It is hard to definitively pin-down what the essential element is to Bill Evans’s sound. Is it the warm timbre that he is able to produce? Is it the way he phrases the melodic line? What about how he voices his chords? Or maybe it’s the rhythmic element that displaces the metric pulse?

Here’s a clip from NPR Jazz Profiles on Bill. Eddie Gomez, Bill’s bassist from 1966-1977, posits:

From Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now edited by Robert Gottlieb,  The Poet: Bill Evans by Gene Lees:

The level of his dynamics was often kept low, like his speech. He was a soft player. But within that range, his playing was full of subtle dynamic shadings and constantly shifting colors.  Some physicists have argues that a pianist cannot have a personal and individual “tone” because of the nature of the instrument, which consists of a bunch of felt hammers hitting strings. So much for theory.

Bassist Marc Johnson, who played an integral role in Bill’s final trio, adds his perspective:

I received an email from Chuck Israels, another outstanding bassist who contributed to Bill’s oeuvre, shared:

I have done a lot of exploration of Bill’s music since that article was written and have discovered a number of interesting and useful things.  The voicings – those things that occupy the attention of most listeners (in no small way because they can be stopped in time and examined at leisure), are not the most interesting and unique aspect of Bill’s music.  There is far more personality to be found in his rhythm, dynamics and articulation – elements that flow by in real time and are more difficult to isolate, notate, and analyze.

 Chuck

The late pianist, and early influence on Bill, George Shearing comments on Bill’s rhythmic sensibility:

We talked about the complexity of rhythm and uh, he would leave me dead every once in a while by getting so involved in crossing from one bar to another…I was almost tempted to say “Where’s [beat] one?” But he would go ahead an scientifically explain it.

Bill illustrates this point during his interview with Marian McPartland:

MC


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