Times Remembered - The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

"As the drummer with Bill Evans from 1978-1980, author Joe La Barbera recounts stories that take readers into the creative process of the Bill Evans Trio. From tune selection, to musical interaction and time feel, La Barbera finally tells the inside story of the musical genius of Bill Evans. In addition to the rare musical insight, readers get a true sense of Bill Evans the friend, father, band leader, and artist. It wasn't always happy or easy to read about the end of Evans's life, but thanks to La Barbera's great writing the story unfolded with humility, love, and honesty."

- CHRIS SMITH, author of The View from the Back of the Band: The Life and Music of Mel Lewis

“An insightful, intimate look into the mind, music and travels of pianist Bill Evans and his trio during his turbulent final years, as remembered by his colleague and friend Joe La Barbera. Many gems are revealed, from Evans's reflections on recording Kind of Blue with Miles Davis, to his conceptions on the art of playing trio, to thought provoking words of guidance for students of jazz — all providing a deeper recognition of the humanity and genius of the man."

- Renee Rosnes, Juno award-winning jazz pianist and composer

If you are a fan of the music of Bill Evans, you need to add this book to your reading list. Period.

There’s nothing else like it in the Jazz literature. 

With the exception of quoted references here and there by musicians who have played in Bill’s trios over the years [circa 1959-1980], there is no other book length treatment by any member of these groups [although bassist Chuck Israels has written an exceptional essay of the inner workings of Bill’s style] describing in detail what it was like to make music with Bill and interact with him on a personal and professional level.

With the assistance of co-author Charles Levin, himself a drummer, Joe La Barbera recounts his time with Bill from 1978 - 1980 in an expressive narrative that’s easy to read and full of anecdotes, observations and insights about Bill the bandleader, the elegant piano stylist and the human being experiencing the high’s and low’s of daily existence.

By way of background : JOE LA BARBERA attended Berklee College of Music and served two years in the 173rd U.S. Army Band before embarking on his career as a jazz musician. He has performed with world-class jazz artists including Woody Herman, Chuck Mangione, John Scofield, Jim Hall, Hank Jones, Cedar Walton, George Cables, Bud Shank, Gary Burton, Mike and Randy Brecker, and Toots Thielmans. From 1993 until 2021 he was on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts and has been a guest artist/ lecturer at colleges around the world. In 2019 Joe received the prestigious Jazz Treasure Award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He resides in Woodland Hills, California, with his spouse, Gillian Turner, and their boxer Bernie.

CHARLES LEVIN has written for the Ventura County Star, DownBeat, Jazziz, and the Monterey Jazz Festival Program. He has a BFA and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and played drums professionally for thirty years. Levin led his own jazz group, Coda, and co-led and managed Dreamland, a touring tribute band to Joni Mitchell. He lives in Ventura, California, and New York City with his partner, Jeni Breen, and their dog Ives.

The University of North Texas Press announced the September 2021 publication of Times Remembered: The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio by Joe La Barbera and Charles Levin with this brief press release.

In the late 1970s legendary pianist Bill Evans, one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, was at the peak of his career. He revolutionized the jazz trio (bass, piano, drums) by giving each part equal emphasis in what jazz historian Ted Gioia called a "telepathic level" of interplay. It was an ideal opportunity for a sideman, and after auditioning in 1978, Joe La Barbera was ecstatic when he was offered the drum chair, completing the trio with Evans and bassist Marc Johnson.

In Times Remembered, La Barbera and co-author Charles Levin provide an intimate fly-on-the-wall peek into Evans's life, critical recording sessions, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes of life on the road. Joe regales the trio's magical connection, a group that quickly gelled to play music on the deepest and purest level imaginable. He also watches his dream gig disappear, a casualty of Evans's historical drug abuse when the pianist dies in a New York hospital emergency room in 1980. But La Barbera tells this story with love and respect, free of judgment, showing Evans's humanity and uncanny ability—even in his final days—to transcend physical weakness and deliver first-rate performances at nearly every show.

Times Remembered includes a foreword by Hal Miller, a discography of the band's work, and numerous "breakout boxes" with reminiscences by musicians who knew Evans, interspersed with La Barbera's memories of the same times.

This is a fun read; the book basically becomes a vehicle for a “conversation” that Joe has with his readers.

The Itinerary compiled by Tonino Vantaggiato which concludes the book [pages 187 -190] along with a listing of Bill Evans’ Trio recording featuring Marc Johnson and Joe along with the footnotes, bibliography and list of online sites devoted to Evans offer the reader and indispensable repository through which to explore the work of the group during the last three years of its existence.

Beginning at the beginning, Joe’s reminiscences about the very musical LaBarbera family are a throwback to a time when music formed an important part of a self-entertainment element in American family life

All three of the La Barbera brothers - Pat, John and Joe - would attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston and Joe’s description of what the atmosphere was like at that grand educational Jazz institution along with the Who’s Who of contemporary Jazz musicians who passed through it while the brothers were there forms a fascinating story-within-a-story.

Throughout the book, the anecdotal inserts by musicians who are important to Joe’s initial and continuing development as a professional musician add depth to the background of Joe’s career as it leads up to his time on Bill’s trio. These include statements and recollections by drummer Peter Erskine, pianist Andy LaVerne, bassist Marc Johnson, pianist Denny Zeitlin, among many others.

