THE BILL EVANS' SOUND: Classic Jazz: "Alice In Wonderland"- Jazz Tutorial

This tutorial will cover an interpretation of Bills Evans’ harmonic style. It is not intended to be a transcription of his playing, instead a personal analysis, and how that has contributed to my own style of playing. My personal connection with Bill Evans: ”I first heard Bill Evans play live with his trio in 1964 at the Village Vanguard. My friend, Van and I met and spoke with him briefly. It was an experience I will never forget. This was the year that Gary Peacock played bass and Paul Motian was the drummer. They recorded Trio ’64. Peacock is not mentioned in Evans' wiki biography. When Bill’s bassist Scott LaFaro died in a car accident in 1961 shortly after recording the famous LP- "Live At The Village Vanguard," Bill was devastated and did not play in a trio for many months, until he resumed playing again with Chuck Israels (b), and Larry Bunker(d). There are live videos of this trio on YouTube, and they are the only videos of his early trio period, as far as I know. I heard Bill Evans play live a number times over the years w/ different combinations of trio members. My opinion is that his best trios were with his Riverside recordings w/ Scott and Paul and his last trio with Mark Johnson and Joe LaBarbera. I had the privilege of opening for the Bill Evans Trio with my jazz quartet in Hartford in the summer of 1979, the year before he died. We spoke briefly with Bill and Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson told us that Bill was becoming so advanced that it was becoming exceedingly more difficult to accompany him at his level. He also said the Bill was capable of playing louder and softer than anyone he ever heard. Bill died the following year from serious health conditions from complications of drug addiction. I was in dis-belief. It was a great loss to the jazz world when Bill Evans died at the age of 51 in 1980." -Kent Hewitt About the song: "Alice in Wonderland" is the theme song composed by Sammy Fain for the Walt Disney 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland. It was performed by The Jud Conlon Chorus and The Mellomen. The lyrics were written by Bob Hilliard and were arranged by Harry Simeone for treble voices.[1][2] The song plays during the opening and end credits.[3] Izumi Yukimura sang her own theme song for the Japanese release of the film. The "dreamy"[3] song has become a jazz standard[4] that has been performed by Bill Evans,[5] Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck,[6] and others. In his book The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia cites "Alice in Wonderland" as one of Evans's most beautiful performances, likening its "pristine beauty" to his "Waltz for Debby".[7] Evans recorded it at the Village Vanguard which featured on his 1961 album Sunday at the Village Vanguard.[8] Rosemary Clooney recorded the ballad with "The Unbirthday Song" which also appeared on the soundtrack to the movie, and Michael Feinstein has also recorded it along with the other songs from the movie in a medley.[3] The original recording for the film was in the key of G major, but the jazz standard is usually played in C major as it was by both Evans and Peterson. Thanks for watching and especially for reading this far. To find free score and jazz piano book, go to website at https://www.kenthewitt.com To watch video on my jazz piano book and see inside go here:    • JAZZ PIANO -  Methods and Songbook, (Vol. ...