@@mrgoodnight7387 I agree with you. However, Barry Harris doesn't seem to be accepting of this basic rule, he'd rather say that Bill Evans music is like manure.He also fails to acknowledge that Evans himself admitted that he learned bebop phrasing from Bud Powell. Barry Harris was a good bebop pianist, but not the most innovative for sure.
@@alighieroalighieri404 All that goes to show is that very educated people can also be very opinionated, that it's not just the province of the uneducated person.
Art Tatum, Hank Jones, Bill Evans, George Cables, Barry Harris. All different flavours of genius. And I do love hearing the old school cats talking about it all. But I do owe a huge debt to Barry. His classes turned my musical world around when I was a young musician.
Except the rest of those guys did spend their lives criticizing other artists. This man has a sever case of Insecurity. Mommy must not have hugged him.
I met Barry. I went to a lot of his Masterclasses and of course, I was exposed to his rantings. He comes from a line of musicians who are very conservative about the style of music they are teaching. Just like my Classical piano teacher, who loved Bach, Beethoven and Chopin but couldn't stand music by Bartok or Prokofiev. And that's fine, as I learned a lot from her too. When you get to meet these amazing teachers, you take whatever wisdom you can from them, and incorporate it in your life. You don't have to agree with them on everything (And I even think it's healthier not to, otherwise you turn them into Cult Leaders) Barry has every right to dismiss Bill Evans as a total fool. And I have every right to find Evans one of the most influential pianists ever to exist. When it comes to music learning, it's just like with everything else music-related, as Miles used to say when defining music: "You take what you need and you leave out the rest". I learned a lot from Barry in regards to voicing, harmonization, and the application of the Diminished scale in tonal harmony, and I also loved him as a human being.
@@AlexVonCrank Yeah, I can see how it may have sounded like I implied he's no longer with us in my use of the "loved" but that was not my intention. If anything, I hope he lives for many many years.
Great older cats like this always have opinions about other players. It’s entertaining. To be taken with a grain of salt. He’s a treasure. Just like who you like.
@@paxwallacejazz well it sounds like you could use a little more Barry in your playing, that is, solid bebop language. I’m not hearing it so maybe Barry has a point.
Putting Bill Evans down like this is just ridiculous. You don't need to do that in order to emphasize the greatness of Bud or Hank. They are great anyway, as well as Bill. And no, they don't sound alike.
@宇宙愛 read the bio 'Dance of the Infidels' by Francis Paudras, Bud's caretaker in Paris ?? It's in there. Francis used to play Bill's early records for Bud and he sat there, listened intently, and asked "Who is that? What's his name?". Bud was known for putting few pianists above himself, except for Tatum, his idol. So words from coming from Bud re Bill are high praise, since he usually talked little. Francis wanted to introduce Bud and Bill to each other in NYC 1964, sadly never happened..
Everyone jumping all over Barry Harris, I think you may be reading into his tone a little much. He's coming across as mad or bitter but I think it's frustration. Frustration that often students and younger musicians that he interacts with are unaware of some of the musicians that he feels are the most important musicians in jazz. It's his opinion on something that is his entire life's passion, so nobody should be surprised if he has strong opinions! As an educator I think he could have been a bit more diplomatic, or at least more specific. As a musician and person, let him talk some shit! Let him be frustrated! Musicians are humans and are emotional beings.
@@georgemcfetridge8310 it seems to me a big reason many great figures are forgotten is simply that there are so many great musicians throughout history. Another major reason is the sway that critics, writers, magazines, and today RUclips, has over who gets "pushed" to the forefront. The musicians that are "pushed" may or may not be the most important/influential in everyone's view. Like it or not, this has always been the case and continues to be.
