Pettinger . . . has thoroughly researched Evans’s life, reading the available literature and tracking down the pianist’s associates for commentary, and he has listened assiduously to the Evans catalog, which is no small feat given its enormousness.”—Adam Bresnick, Wall Street Journal “[A] fine new biography . . . packed with . . . shrewd critical commentary.”—Terry Teachout, New York Times Book Review “Peter Pettinger sets out to catalog and explain Evans’ wide-ranging genius. . . . The making of every important Evans recording is discussed, and as he follows the extreme ups and downs of a career vexed by heroin addiction and other problems, Pettinger shows how the personal helped shape the artistic sensibility of this jazz innovator.”—Tom Moon, Philadelphia Inquirer “Pettinger understands what sets the pianist apart, and explains with a minimum of technical language and just enough musical transcriptions to get his key points across. . . . This is an ideal companion for those who want to ‘understand’ Evans in the most important way, through listening.”—Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe “Pettinger is eminently qualified to assay Evan’s evolution as a pianist, and students of Evan’s music will no doubt enjoy the author’s references to Evan’s scores and academic excursions.”—Publishers Weekly “Pettinger provides a portrait of Evans that will serve as a foundation for further investigation of this quiet jazz giant. Recommended for jazz fans and music buffs.”—Library Journal “[A] welcome full-scale biography.”—Grover Sales, Los Angeles Times Book Review “One of the most moving and informative jazz books of recent years. . . . For its sensitive sympathetic and insightful look at the artistry of Bill Evans, How My Heart Sings makes a valuable contribution.”—Joel Roberts, All About Jazz “This is the first biography of one of the most influential jazz artists ever to tickle the ivories. . . . [It] includes a full discography, dozens of photographs, and analyses of Evans’ expressive technique and compositional methods.”—Paul Wilson, Bloomsbury Review “The greatest strength of Pettinger’s writing is that, analyzing Evans’ recorded legacy, almost piece by piece, he tells how Evans did it—that is, what to listen for—in terms fully accessible to the lay listener. So this is not an exposé or analysis of a ‘tortured’ artist, but a fine music lover’s reference about a nonpareil artist.”—Booklist “Reading How My Heart Sings , with Evans’s eloquent, challenging music playing in the background, is a wonderful experience, there for the taking.”—Larry Nai, Cadence “Pettinger’s approach is at once delightfully insightful and detailed in terms of musical analysis. . . . A much-needed addition to the growing list of respectable biographies of the greatest figures in the first century of jazz history. . . . An excellent choice for collections supporting studies of popular music at all levels.”—Choice “Peter Pettinger’s ambitious new volume is a concentrated work that aspires to fill a gap in jazz biography that has been left open too long. . . . A comprehensive endeavor and . . . a satisfying contribution. . . . Well-researched.”—Michael Borshuk, Coda “Indispensable. . . . The 40-page discography alone will be cherished as will the author’s dogged research into the circumstances surrounding all important Evans recordings and trio personnel changes. . . . Through interviews with friends and colleagues, Evans own utterances and the author’s insider knowledge of the piano, the book contains many insights into Evans’ music.”—Jeff Bradley. Denver Post “[This book] is simply beautifully written and will probably become a model for future authors seeking to complete a classic biography.”—Lee Bash, Jazz Educators Journal “Accessible to non-musicians and including a complete discography, Pettinger’s book is highly recommended for Evans fans.”—Jazz Insider “Pettinger’s strength as a listener and analyst makes this an essential book about Evans. . . . This fine book will be a part of the foundation for Evans scholars to come.”—Doug Ramsey, Jazztimes “Beautifully written and researched. . . . It should be required reading for all who dabble with the elementary jazz sounds to the serious jazz pianists of today and, as Bill Evans himself would have said, those of tomorrow.”—Richard Michael, Music Teacher “The sad, rich, influential life of jazz pianist Bill Evans as told by fellow pianist Peter Pettinger, who certainly knows the score. Evans died in 1980, a slow suicide caused by drugs, malnutrition and self-neglect. But what a body of work he left behind. . . . Dig it.”—Bill Bell, New York Daily News “A stark—yet refreshingly lyrical—document of a jazz pianist who said more with his music than with his indulgences.”—Chet Williamson, Worcester Weekly “In this through and very readable biography, Evans emerges as something of a hero for sticking to his aesthetic values in the face of commercial pressures and changing fads. This may be one reason why Evans remains a figure of great interest to jazz fans and musicians nearly twenty years after his death. . . . This biography is highly recommended.”—Allan Chase, Notes “Pettinger chronicles in detail Evan’s endless search for empathy and expression of emotion within his perennial context, the piano trio, and his famous successes within that context. . . . How My Heart Sings is told with a simplicity and calm momentum that are reminiscent of Evan’s music itself; it shows facility supported by scholarship and research.”—Jon Rodine, Rain Taxi “A thoroughly researched, well-written biography of the soft-spoken but troubled jazz pianist.”—San Francisco Examiner Magazine Selected as a 1998 Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review Winner of the 1999 ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award in the Pop Books Category
"Peter Pettinger’s book on pianist Bill Evans is one of the best jazz biographies I have ever read. It is beautifully and lovingly written, meticulously researched, and filled with deep insight into Evans’s personality and musicmaking."—Barry Kernfeld, author of What to Listen for in Jazz
“This book is likely to become a classic. There is nothing quite like it in the history of jazz. A concert pianist looks at the work of a jazz pianist whom many authorities consider one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. Pettinger hears all sorts of subtleties as only a fellow pianist can. He is also a felicitous and interesting writer. This is a brilliant piece of extended analysis.”—Gene Lees
Though he was classically trained on flute, violin, and piano, it was jazz that captured Bill Evans's imagination and fired his musical passion. Widely acknowledged as one of the most influential jazz pianists who ever lived, Evans was fiercely loyal to the piano trio as his medium (although he also worked with such giants as Miles Davis and Art Farmer). Though Evans garnered his share of accolades (he received several Grammy Awards and even more nominations), his career suffered to a certain extent from his lengthy battle with substance abuse. In his insightful look at the pianist's life and career, Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings , concert pianist Peter Pettinger describes the life, the music-making, and the legacy of this musical giant.
