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Bill Evans: Everything Happens to Me: A Musical Biography
A Grammy winner and pioneer of multi-track jazz recording, Bill Evans was the pianist on Miles Davis' classic Kind of Blue album and a key figure in the development of modern jazz piano. This new Backbeat book details his wide-ranging and absorbing career, from freelance work in the 1950s, through his groundbreaking trios and solo releases, to his relationships with various record labels, to the intense final phase before his death in 1980. Printed on top-quality stock, the book includes fantastic full-page photos throughout, and a special color section.
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
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September 11, 2021So the writing style was dull-ish and the font size of this edition teeny tiny, coupled with the fact there is so much factual information--name dropping and recordings. As a result I found this less engaging and hard to flow. Since I love Bill Evans, I still imagine this book to be a valuable resource; it's easy to locate an album by year and trio with the clear chronological markings.
August 9, 2025
“The only way I can work is to have some kind of restraint involved – the challenge of a certain craft or form – and then find the freedom in that, which is one hell of a job. I think that a lot of guys either want to circumvent that kind of labor, or else they don’t realize the rewards that exist in one single area if you use enough restraint and do enough searching.”
– Bill Evans in 1964
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If I am honest, I will admit that my favorite jazz musician is actually John Coltrane (I know I’m saying this in a review of a book about Bill Evans). But I can’t play woodwinds. I can, however, play piano. And Bill Evans has been the most influential of the jazz pianists on me. Not that I can play anything remotely as complicated, but in terms of players whose sounds inspire me the most, and who I most hope to imitate.
That being said, I came to this book with only a patchwork familiarity with Evans discography. I mostly knew his classic earlier records (Everybody Digs Bill Evans – 1958 & Portrait In Jazz – 1959), as well as the duet record with Jim Hall (Undercurrent - 1962). And most recently before I picked up this book, I had also become rather obsessed with a much later Bill Evans record: You Must Believe In Spring (1977). Oh, and Kind Of Blue just goes without saying, right?
Anyway, this book, “Everything Happens To Me – A Musical Biography” by Keith Shadwick, was honestly a bit disappointing. While it’s obviously well researched, and the writing isn’t inherently bad, there is a sort of dry and journalistic style to it. The first few chapters, covering Evans’ formative years in the jazz scene and his initial development, were perhaps the best, but as the book (and Evans career) goes on, it gets into kind of a rut and the author tends to just describe concerts and albums.
My biggest criticism is that it seems to leave out almost all of the salacious details of Bill Evans personal life as he went through several relationships, drug addictions, and some very tragic personal circumstances. The man was surrounded by death but a lot of this is only glossed over. I think it was perhaps a conscious decision by the author to focus on the music itself instead, but I think this was a flawed approach, because it left me without a full picture of the man himself. For instance, Bill’s longtime partner Ellaine Schultz committed suicide after Bill went off with another woman in 1973. The book mentions this briefly but it felt like it came out of nowhere (in the way it was reported in the book). It shocked me and I couldn’t help but feel it warranted more discussion. Likewise his drug addiction, which is always described in such a way as to put a positive spin on it and make it seem like, Bill Evans was a consummate professional and he never let his addiction interfere with his professional life. And maybe that’s mostly true. But it seems to show only half the story. Forgive me for wanting to know more about the degenerate side of this piano player who looks so straightlaced upon first glance, yet hides something so sad and dark behind those glasses.
--------------------------------------
“I’ll probably play until I go to the grave. I’m never happy if I can’t play. After a period without a gig, I get depressed. Everything seems so meaningless. A musician can’t just stop playing.”
– Bill Evans in 1970
--------------------------------------
For me, the best part about this book’s exhaustive journalistic approach is that it essentially ran through Bill’s entire discography, and this gave me great ideas for new albums to go and listen to. Bill Evans, while being an incredible piano player, seems to have been… dare I say a bit set in his ways? And he did not expand into new territory and explore in the same ways as, say, Coltrane or Miles David did. But a few albums he played on -did- show some willingness to explore, and these were the ones I ended up enjoying most. They were: Jazz Abstractions with Jim Hall and John Lewis (1960), Living Time (1962), and Symbiosis (1964).