The crushing events that cascaded into Bill’s death on September 15, 1980 are poignantly but not mordantly described by Joe in a way that no one else ever could because it was he that drove Bill to the hospital on the day Bill died with Laurie Verchomin his girlfriend helping to stabilize him.

Bill actually managed to give Joe driving directions to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. 

In the aftermath, Joe alludes to the stresses and strains of what he went through to keep it all together after he heard  the attending physician’s pronouncement: “I’m sorry your friend didn’t make it.”

Fortunately, although Joe lost his dream job with Bill’s passing, other opportunities soon came his way including a ten year stint as vocalist Tony Bennett’s drummer and, beginning in 1993, a 25 year association as a drum teacher at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.

Of course, the aspects of Joe’s book that are the most rewarding are his personal memories of his time on Bill’s trio so let’s close by sharing a few of these.

“Another concept I found interesting was something Bill called "The Joy of Discovery." I first heard him use this term at a clinic in Tucson, Arizona in the spring of 1979. The trio performed a series of workshops and a concert. I loved this phrase and all it implied from the start. At one point, a student pointedly asked Bill what notes he used in a particular chord voicing on a recording. It's a logical question, and many of us have fielded similar questions about something we may have played on a record.

But Bill's answer was not what any of us expected. He told the student, and I'm paraphrasing here, I can tell you exactly what I played, but it will have no real meaning for you and you'll probably forget it quickly. What you really need to do is to sit down with the song I played and work through it yourself as I did. Then find things that are personal to you based on your understanding of music to date. If I just tell you what you ask, I will be robbing you of the joy of discovery. This was a fantastic lesson for me and the kids.

What about the joy of discovery on a professional level? I have definitely made my own discoveries in the practice room and still do today. But Bill offered me and everyone who ever worked with him the opportunity to make discoveries on the bandstand. He did this by never having an agenda beyond full participation by all of us in the group. He did not want you to sound like the person you just replaced (and believe me, some bandleaders do!) but to find your voice within the music for yourself. This requires a leader with

tremendous patience and confidence—confidence in his own abilities and the ability he perceived in you.”

...

“Meanwhile, Bill weighed in with this comment about the trio with Marc and myself. "I have the feeling that this current trio is more similar to the one with Scott and Paul than any I've had before," he told Robert Kenselaar in a 1979 interview in The Aquarian. "I don't know how, exactly, what it is except that they inspire me to go for that fresh approach and when I do, they go right with whatever is happening. Maybe it's the mixture of personalities and interests. I don't want to put down any of the trios that I've had because they're all special in their own way. But I feel like the perspective for this trio offers some potential that the others might not have had."

Robert Palmer, writing in a 1979 Rolling Stone interview, agreed. "Johnson and La Barbera are sensitive and adept musicians," Palmer wrote. "They aren't the most spectacular virtuosos on their instruments. But they are the right players ... right for Evans."

The point here is that Bill had no agenda for a new member of the trio other than keep your ears open and respect the music. What's really important to me in all these comments is that this is what Bill was feeling. Fans and history will decide who they like the best; it's really not the point. I'd be happy if my epitaph read, "Bill Dug Me."

In the two years I played with him, he never put his own ego ahead of the music. As a sideman, I was given a great deal of freedom but along with it came responsibility. The music came first—always.”

…

Historical Perspective

“When it comes to Bill Evans, fans and musicians alike all have their favorite trios and eras of Bill's career. Bill would never compare trios "qualitatively but more in terms of spirit" as he stated in an interview after a concert in Molde, Norway.1 Certainly, reasonable minds can argue the talents and abilities of the individual members of each trio. I would not fare too well side-by-side with "Philly" Joe Jones, who, by anyone's estimation, including my own, was one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time—and Bill's personal favorite, I might add.

The fact is. all of Bill's trios were great and for a very simple reason: Bill Evans was the pianist in each one. Arguably, the bassists and drummers who played with Bill were all exceptional and made enormous contributions to his music and musical growth. Bill's intense emotional style, self-expression, clarity of thought and overall extremely high musicianship can be experienced on all of his recordings, no matter who his partners were.

Bill Evans raised each one of us to a level only he could help us achieve, and this informed the musical journey we experienced later in our careers. Some musicians have this ability and strength to lift everyone around them. Bill had this quality ... in spades. He gave me the strength that allows me to help other musicians play their best. Besides being a great soloist. Bill was an equally great accompanist, always listening and supportive to the soloist. For me, this aspect of being a musician, particularly in the rhythm section, is as enjoyable as taking a solo.

I feel there's a misconception regarding Bill Evans' preference for side-men. Bill stayed open to working with players from a variety of styles and interests. As I've said before, "Philly'' Joe Jones was his all-time favorite drummer and obviously Bill felt a very special connection with bassist Scott LaFaro, especially in the development of the trio's identity. But the first bass player he hired for his trio was Jimmy Garrison and, of course, he worked with Paul Chambers in Miles Davis's Band. Bill told me that he always enjoyed playing with Percy Heath and, on one occasion at the Village Vanguard, bassist John Clayton sat in, and Bill enjoyed that as well.

That all the trios had merit in their own way was not lost on jazz journalists, critics or fans.”

For order information directly through the University of North Texas Press please use this link.

The book is also available through retail and online booksellers and would make a wonderful holiday gift for any Jazz fan.