[The] book is packed with so much shrewd critical commentary that it reads at times more like an annotated discography than a biography. . . .contains more than enough horror stories to make the reader wonder how he managed to. . .forge a powerfully individual style that would leave its mark on virtually every jazz pianist to follow him. New York Times Book Review
This is an ideal companion for those who want to 'understand' Evans in the most important way, through listening. -- Boston Globe
If anyone deserves a good, accessible jazz biography, it's Bill Evans, the classically trained pianist who bridged the gap between bop and cool jazz and influenced a generation of ivory ticklers. Evans left an indelible stamp on the history of jazz piano, and as a white man in a world populated mostly by black musicians, he merits special consideration. Unfortunately, Pettinger's dessicated analytical biography doesn't do justice to Evan's tumultuous, often brilliant life. The main problem here is that the author, himself an internationally renowned British concert pianist, is more interested in the piano player than in the man. After hitting some of the standard biographical notes (Evans was born in Plainfield, N.J., in 1929; talent for the piano appeared early), Pettinger dispenses with personal insights to such a degree that his book becomes more critical discography than biography. Intimates of Evans aren't described physically or characterized emotionally but are simply wrung dry of their musical content then pushed offstage. Interviews with contemporaries do provide memories of Evans, but they are often banal. In relating a life filled with romantic disappointment, extreme drug abuse and assorted illnesses that contributed to his early death in 1980, Pettinger paints only a pallid portrait of the man behind the music. Yet Pettinger is eminently qualified to assay Evan's evolution as a pianist, and students of Evans's music will no doubt enjoy the author's references to Evans's scores and academic excursions: e.g., "These four-note scale groups move down in thirds (a typical feature of the pianist's right-hand style) and they go five times into each half of the middle eight." In the end, though, fans of Evans's music may be left cold. 40 b&w photos. (Sept.)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Pettinger, a concert pianist, offers a sympathetic biography of the seminal jazz pianist/composer Bill Evans (1929-80). Pettinger carefully explains the pianist's merging of classical structure with jazz improvisation for a distinctively understated, lyrical sound. Using secondary sources and material from a handful of interviews, Pettinger describes Evans's emergence as a fledging sideman in New York, his first album as a leader, and his contributions to modal jazz during stints with Miles Davis. Pettinger devotes the last half of the book to the quintessential Evans trio (with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro), Evans's battles with heroin and cocaine, and his gigs and recording sessions with dozens of jazz luminaries until his premature death. Though seldom linking Evans with the larger social context in which jazz became popular during the 1950s and 1960s, Pettinger provides a portrait of Evans that will serve as a foundation for further investigation of this quiet jazz giant. Recommended for jazz fans and music buffs.--David P. Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
[The] book is packed with so much shrewd critical commentary that it reads at times more like an annotated discography than a biography. . . .contains more than enough horror stories to make the reader wonder how he managed to. . .forge a powerfully individual style that would leave its mark on virtually every jazz pianist to follow him. -- The New York Times Book Review
. . .[T]he Evans style appealed immediately to intellect and heart alike. . . .for all his enthusiasm and musical knowledge, Mr. Pettinger has produced a curiously flat book. . . .This is a shame. . .[Evans' life] would seem to offer ample material for a penetrating psychological portrait. . . .Mr. Pettinger's desire to particularize the legacy of Bill Evans leads him to construct an aesthetic vacuum around the pianist. . . -- The Wall Street Journal
