John Lewis (pianist)
Encyclopedia
John Aaron Lewis was an American
jazz
pianist
and composer
best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet
.
, he learned classical music and piano from his mother starting at the age of seven. He continued his musical training at the University of New Mexico
and also studied anthropology. He served in the Army in World War II
. While stationed in France on a three-year tour of duty, he met and performed with Kenny Clarke
. Clarke was an early developer of the bop
style and Lewis composed and arranged for a band he and Clarke organized. Lewis returned from service in 1945 and resumed his university studies.
clubs with Allen Eager
, Hot Lips Page and others. After that year, he joined Dizzy Gillespie
's bop-style big band where Clarke was the drummer. Lewis developed his skill further by composing and arranging for the band as well as attending the Manhattan School of Music
. In January 1948, the band made a concert tour of Europe, interrupting Lewis' studies. Lewis stayed in Europe for a time after the tour, writing and studying piano. He returned to the United States and started working for Charlie Parker
in 1948 (playing on the famous recording "Parker's Mood"), Illinois Jacquet
from October 1948 to 1949, Lester Young
from 1950 to 1951, and others. He participated in the second Birth of the Cool
session with Miles Davis
in 1949 but was unable to attend the first because of an engagement with Ella Fitzgerald
, whom he accompanied. Al Haig
substituted for him, and the band did not include a pianist for its third session in 1950. Lewis arranged the compositions "Move" and "Budo" (immediately released as singles in 1949) and contributed one tune, "Rouge", to these seminal sessions.
Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson
, drummer Clarke, and bassist Ray Brown
had been the small group within the Gillespie big band (something that harked back to the peak of the big band era, when most big bands also featured small groups within) and played their own short sets when the brass and reeds needed a break. It led to the foursome forming a full-time working group in 1950, known at first as the Milt Jackson Quartet, and usually featuring the vibraphonist's distinctive, swinging, blues-heavy improvisations.
The group replaced Brown (who departed to join wife Ella Fitzgerald
's group) with Percy Heath
and changed their name to the Modern Jazz Quartet. Lewis gradually transformed the group away from being strictly a vehicle for Jackson's improvisations, assuming the role of musical director, and oriented it toward a quiet, chamber style of music that found a balance between his gentle, almost mannered compositions, and Jackson's more elemental writing and playing. He obtained his master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1953 and soon made the MJQ his full-time career. From 1954 through 1974, he wrote and performed for the quartet, with the group earning a worldwide reputation for managing to make jazz mannered without cutting the swing out of the music, before Jackson decided he wanted to leave and return to his purely blues and swinging roots.
Lewis also directed the School of Jazz at the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts
, annually in August from 1957 to 1960. From 1958 to 1982 he also served as music director of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival
, and in 1962 he formed the cooperative big band Orchestra U.S.A.
, which performed and recorded Third Stream
(jazz/classical combined) compositions (1962–65). (The MJQ themselves had recorded an album, Third Stream Music, that amplified Lewis's and others' hopes that there could be a new stream of music welding jazz to classical music.)
After the MJQ disbanded temporarily in 1974, Lewis taught at the City College of New York
and at Harvard University
, while performing solo recitals and duo recitals with Hank Jones
and others and continued composing.
But in 1981, the Modern Jazz Quartet re-formed, though Lewis also played with his own sextet, the John Lewis Group and, in 1985, founded the American Jazz Orchestra with Gary Giddins
and Roberta Swann. (The MJQ's return album, Three Windows, was dominated by chamber orchestra accompaniment, similar to tracks on the earlier Third Stream Music, including a re-written "Three Windows," a quarter piece he'd written for the MJQ's music for the film No Sun in Venice.)
In the 1990s he continued to teach, compose, and perform, both with the MJQ and independently. He participated in the Re-birth of the Cool sessions with Gerry Mulligan
in 1992 (and was this time able to play on the entire album). He was also involved in various Third Stream music projects with Gunther Schuller
and others, as well as being an early and somewhat surprising advocate of the music of Ornette Coleman
.
John Lewis died in New York City
after a long battle with prostate cancer
.
—punctuating the melody with irregularly placed chords—he often played simple counter-melodies in octaves which combined with the solo and bass parts to form a polyphonic texture. Occasionally, Lewis played in a manner resembling the stride styles of James P. Johnson
and Fats Waller
, all the while retaining his light touch.