@@michaelmullmusic You and I are both talking about the publicity machine, brought to a fine art in the US, where PR was invented a century ago. When you say 'so many great musicians throughout history' you're using the discourse that the machine wants you to use. Actually, greatness in any field is quite rare. Anyone who buys into this manipulative state of affairs is a stooge. Particularly since 2020, there's a pervasive smothering of critical faculty in the world. NO to that dehumanization.
@@georgemcfetridge8310 I appreciate what you are saying. I would hope to humanize, rather than dehumanize, in that I believe the rare "greatness" you speak of is present in all musicians who sincerely and lovingly contribute their time to the music. And so, to me it isn't so much rare in general, but perhaps rare in a concentrated amount in an individual. What words would you choose in place of "so many great musicians throughout history"?
@@michaelmullmusic How about 'so much to listen to on recordings'? Which leads back to the commodification of art, which is the elephant in the room. If it's a record, it's not music, it's recorded music. We've lost the sense of the profound difference between the two.
The man's enormous dedication and contribution to jazz, especially to jazz education and promotion, entitles him to be a bit cranky in his old age...not that he wasn't always strongly opinionated to begin with. I'm sure Bill Evans would have understood it was just old Barry being the same old Barry. Another point of light leaves this world when souls like Barry Harris and Bill Evans cross over to "death's other kingdom", as the TS Eliot poem goes. Interesting to hear Barry bring up Art Tatum..."he was too much for all of us"! Seems like any time I pull up a video of an older jazz guy talking about jazz Art Tatum somehow always comes up. As Tatum is so little known to the general public these days, it's hard for most people to get their heads around how stunningly phenomenal he really was, and why so many other great jazz (and classical) musicians put him in a class of his own and talk of him with authentic reverence. They weren't joking when they use to say about Tatum "God is in the house"!
1) I'm Black American (Or "African American") and can see misunderstandings in the comments here. People are critical of his tone but he really has no malice behind his words. In our culture this is just how we speak, he's being chill, laid back, and just shooting the shit with these people as if they were his family or if he were at the barber shop. As I'm listening to him it's like I'm listening to my dad, my mother, my uncle, and just having a good time. Not all cultures will understand this, but thankfully we live in a society where we accept cultural differences, no? 2) He is a competitor. He is no different than an athlete on the field or court. You may not always hear your favorite athlete or musician talk their shit - not everyone has the testicular fortitude to say what they really feel on camera for all to hear - but you better believe that they do. 3) Lastly, he is being honest and true, what you see is what you get; unlike others who smile in your face and talk behind your back.
@@matthewnewton2753 I wholeheartedly disagree. When you use the term "pianist" you are speaking in terms of having greater "piano technique" - which he did not. Bill Evans is far, far more known for his musical works/compositions than he is for being a great "pianist." He most certainly is *not* above Barry Harris in music theory it's most probably the other way around.
This is a great discussion. I studied with Walter Bishop Jr., Jaki Byard and took Masterclass with Barry Haŕris. I remember hearing a tape Jaki Byard played for me from someone who recorded him in 1949 and it was amazing. Even before Bill Evans Jaki Byard was using that style of playing. All pianist have something different to offer far as technique, phrasing and harmony. Everyone is influenced by someone. That’s how you develop your style.
I feel bad for the funk kiddies who never understood Barry and missed out on all his wisdom. All my jazz friends think of him as stuck up but he's just honest about his own taste. People cant handle other peoples opinions for some reason.
Harris was a limited pianist lacking a singular voice and a exceedingly jealous man. Maybe even a little racist that a white cat was so great playing and writing jazz. To his credit Miles always knew the greatness of Bill Evans, from day one.
I dig Barry, but Bill Evans style is timeless in my opinion. He was amongst that core group of musicians ushering in that modern sound, and has contributed greatly to the musical literature. Truly gifted in his own right.
BE lacks guts or body-groundedness, good a musician as he was. This is obvious if he's heard back to back with Horace Silver, his contemporary. Can't hear the difference? Your loss.