In the case of John Coltrane, I sought out and read several books about him, including one I loved which was just an entire collection of the interviews he did. But it was precisely his willingness to expand and explore esoteric new territory that made me fascinated by him. In the case of Bill Evans, I had hoped to fine something similar, but was left with a bit less of an impression. But I will always have the inspiration I find in Bill Evans fluidly flowing, beautiful and yet tragic piano playing. And I think he would prefer it that way - his music speaking for itself.
--------------------------------------
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– Bill Evans in 1964
--------------------------------------
If I am honest, I will admit that my favorite jazz musician is actually John Coltrane (I know I’m saying this in a review of a book about Bill Evans). But I can’t play woodwinds. I can, however, play piano. And Bill Evans has been the most influential of the jazz pianists on me. Not that I can play anything remotely as complicated, but in terms of players whose sounds inspire me the most, and who I most hope to imitate.
That being said, I came to this book with only a patchwork familiarity with Evans discography. I mostly knew his classic earlier records (Everybody Digs Bill Evans – 1958 & Portrait In Jazz – 1959), as well as the duet record with Jim Hall (Undercurrent - 1962). And most recently before I picked up this book, I had also become rather obsessed with a much later Bill Evans record: You Must Believe In Spring (1977). Oh, and Kind Of Blue just goes without saying, right?
Anyway, this book, “Everything Happens To Me – A Musical Biography” by Keith Shadwick, was honestly a bit disappointing. While it’s obviously well researched, and the writing isn’t inherently bad, there is a sort of dry and journalistic style to it. The first few chapters, covering Evans’ formative years in the jazz scene and his initial development, were perhaps the best, but as the book (and Evans career) goes on, it gets into kind of a rut and the author tends to just describe concerts and albums.
My biggest criticism is that it seems to leave out almost all of the salacious details of Bill Evans personal life as he went through several relationships, drug addictions, and some very tragic personal circumstances. The man was surrounded by death but a lot of this is only glossed over. I think it was perhaps a conscious decision by the author to focus on the music itself instead, but I think this was a flawed approach, because it left me without a full picture of the man himself. For instance, Bill’s longtime partner Ellaine Schultz committed suicide after Bill went off with another woman in 1973. The book mentions this briefly but it felt like it came out of nowhere (in the way it was reported in the book). It shocked me and I couldn’t help but feel it warranted more discussion. Likewise his drug addiction, which is always described in such a way as to put a positive spin on it and make it seem like, Bill Evans was a consummate professional and he never let his addiction interfere with his professional life. And maybe that’s mostly true. But it seems to show only half the story. Forgive me for wanting to know more about the degenerate side of this piano player who looks so straightlaced upon first glance, yet hides something so sad and dark behind those glasses.
--------------------------------------
“I’ll probably play until I go to the grave. I’m never happy if I can’t play. After a period without a gig, I get depressed. Everything seems so meaningless. A musician can’t just stop playing.”
– Bill Evans in 1970
--------------------------------------
For me, the best part about this book’s exhaustive journalistic approach is that it essentially ran through Bill’s entire discography, and this gave me great ideas for new albums to go and listen to. Bill Evans, while being an incredible piano player, seems to have been… dare I say a bit set in his ways? And he did not expand into new territory and explore in the same ways as, say, Coltrane or Miles David did. But a few albums he played on -did- show some willingness to explore, and these were the ones I ended up enjoying most. They were: Jazz Abstractions with Jim Hall and John Lewis (1960), Living Time (1962), and Symbiosis (1964).
In the case of John Coltrane, I sought out and read several books about him, including one I loved which was just an entire collection of the interviews he did. But it was precisely his willingness to expand and explore esoteric new territory that made me fascinated by him. In the case of Bill Evans, I had hoped to fine something similar, but was left with a bit less of an impression. But I will always have the inspiration I find in Bill Evans fluidly flowing, beautiful and yet tragic piano playing. And I think he would prefer it that way - his music speaking for itself.
--------------------------------------
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March 11, 2009
If you're into super-boring biographies, this one will put you right to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I like biographies, but this one was a serious let down.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews