Gil Evans

Gil Evans是jazz史上最重要的作曲家和編排家之一，并且影響了無數的當代的大樂團爵士樂（譬如Toshiko Akiyoshi（秋吉敏子）70年代的大樂團音樂）。或許他是繼Ellington公爵之后最具個性的爵士作曲家，他指揮他的爵士管弦樂隊從容的橫跨音樂各個領域。 作為西海岸冷爵士的代表，他顯然相對來說是另類的，在這張他個人主義的唱片裏面。Gil Evans創(chuàng)新的改革了大樂隊的編制，我們都知道，Gil Evans的爵士樂借鑒了古典音樂的創(chuàng)作方法，形成了他自己特有的嚴謹，複雜和非常有深度的jazz樂創(chuàng)作風格，許多作品甚至可以放在佛落倫薩的藝術博物館裏精心保存。所以他放棄了標準和經典的爵士樂隊管樂配置，即傳統(tǒng)的小號+長號+薩克斯（在The Barbara Song裏面我們聽不到小號），他使用長笛，雙簧管，和木管樂器（Reed & Woodwinds），和豎琴（Harp）,小提琴,Gil Evans也是最早在大樂隊採用法國號的音樂家，這些樂器在他鋼琴的統(tǒng)一編排和指揮下,獲得了令人驚嘆的大氣和和諧。 Gil Evans是如何做到將和絃和旋律與jazz樂的即興傳統(tǒng)如此高度的統(tǒng)一融合在一起的呢？聽聽唱片開始The Time Of The Barracudas 和The Barbara Song裏Wayne Shorter優(yōu)美的tenor sax 即興solo以及Gary Peacoak的bass和Evin Jones組成的節(jié)奏部貫穿整個樂曲，當然還有Gil Evans本人的鋼琴在前面領路呢。
by Scott Yanow
One of the most significant arrangers in jazz history, Gil Evans three album-length collaborations with Miles Davis (Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain) are all considered classics. Evans had a lengthy and wide-ranging career that sometimes ran parallel to the trumpeter. Like Davis, Gil became involved in utilizing electronics in the 1970s and preferred not to look back and recreate the past. He led his own band in California (1933-38) which eventually became the backup group for Skinnay Ennis; Evans stayed on for a time as arranger. He gained recognition for his somewhat futuristic charts for Claude Thornhills Orchestra (1941-42 and 1946-48) which took advantage of the ensembles cool tones, utilized French horns and a tuba as frontline instruments and by 1946 incorporated the influence of bop. He met Miles Davis (who admired his work with Thornhill) during this time and contributed arrangements of Moon Dreams and Boplicity to Davis Birth of the Cool nonet.
After a period in obscurity, Evans wrote for a Helen Merrill session and then collaborated with Davis on Miles Ahead. In addition to his work with Miles (which also included a 1961 recorded Carnegie Hall concert and the half-album Quiet Nights), Evans recorded several superb and highly original sets as a leader (including Gil Evans and Ten, New Bottle Old Wine and Great Jazz Standards) during the era. In the 1960s among the albums he worked on for other artists were notable efforts with Kenny Burrell and Astrud Gilberto. After his own sessions for Verve during 1963-64, Evans waited until 1969 until recording again as a leader. That years Blues in Orbit was his first successful effort at combining acoustic and electric instruments; it would be followed by dates for Artists House, Atlantic (Svengali) and a notable tribute to Jimi Hendrix in 1974. After 1975s There Comes a Time (which features among its sidemen David Sanborn), most of Evans recordings were taken from live performances. Starting in 1970 he began playing with his large ensemble on a weekly basis in New York clubs. Filled with such all-star players as George Adams, Lew Soloff, Marvin Hannibal Peterson, Chris Hunter, Howard Johnson, Pete Levin, Hiram Bullock, Hamiet Bluiett and Arthur Blythe among others, Evans later bands were top-heavy in talent but tended to ramble on too long. Gil Evans, other than sketching out a framework and contributing his keyboard, seemed to let the orchestra largely run itself, inspiring rather than closely directing the music. There were some worthwhile recordings from the 1980s (when the band had a long string of Monday night gigs at Sweet Basil in New York) but in general they do not often live up to their potential. Prior to his death, Gil Evans recorded with his arrangers piano on duets with Lee Konitz and Steve Lacy and his body of work on a whole ranks with the top jazz arrangers.