Barry was another jealous, limited black musician who simply lacked the musical imagination to match his narcissism and, truth be told, was a supreme racist. (Cecil Taylor was another one.) In this video Barry excels at name dropping and shooting off his mouth with an impressionable youthful audience.
Give it a rest home wipe. Your preferences, and what you think of as your amazingly perceptive ears don't mean shite to nobody no how. Blakey needed hard bopping funkster Silver, and Miles preferred Evans touch and chord colorings, like on Stella, where he also plays a pretty gutsy, Red Garland style block chord solo, but with the Evans upper structures, which apparently were stolen from Hank Jones, according to Harris. "hmmm really? ...?? to that claim.... But, probably, not "gutsy and grounded enough" for you. YEs, of course we can hear the difference, McFelcher. Night and Day difference. But I'll take Les McCann over Silver any day, for "guts and grounded" bluesy, rootsy, funky piano playing. "Can you hear the difference" ? between McCann and Silver? And Evans. Yes, we can. what an arrogant and dumbass thing to ask, on a jazz posting. Of course of we hear the difference(s), Evans with qualities that Silver lacked, other than your abstract and vaguely named qualities. Subtler dynamic touch, enormous and far deeper and wider (and original) harmonic palette. Oh, sorry, not original. He stole his whole sound from Hank Jones, I forgot. pshhh Of course we hear the differences Georgy boy. We just don't set ourselves up as a superior judge of pianistic qualities like you sho nuff did. Trying to do it all sly and ironic and clever, too. And failed. Go practice your licks and stfu. Of course the difference is OBVIOUS. That's why you didn't even need to point it out. . @@georgemcfetridge8310
I can easily see how this man would have gotten sick of constantly hearing about Bill Evans. But on the other hand, he is a TEACHER, and supposed to be a little more even handed when he speaks to young minds. Listening to this kind of talk makes me terribly sad.
@@edwardgibbon2557 what you say about industry may have sense. Bill may have been 'the new guy' (instead of Paul Bley, for example, that was probably almost as important as him, but not for the piano trio revolution...Bill was the first one ever). Do you love 'some' Evans tracks? Her left us a big heritage, a world of poetry, of silences, of tensions and relax. His voicings were the first amazing modern voicings (they have NO passion??? they are welcome!!) Nobody can play ballads in a previous way, after Bill. And...nobody killed the older but evergreen piano music...nobody will forget stride piano, nobody will ever ignore Eubie Blake, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, the young Basie, Teddy Wilson and their sons...Dick Hyman, Dave McKenna and so on.Bill was, and still is, just something else. One of the most influential pianists ever. Jazz piano simply changed after him.
Great piano player, great musical teacher... But those statements about Bill Evans, George Cables and in other videos Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock are dangerous; teach students music non what they should like. Music is bigger than an opinion
I wasn't the biggest fan of Chick either, although his skills and legacy are undeniable. But since he has his Facebook Live thing going on every single night... You've got to admit that this guy is giving, and giving, and giving so much! I just put his, in my opinion, ridiculous church aside, just as I put Dr Barry's dissing aside. I've got no time for that, only for their music and the positive things I can learn from them.
@宇宙愛 music is no competition at that level. And oh yeah, I just bought Tiptoe Tapdance by Hank Jones and even met him backstage at North Sea Jazz, years ago. I also was invited by Dr Barry Harris to his house, where I played on Monk's piano next to Barry. You know what we played? Isn't she lovely, by Stevie Wonder. Thank you very much!
@宇宙愛 got no footage, only pictures. It was about seven years ago and he said about it that it was such a good song, that it could have been written by a jazz musician. He kicked out the triplet pentatonic line at the end of every chorus and replaced it by more bebop type language.