Many of Lewis’s solos had a degree of motivic
unity, which is rare in jazz. For example, in "Bluesology" (1956) each chorus of his solo builds on the previous one by establishing a link from the end of one chorus to the beginning of the next. His 64-bar solo in "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
" (1957) derives almost entirely from its first two bars, which in turn derive from the first four notes of the theme. As the solo progresses Lewis subjects its opening motif to inversion
(bar 9), chromatic alteration (bars 47 and 57), and a variety of other alterations in pitch and shape (bars 25-6, 41), which nevertheless retain their links with the basic figure.
Lewis was similarly conservative as a composer, for his music drew heavily on harmonic and melodic practices found in 18th-century European compositions. From the 1950s, he wrote a number of Third Stream
works combining European compositional techniques and jazz improvisation. Most of these were written for the Modern Jazz Quartet or for the quartet with instrumental ensembles of various sizes and published by MJQ Music. Among his best pieces for the Modern Jazz Quartet are "Django" (an homage to gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt
, first recorded in 1954, the year after Reinhardt's death), the ballet suite The Comedy (1962), and especially the four pieces "Vendome" (1952), "Concorde" (1955), "Versailles" (1956), and "Three Windows" (1957), all of which combine fugal
imitation and non-imitative polyphonic jazz in highly effective ways. Other notable compositions that have become standards include "Milano" (1954), "Afternoon in Paris" (1956), and "Skating in Central Park" (1959, from the film score he wrote for Odds Against Tomorrow
).
As sideman with Charlie Parker:
As leader of Orchestra U.S.A. (with Gunther Schuller and Harold Farberman
):
Recordings with the Modern Jazz Quartet
:
With Clifford Brown
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
.
Early life
Born in LaGrange, Illinois and raised in Albuquerque, New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, he learned classical music and piano from his mother starting at the age of seven. He continued his musical training at the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
and also studied anthropology. He served in the Army in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. While stationed in France on a three-year tour of duty, he met and performed with Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke , born Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "Klook" and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam, was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming...
. Clarke was an early developer of the bop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
style and Lewis composed and arranged for a band he and Clarke organized. Lewis returned from service in 1945 and resumed his university studies.
Jazz career
In the fall however, he went to New York where he found work in 52nd Street52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
clubs with Allen Eager
Allen Eager
Allen Eager was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Eager first played jazz as a teenager during World War II in the bands of Bobby Sherwood, Sonny Dunham, Shorty Sherock, Hal McIntyre, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, and Johnny Bothwell...
, Hot Lips Page and others. After that year, he joined Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
's bop-style big band where Clarke was the drummer. Lewis developed his skill further by composing and arranging for the band as well as attending the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
. In January 1948, the band made a concert tour of Europe, interrupting Lewis' studies. Lewis stayed in Europe for a time after the tour, writing and studying piano. He returned to the United States and started working for Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
in 1948 (playing on the famous recording "Parker's Mood"), Illinois Jacquet
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
from October 1948 to 1949, Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
from 1950 to 1951, and others. He participated in the second Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
session with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
in 1949 but was unable to attend the first because of an engagement with Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, whom he accompanied. Al Haig
Al Haig
Alan Warren Haig was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop.Haig was born in Newark, New Jersey...
substituted for him, and the band did not include a pianist for its third session in 1950. Lewis arranged the compositions "Move" and "Budo" (immediately released as singles in 1949) and contributed one tune, "Rouge", to these seminal sessions.
Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
, drummer Clarke, and bassist Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
had been the small group within the Gillespie big band (something that harked back to the peak of the big band era, when most big bands also featured small groups within) and played their own short sets when the brass and reeds needed a break. It led to the foursome forming a full-time working group in 1950, known at first as the Milt Jackson Quartet, and usually featuring the vibraphonist's distinctive, swinging, blues-heavy improvisations.
The group replaced Brown (who departed to join wife Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
's group) with Percy Heath
Percy Heath
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother to tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975...
and changed their name to the Modern Jazz Quartet. Lewis gradually transformed the group away from being strictly a vehicle for Jackson's improvisations, assuming the role of musical director, and oriented it toward a quiet, chamber style of music that found a balance between his gentle, almost mannered compositions, and Jackson's more elemental writing and playing. He obtained his master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1953 and soon made the MJQ his full-time career. From 1954 through 1974, he wrote and performed for the quartet, with the group earning a worldwide reputation for managing to make jazz mannered without cutting the swing out of the music, before Jackson decided he wanted to leave and return to his purely blues and swinging roots.
