Bill Evans Tribute Comes to The Grand on State

Jazz is a music that is constantly being built and rebuilt by successive generations of musicians. In the mid-1950s, one of the major architects of that rebuilding started playing piano in a groundbreaking group led by Miles Davis, himself a jazz master builder. The work of Bill Evans that began in those small groups — in a career that continued for more than 20 years and included his own legendary trios and a host of albums — has resonated for decades since, making the New Jersey–born artist one of the most influential in the history of the music. 

On October 16, Tamir Hendelman, one of today’s leading jazz piano virtuosos, leads a trio at The Grand on State (1218 State St.) in a A Tribute to Bill Evans, highlighting Evans’s music, his style, and his impact. Hendelman spoke about the upcoming show and the influence of Evans on his own extensive musical career, which includes numerous recordings and an international slate of appearances. Now based in Los Angeles, Hendelman has played with the famed Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, led his own trios, and recorded with stars such as Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, and Tierney Sutton.

What did Evans bring to jazz that was so lastingly influential?

When Miles brought Bill into the group, it completely changed the sound of the group, but also of jazz. [He brought] the beautiful harmonies that reflect light and shade in a way that wasn’t really approached before. And Bill’s honesty — and Bill even wrote in the liner notes to [Kind of Blue] — that taking a jazz solo is like taking a calligraphy pen across a canvas and just drawing in one straight line, no going back, no editing, here it is. So his vision was to create something beautiful that lasts. He also did it in a way that innovated because his whole group concept was about “let’s have a musical conversation together and all improvise.” That had not really been put into the music before him. That conversation, trading, reacting, listening, that sensitivity — that carried through with all the different trios that he played with.

What do you hope that the audience at The Grand will take away from your trio’s performance about understanding what it was that Bill Evans did?

For me, the exciting thing about playing Bill Evans’s music today is not trying to sound like Bill Evans. It’s asking what happens when three musicians who love his music bring their own histories and their own ears and personalities into it. I’m excited about bringing [drummer] Dan Schnelle to this concert. Dan has a very creative, responsive quality that really makes you want to take chances. And [bassist] Mike Gurolla brings an amazing combination of deep tradition and really fierce improvisational energy. So it’s like we’re not going to try to be the Bill Evans Trio ourselves; we’re going to put ourselves into that tradition of interaction and see what happens.

What works of Evans do you expect to play?

Well, we’re going to be playing some of the classic Bill Evans work that people love, songs like “Blue in Green,” “You Must Believe in Spring,” which he gave his own style to. But also some lesser-known pieces. There are a couple of classical pieces by some of the Impressionist composers, Ravel and Fauré, that I recently arranged. Those pieces themselves have some of his flavor because [Evans] was really heavily influenced by Debussy and others. And I recently recorded a piece that Evans wrote called “Only Child,” it was something that he recorded with [trumpeter] Tom Harrell, and I never knew about this tune. So we’ll be showing some of the lesser-known Bill Evans, as well as maybe playing a few songs that are inspired by his approach.

A Tribute to Bill Evans shows at The Grand on State (1218 State St.) October 16, 7 p.m. Dinner, wine, and beer are also available at the club. For tickers, see thegrandonstate.com.