With all due respect to Jon Raney (who plays better than I ever will) and the other excellent folks here, I don’t think this is primarily about jealousy or sour grapes. I think it’s primarily that Barry is sad and angry that, in his view, jazz took a wrong turn and the wrong people became the main influences. I don’t think he’s trying to cut Bill Evans or Dave Brubeck or anyone, per se, so much as he’s angry that most piano students will be taught that playing like Bill Evans is the right, modern way to play. (At least I was.) And as to it being lame for him to say this, I think what a teacher says in class to his students should reflect his actual thinking. This isn’t like Michael Jordan cutting people in a public speech. I love Barry and have always found him warm (especially after he’s criticized someone). Sorry to see the anger here - I think if you listen to him enough you’d hear that it’s mostly about his frustration about the way the music went. Not his personal jealousy/pettiness. (FWIW, I love Bill Evans.)
@@jimjiminy76 i always felt that there was sort of an unconscious racial component when people talked about bill evans like he was the epitome of jazz piano.
First, let me say I don't begrudge artists having strong opinions about other artists. The thing about Bill Evans, for me, is: there may not be any one thing Bill Evans did better than anyone else. But he did so many things so well and he did a huge diversity of things. There's a lot of great early swing. His My Funny Valentine with Jim Hall is very bop, right down to the shell voicings. He has enormous diversity and complexity in his ballad arrangements. His solos feel much less like solos and more like fully realized compositions. People are obsessed with him, but if you're honest, not a lot of people sound like him. That kind of improvisation through motive development is very hard to teach, very hard to imitate.
Insightful comments. I think MANY try to sound like Bill, but as you suggest, easier said than done. Still, his voicings (no one can claim a particular voicing, but his overall harmonic approach) are his legacy, if there is such a thing, and I'd say yes to that.
i just made a discovery while on Amazon looking for info on Bud Powell. there is a paperback memoir about Powell called "Dance of the Infidels." i will give you 3 guesses who wrote the forward to this book - none other than Bill Evans! a direct quote from Evans: “If I had to choose one single musician for his artistic integrity, for the incomparable originality of his creation and the grandeur of his work, it would be Bud Powell.” those words could have easily been written by Harris himself, but perhaps the fact that Evans was chosen to write the forward only increased his resentment.
💥 Bill Evans is the greatest Jazz pianist of all time. Everybody digs Bill Evans, but he's unique. His perfect voicings, innovation, classical music knowledge, and outstanding creativity makes he a true genius of all music. 🎉❤❤❤
i can listen to bill evans for ever, so some like apples, some like rhubarb, i used love raw onions and cheese, everybody is different, thank goodness, and bud and bill are totally different, also to our great fortune
@@guidemeChrist No way... that is so insulting.... have you listened to Bill's early stuff? You can definitely hear Bud's influence. Stop with the disrespect...
@@zu0832 Right and isn't the idea to find your own voice? Take what came before and develop your own approach. Bill took Beethoven and Bud (many more) and made his own voice. I love BH but his vibe is extremely negative and not a good influence.
Because as great as Bill was, he didn't have the fire, the swinging drive of the cats Barry mentioned. It's a feel thing Barry maybe doesn't dig about Bill, more than a harmonic thing I am guessing. And I am a Bill Evans fanatic. Doesn't bother me a bit the Barry doesn't like Evans. Barry's feel as a player speaks for itself. The closest thing we'll get to hearing Bud Powell live folks.
we learn about bill before barry before terry pollard before mary lou because of white supremacist patriarchy. im sure hes bitter. he watched people he knew personally suffer from poverty and inhumane conditions while others became complict and collaborative with the destruction of the tradition to favour white big money and white academia by pushing their individual career. i still like bills playing, but it seems immature to ignore that political context. and it seems ridiculous to me to say he was inventive. he had privilege and full access to indigenous and black music. ill give him credit for not using it go settle for mediocrity. if we can learn anything from bill as white people engaging with this tradition, its that. i get why hes bitter. whats happened to this tradition is horrible and has been incredibly violent, and figures like bill are used in the current berklee pedagogy to represent things that are so far from the traditional roots.
