Bill Evans – Everything Happens to Me: A Musical Biography

5 comments for Bill Evans – Everything Happens to Me: A Musical Biography ↓

#1 Petri Krzywacki on 03.12.10 at 11:39 pm

I also prefer How My Heart Sings over this one -I’m a huge Evans fan and as a jazz musician, I was thrilled about finding a “musical biography”. Well, just repeating the same old stories as all the other books on the subject and then throwing in comments about the recordings -some of them suspiciously harsh, even- does not make it any more musical than any other biography. Not only that, but the times he comments on the actual music, he is almost invariably mistaken and wrong; “Freddie Freeloader” in NOT in a minor key and “These Things Called Changes” is based on “What Is This Thing Called Love”, not “All The Things You Are” as Shadwick suggests. If he ever really studied the Manne-Hole live recordings instead of undeservedly dismissing them, he would know that Evans was already using the very same changes. As a collector of everything about Mr.Evans, I had to get this but I would not recommend it to anyone. Two stars for the subject alone.
Rating: 2 / 5

#2 Jim Williams on 03.13.10 at 1:02 am

I hate to be negative, but:
*This book adds nothing to the body of knowledge about BE and contains a number of factual errors, not the least of which is a
misspelling of Nenette’s last name pre-Evans. How checkable is that? Some tunes (and–I think–keys; I’ll have to check) are mis-identified as part of the attempt at musical analysis. Such glaring and very checkable errors tend to make me wonder about the quality of the rest of the content.
According to the author, this book was prepared at the same time as Pettinger’s was. Given that, it doesn’t surprise that this book is unfulfilling and unrevealing after Pettinger (which still leaves us wondering about BE the person).
If your budget is limited, get Pettinger’s book and Hanns Petrik’s (if you can read German). I’ll keep this book since I am somewhat of a “completist,” but I’d sell it used if the subject were anyone else.
Meanwhile, we should all hope that Gene Lees decides to write the definitive book on BE. I had some brief correspondence with him many years ago (not that I’m close to him–we simply share a mutual musical associate and friend) on this and other topics. As BE fans, our hope should be that the passage of time has softened or removed some of the factors that were leading him not to do it.
Rating: 1 / 5

#3 joe mama on 03.13.10 at 3:56 am

Like most other reviewers, I love Bill Evans’ records and I hear a certain magic in his playing. The trouble with this book–other than the microscopic text and exceedingly wide columns–is its utterly dry and monotonous narration.

The book is fairly interesting–whether accurate or not, I couldn’t say–in its account of Evans’ quiet ascent from obscurity to the jazz pantheon he eventually came to occupy. Unfortunately, once we’ve learned how Evans reached the top, book becomes excruciating in its colorless, repetitive and tedious descriptions of Evans’ subseqent recording sessions, tours, and record label changes.

Worst of all–and least excusable–is the fact that, somewhere along the way, author Shadwick seems to become disenchanted with the artistry of Bill Evans. If we’re to believe Shadwick’s account, the last 20 years of Evans’ career were almost entirely uninspired and devoid of the creativity and innovation for which he’s known and loved.

Whether he intends to or not, the end result is that Shadwick is essentially demystifying Evan’s artistic legacy–and that’s not a book I care to read.
Rating: 2 / 5

#4 Paul A. Tatara on 03.13.10 at 6:05 am

I honestly don’t know what the other people who rated this book are talking about. It’s tremendous, as beautifully designed and informative as anything I’ve ever read on Evans. If there are minor discography errors here and there – few books this all-encompassing are letter-perfect – it hardly means the work is a travesty. On the contrary, it’s absolutely brimming with useful information, both personal and technical, and the photos are great. A joy from beginning to end, regardless of what some obsessives (or the apparently cheesed-off Bill Evans estate) would like you to think.
Rating: 5 / 5

#5 Anonymous on 03.13.10 at 7:07 am

I can’t understand the hostility of the other reviews. This is a physically beautiful book with many excellent photgraphs. The text is very rich in detail and the author is taking pains to be accurate. It treats Evans career in sections, and takes each one equally seriously. While the prose is sometimes a little dense, and it’s focused more on the music than on the narrative of Evans’ life, the comments were pointed, observant, and accurate. Shadwick clearly understands and respects Evans, but it isn’t a puff piece–he’s perfectly willing to note a less than stellar session, or point out stagnant pahses in Evans’ career. He does a great job situating Evans’ career in the larger context of the jazz world as it was changing in each era. He notes the tragic role drugs played in Evan’s life, and gives a feel for this without any sensationalizing or glamorizing.

I would highly recommend this book for Evans fans. It treats him with serious critical sensitivity, and in a package suited to the beauty of the man’s art
Rating: 5 / 5

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