aimee Nolte = Bob Ross of Jazz Piano

Wow

Just in case you have only heard one of the Bill Evans/Tony Bennett recordings, you should know that there's a second one, equally gorgeous! I can get you details if you need them. Two of my favorite records of all time!

Makes sense given their sophistication Paul Simons "I Do It For Your Love" comes to mind

yeee boi

Aimee, you need to take your Bill Evans videos down right now! I'm addicted to them and I need to get stuff done. My solution: put them on in the background while doing what I need to do. No. That doesn't work. After a few minutes, I'm sitting in front of the computer, watching the video. Guess I'm gonna be as productive as I wanted to be. Oh well... Amazing job, ma'am! Your "Discovering Bill Evans" videos are two of my favorites.

Strangely enough, I was going to request your take on this song. (:::Max hums "Twilight Zone" theme:::) Excellent lesson!

Thanks for a great post. Ironic that BE didn't consider himself to be a great jazz solo pianist despite his clear genius for that very thing. Bills self undervalued solos could run from 6-7 minutes on average. People is 13:28. Your post cites the iconic 2 album BE sessions with Tony Bennett in the YT clip with Clint Eastwwod. Any chance you would consider examining Bills solo of The Bad & The Beautiful from those sessions -it's not overdubbed, it's gorgeous and it's only 2:16. BTW if you've never seen it check out the CBC release video made to publicize the BE/TB albums release, which includes a great video of Bill himself playing the Bad & Beautiful. I'll provide the link in a moment.

...Woah...

Hi Aimee. Always interesting! Can you suggest a source where I can find rich jazz chord alternatives for some of the more simpler chords that I, and others, use?

It is obvious you have done your homework and done proper analysis on the Bill Evans stuff.

Bill was picking up on the minimalism of classical music from Satie through Ravel to Bartok.

Im still very new to jazz, but the chords remind me a little od Debussy or Ravel ?🤔

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟👏👏👏👏

thank you for another lesson. question though have, you ever done a video with tips on playing multiple meters? it's quite tricky to play something that keeps changing time signatures

Really really interesting, that Bill Evans! I'm really wondering who your "top 5" piano player are ? (Maybe someone who has influenced you the most or who you think plays the most beautifully) :)

This sound reminds me of Debussy préludes.

So much stuff here, I'm stealing that idea at 12:55 - 12:58.

nice hands

Sent you an email requesting this as you post above yet never got it about a month ago(my email request would be 09/21).

“mastermind”

Here is the nearly 28 minute long video link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7LIW7q_cFeA.html

Innate complex beauties

And i thought I was good )))))

Ironically his technique came about from a hand injury 🤔🤔🤔

Lots of dissonance