@@evelyncharlottejoe4238 when I listen to this I don’t hear him trashing Bill or his playing. He’s specifically bemoaning the fact that Bill has been put up on a pedestal in mainstream music culture as the greatest jazz pianist of all time. Aside from the hostility he feels as a prominent black musician watching a slow gentrification of “street music” (his term), I doubt he appreciates being overshadowed in his educational efforts by the sainthood bestowed to Bill’s teaching through his early death. Barry is old school to the core, even in The Hague videos you hear him take shots at the academic approach to jazz theory. Bill The Legend represents more than himself in this respect, and I think Barry is projecting a lot of that animosity onto his fame and canonization in the music world
I think many of you who have posted here are missing the point. This isn't an attack on Bill Evans, but this is an attack on anything called Jazz that comes after Be Bop! Barry has said Miles Davis's modal music is not jazz. To Barry, anything post post-BeBop is not Jazz. It was just on this day, he was talking about Bill Evans. On other days, he would talk badly about Miles Davis or Coltrane.. Barry has condemned modal Jazz before. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis is known probably as the best Jazz album of all time (if there is such a thing). All Jazz aficionados consider "Kind of Blue," if not the greatest Jazz album of all time, at least on the top five greatest jazz albums of all time. I've heard Barry Harris say modal music is not jazz, and "Kind Of Blue" mostly modal. So, what many consider the best Jazz album (or one of the best) of all time, Barry would not even consider it Jazz.I've heard Barry Harris condemn Coltrane's "Giant Steps!" So, what you are hearing here is not bitterness, but musical dogma. Nevertheless, Barry can opine about Bill Evans, and on other days Miles Davis and Coltrane; however, Barry is a musical genius. He's not bitter. Bitterness is for losers, but Barry is a winner. He is around 90 years old, and still going strong. Among Jazz musicians, he is viewed like a God when he visits Europe and does his workshops. He has nothing to be bitter about. What you are hearing is not bitterness, but the teacher in him. All teachers are dogmatic to a certain extent, and he no exception.
I agree. Coltrane, Davis, Giant Steps and the like all contributed to the ruination of Jazz and Jazz musicians … especially saxophonists. In order to play like Coltrane you need a loose setup so everyone sounds like they are playing a kazoo now and its all histrionics. Nobody has the guts to play slow and find a melodic line and develop it … Max Ionata and Scott Hamilton being the exceptions. All these musicians destroying themselves to learn a tune they will never play on a gig and if they do you can be certain the audience doesn’t have a clue what they are hearing.
The greatest album? Armstrong's 1927-28 work surpasses everything since for freshness, invention, deep excitement, meaning, joy. Second to that is Bird's 'Koko' session of 1945. I'm sure not one commenter here will go with this.
@@murrayr7703 I didn't see that in your classes. if you met him personally then ok. But even reflecting on that after someone's death says more about you than about him.
@@Weily_Alcequiez Your are welcome to your opinion as I am to mine. And my opinion is he was obviously a bitter envious man and talking smack about Bill Evans is quite childish especially when you are 90 year old. If he were alive I'd just say to him - "Let it Go gramps.
Lol! Bill Evans is an artist first and a pianist second. His art is so damn beautiful. Harris is a pianist first. I take his remarks from that point of view
@@smiley122688 stop getting too romantic. Every is an artist at some level. Expression is nothing special, as even bill Evans says. I would say it takes a lot of piano training before any level of art exists. I'd even say some musicians are not artists. What was said was frankly ridiculous and can't be quantified in any way except naively
Hey, Barry being Barry and speaking his mind, is a treasure. Students come to learn from who the master is. To "moderate himself for young minds" would be to drop from a master class, to an ordinary class.
