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Sketches
of Spain: Special Guest: Tim Hagens, Trumpet Saturday,
March 3rd, 8:00pm • Admission Free One of the most significant arrangers in jazz history, Gil Evans' three album-length collaborations with Miles Davis (Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain) are all considered classics. |
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Gil Evans led his own band in California (1933-38) which eventually became the backup group for Skinnay Ennis. Evans stayed on for a time as arranger for the band. He gained recognition for his somewhat futuristic charts for Claude Thornhill's orchestra (1941-42 and 1946-48) which took advantage of the ensemble's cool tones, utilized French horn and tuba as frontline instruments, and by 1945 incorporated the influence of bop. Evans met Miles Davis (who admired his work with Thornhill) during this time and contributed arrangements of Moon Dreams and Boplicity to Davis' "Birth of the Cool" nonet. After a period of obscurity, Evans wrote for a Helen Merrill session and collaborated with Miles Davis on "Miles Ahead". In addition to his work with Davis, Evans recorded several supurb and highly original sets as a leader during the era. In the 1960's, among the albums he worked on for other artists, were notable efforts with Kenny Burrell and Astrud Gilberto. After his own sessions for Verve in 1963-64, Evans waited until 1969 to record again as a leader. |
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Gil
was a thinker and I loved that about him right away. Evans
seems able to hit on endless mixtures of sound that are not only
new to jazz writing but to all orchestral music. There
have been endless debates as to who influenced whom, as to whether
Gil's triumphs with Miles were ever duplicated with his own orchestra.
Needless to say, the music could not have existed without both men
considering themselves equals. Miles was given the context to further
the reaches of his sound and Gil was given the canvas to paint,
and they inspired each other to unforeseen heights. These works
stand the test of time and will always be considered the finest
music that jazz has to offer. |
Starting in 1970, Evans began playing with his large ensemble on a weekly basis in New York clubs. Other than sketching out a framework and contributing his keyboard, he seemed to let the orchestra largely run itself, inspiring rather than closely directing the music. Prior
to his death, Gil Evans recorded with his "arranger's piano"
on duets with Lee Konitz and Steve Lacy. His body of work on a whole
ranks with top jazz arrangers. Tim
Hagans, an excellent hard bop-oriented trumpeter, was with the orchestras
of Stan Kenton (1974-76) and Woody Herman (1977) before moving to
Sweden (1977-81) where he played with Sahib Shihab, Ernie Wilkin's
Almost Big Band, the Danish Radio Orchestra and Dexter Gordon. After
returning to the U.S., he taught at the University of Cincinnati
and recorded for the MoPro label. Hagans taught at Berkley (1984-86)
and then in 1986 started working with Joe Lovano and Fred Hersch.
Since then he has recorded with Bob Belden, Joe Lovano, Rick Margitza,
John Hart and the Yellowjackets, and has worked with big bands of
Bob Mintzer and Maria Schneider, and the Gil Evans orchestra. |