Lewis also directed the School of Jazz at the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
, annually in August from 1957 to 1960. From 1958 to 1982 he also served as music director of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
, and in 1962 he formed the cooperative big band Orchestra U.S.A.
Orchestra U.S.A.
The Orchestra U.S.A. was an American jazz musical ensemble, active from 1962 to 1965.The orchestra was founded in 1962 by John Lewis, along with Gunther Schuller and Harold Farberman, as an experiment in Third Stream blending of classical music and jazz. The ensemble itself was large, and included...
, which performed and recorded Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
(jazz/classical combined) compositions (1962–65). (The MJQ themselves had recorded an album, Third Stream Music, that amplified Lewis's and others' hopes that there could be a new stream of music welding jazz to classical music.)
After the MJQ disbanded temporarily in 1974, Lewis taught at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
and at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, while performing solo recitals and duo recitals with Hank Jones
Hank Jones
Henry "Hank" Jones was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award...
and others and continued composing.
But in 1981, the Modern Jazz Quartet re-formed, though Lewis also played with his own sextet, the John Lewis Group and, in 1985, founded the American Jazz Orchestra with Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic, author, and director, best known for his longtime work with The Village Voice. Born in Brooklyn, and raised on Long Island, Giddins graduated from Grinnell College, Iowa, in 1970...
and Roberta Swann. (The MJQ's return album, Three Windows, was dominated by chamber orchestra accompaniment, similar to tracks on the earlier Third Stream Music, including a re-written "Three Windows," a quarter piece he'd written for the MJQ's music for the film No Sun in Venice.)
In the 1990s he continued to teach, compose, and perform, both with the MJQ and independently. He participated in the Re-birth of the Cool sessions with Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
in 1992 (and was this time able to play on the entire album). He was also involved in various Third Stream music projects with Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
and others, as well as being an early and somewhat surprising advocate of the music of Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
.
John Lewis died in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
after a long battle with prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
.
Piano style
Lewis was among the most conservative of bop pianists. His improvised melodies, played with a delicate touch, were usually simple and quiet. The accompaniments were correspondingly light, with Lewis’s left hand often just grazing the keys to produce a barely audible sound. His method of accompanying soloists was similarly understated: rather than compingComping
Comping is a term used in jazz music to describe the chords, rhythms, and countermelodies that keyboard players or guitar players use to support a jazz musician's improvised solo or melody lines....
—punctuating the melody with irregularly placed chords—he often played simple counter-melodies in octaves which combined with the solo and bass parts to form a polyphonic texture. Occasionally, Lewis played in a manner resembling the stride styles of James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...
and Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, all the while retaining his light touch.
Many of Lewis’s solos had a degree of motivic
Motif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
unity, which is rare in jazz. For example, in "Bluesology" (1956) each chorus of his solo builds on the previous one by establishing a link from the end of one chorus to the beginning of the next. His 64-bar solo in "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
"Between the devil and the deep blue sea" is an idiom meaning a dilemma—i.e., to choose between two undesirable situations .-Possible origins:...
" (1957) derives almost entirely from its first two bars, which in turn derive from the first four notes of the theme. As the solo progresses Lewis subjects its opening motif to inversion
Inversion (music)
In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices...
(bar 9), chromatic alteration (bars 47 and 57), and a variety of other alterations in pitch and shape (bars 25-6, 41), which nevertheless retain their links with the basic figure.
Lewis was similarly conservative as a composer, for his music drew heavily on harmonic and melodic practices found in 18th-century European compositions. From the 1950s, he wrote a number of Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
works combining European compositional techniques and jazz improvisation. Most of these were written for the Modern Jazz Quartet or for the quartet with instrumental ensembles of various sizes and published by MJQ Music. Among his best pieces for the Modern Jazz Quartet are "Django" (an homage to gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
, first recorded in 1954, the year after Reinhardt's death), the ballet suite The Comedy (1962), and especially the four pieces "Vendome" (1952), "Concorde" (1955), "Versailles" (1956), and "Three Windows" (1957), all of which combine fugal
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
imitation and non-imitative polyphonic jazz in highly effective ways. Other notable compositions that have become standards include "Milano" (1954), "Afternoon in Paris" (1956), and "Skating in Central Park" (1959, from the film score he wrote for Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
).
Discography
As leader:- Improvised Meditations and ExcursionsImprovised Meditations and ExcursionsImprovised Meditations and Excursions is a jazz recording by John Lewis as a solo artist, released in 1959.This work represents Lewis away from his Modern Jazz Quartet mates...
(1959, Atlantic 1313) - Odds Against TomorrowOdds Against TomorrowOdds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
(1959, UA 5061) - The Golden Striker (1960, Atlantic 1334)
- P.O.V.P.O.V.POV is a Public Broadcasting Service Public television series which features independent nonfiction films. POV is a cinema term for "point of view"....
(1975, Columbia PC33534), including "Mirjana of my Heart and Soul" - Preludes and Fugues from the Well-tempered Clavier Book 1 (1984, Philips)
- The Bridge Game (1984, Philips)
As sideman with Charlie Parker:
- The Genius of Charlie Parker (1945–8, Savoy 12009)
- "Parker’s Mood" (1948)
- Charlie Parker (1951–3, Clef 287)
- "Blues for AliceBlues for Alice"Blues for Alice" is a 1956 jazz standard, composed by Charlie Parker. The standard is noted for its rapid bebop blues-style chord voicings and complex harmonic scheme which is a fine example of what is known as "Bird Blues"...
" (1951)
As leader of Orchestra U.S.A. (with Gunther Schuller and Harold Farberman
Harold Farberman
Harold Farberman is an American conductor, composer, and percussionist.-Biography:Farberman studied percussion at Juilliard and composition at the New England Conservatory and at Tanglewood with Aaron Copland...
):
- Orchestra U.S.A.Orchestra U.S.A.The Orchestra U.S.A. was an American jazz musical ensemble, active from 1962 to 1965.The orchestra was founded in 1962 by John Lewis, along with Gunther Schuller and Harold Farberman, as an experiment in Third Stream blending of classical music and jazz. The ensemble itself was large, and included...
(1963, Colpix 448), including "Three Little Feelings"
Recordings with the Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
:
- VendomeVendômeVendôme is a commune in the Centre region of France.-Administration:Vendôme is the capital of the arrondissement of Vendôme in the Loir-et-Cher department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It has a tribunal of first instance.-Geography:...
(1952, Prestige 851) - Modern Jazz Quartet, ii (1954–5, Prestige 170) incl. "Django" (1954)
- ConcordeConcorde (album)Concorde is an album by The Modern Jazz Quartet. First released in 1955 as an LP. Recorded in New York, New York on July 2, 1955. Originally released on Prestige . Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler. The album was reissued in 2008 as part of the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters collection.This Album is...
(1955, Prestige 7005) - FontessaFontessaFontessa is a 1956 album by the Modern Jazz Quartet released on Atlantic Records. It was the first of their albums released on Atlantic.-Track listing:#"Versailles" - 3:22#"Angel Eyes" - 3:48...
(1956, Atlantic 1231) included "Versailles" - One Never Knows (1957, Atlantic 1284), including "Three Windows"
- Third Stream Music (1957, 1959–60, Atlantic. 1345) including "Sketch for Double String Quartet" (1959)
- Exposure (1960)
- European Concert (1960, Atlantic 1385–6), including. "Vendome"
- The Modern Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1960, Atlantic 1359), including "England’s Carol"
- Original SinOriginal sinOriginal sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...
(1961, Atlantic 1370) - The Comedy (1962, Atlantic 1390)
- A Quartet is a Quartet is a Quartet (1963, Atlantic 1420), including "Concorde"; "In Memoriam" (1973, Little David 3001)
- Under the Jasmin Tree (1968, Apple SAPCOR4)
- The Last Concert (1974, Atlantic), including "Blues in A Minor," "Confirmation," "'Round Midnight."
- Bill Evans: A Tribute, 1982, Palo Alto RecordsPalo Alto RecordsPalo Alto Records was a jazz record label that released most of its discography in the 1980s. The label was founded in 1981 by Jim Benham, who was a Palo Alto, California resident. The artistic director was Herb Wong. In 1985 the company ceased its activities...
With Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
- Memorial AlbumMemorial AlbumMemorial Album is an album by American jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown composed of tracks recorded at two sessions in 1953 and originally released on the Blue Note label in 1956...
(Blue Note, 1953)