Welcome

Jazz Piano

Welcome to the Harry Evans Trio! Here you will find the complete LP: Someday We'll Be Together Again. This two record set features the Harry Evans Trio in a live club setting. The entire LP can be downloaded from this web site. This web site also features a few photo's of Bill and Harry Evans.

Harry Evans was the older brother of the late great jazz pianist Bill Evans. Unlike Bill, Harry played on rare occasions opting instead to pursue a teaching career in jazz music - see example Article Writeup. Harry was instrumental in leading Bill into jazz and as Bill indicated on the Johnny Carson Show (appearing with Tony Bennett), Harry was Bill's greatest influence.

The two brothers were incredibly close and when Harry Evans died in 1979 it led to the death of Bill Evans in 1980. So it is only fitting that Harry's only LP is titled Someday We'll Be Together Again. Likewise, Bill dedicated an album to Harry: We Will Meet Again released on Warner Brothers in 1980.

Both Bill and Harry Evans were very simple and honest type people who expressed things in a clear way. They were not overly pre-occupied with how their music might impress the experts, but more with reaching and relating to the average person. It was the average listener who counted in their music.

For Bill, there was an ironic sense of humbleness and humility, acknowledging that one's own musical gifts were only as good as the next musician. As a result, Bill was an adamant learner in the pursuit of trying new things. This is perhaps what separates the great jazz musician from the good jazz musician - the ability to innovate and create something that has never been heard before. And needless to say Bill Evans was one of the greatest innovators in the history of jazz piano.

Harry on the other hand was content to just have fun and swing in a simple way. For example, Harry loved the use of spacing expressed by certain jazz pianist such as Amad Jamal. Harry probably played Live at the Pershing more than any other jazz LP. The use of spacing (not playing the note) helped capture the essence of the song.

This is perhaps why their playing (both Bill and Harry) could be impressive to the "non-critic" type audience. Jazz is not so much about technique, so common place today, but more about the expression of a feeling. A good venue for expressing this feeling is to play standards which typically reaches a wider audience. So naturally Bill and Harry gravitated in this direction making their music that much more enjoyable. And as you listen to Harry's playing from this web site, it's all about the standard, how it's arranged, the use of space and the will to swing - something that Bill and Harry would do in a subtle way without inundating the listener with heavy piano playing.