blah blah blah let's all just stfu and goes practice on our instruments, make ourselves useful to the world and move the air around with music instead of blah fucking blah blah@@cocovi
You’re exactly right, Bill Evans changed music forever, and that’s the problem. He’s easily the most copied jazz pianist in history, and Dr. Harris thinks that his popularity did a lot to extinguish the legacy of earlier, greater piano players (like Art Tatum and Bud Powell). Personally I agree, but it also happens that Bill Evans’ style is much more digestible to the average casual listener than Powell or Tatum. Whether you see that as dumbing down or not is up to you.
you just whitewashed all that music. Its all black. That you think this is evidence that all the Black musicians who already did what Evans did don't get the props because they weren't white
EVEN After Miles Evans encountered huge rejection by club owners and sadly some some blacks (listen to his last interview taped in his car) many on the scene black musicians were up for being in his trio but didn't need the political rejection. So here's some more from Barry Harris. Oh well.
@@BirdBop battling hip hop battles are just an extension of this mentality. I saw this in the film Cadillac records. Muddy Waters and co used to do it. But they don't get it.
Seek out Oscar Peterson reflections on "cutting" contests......Jazz is VERY competitive, though we might consider it more "friendly" competition than outright cut-throat. Many have objected to 'contests' - same in classical field. But there's no getting around a certain competitiveness in a crowded field with less jobs than job seekers.
宇宙愛 Barry Harris is a great player, so was Bill Evans. Dodo Marmarosa is maybe even more underrated ( or Hampton Hawes), and in this video are som bloody asslickers .
宇宙愛 All great players as Elmo Hope, Andrew Hill, Herbie Nichols, Harold Mabern, Al Haig and so on and on. I simply find all those dogmatic discussions about “what id real jazz” ridicoulous. It reminds me some stupid and unproductif discussions in the early music world. Imagine, Duke Ellington would have thought like that, all we would remember ( if we would) were the “Soda fountain rag”. Of course, Barry Harris teaching is marvelous when he speaks about what he likes ( small chords vs big chords, the 6th diminueshed etc.) . He is a unbelievebly precious witness and ambassador of the great art of Bebop (piano)playing. Yet I’m glad there is also other music out there. PS. You can be sure that Bill Evans was able to appreciate and admire all hes great predecessors, as great artists normally are, which doesn’t keeps them away frm moving on.
Keith Jarrett doesnt like art Tatum plays too much notes according to jarret ...vice versa as Harris to Evans..i guess we all are diffrent in views and tastes..I respect both of them ..Bill Evans is my influence his music is expressiive and sophisticated.
Jarrett is full of it. He doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the nuances of what Tatum was doing. This no doubt contributes to Jarrett's fruity sound.
Barry is one of my very favorite pianists, second only to Bill Evans. I've recorded close to 40 hours of his music, listened to much more. I've shared meals with him, he played for our wedding reception. love him dearly. But I don't share his assessment of Bill Evans.
Telling Bill Evans sounds like Hank Jones is ridiculus! And Bill’s artistry is not only about “jazz”. His sonority is up to par with Horowitz or Rubinstein... you name it, his pianism is in that league. Then his compositions? BarryHarris’s orthodoxy and tribalism just get out of the way time to time, it is not new to me!
Not cool to have this up on RUclips. Barry allows one and all to sit in on his weekly informal, intimate workshops for a modest fee, and even allows the students to record him and their own instruction for their own future reference, but it seems like a bit of a violation to post these informal comments publicly; he doesn't even allow his dedicated, longtime students to publish written recaps of his weekly sessions on facebook, so I'm fairly certain he wouldn't be cool with this. Bad form.
As a tremendous Barry Harris fan, I think he is mistaken for one reason or another. Listen to Bill Evans on the album "Alone (Again)" and tell me Evans doesn't swing. The bebop on there is of the highest caliber.
@@TreBeL1000 check out modern art by art farmer if you wanna hear bill really swing playing bop. he sounds a lot like sonny clark or red garland, plus everybody else is really swingin too
These sort of takes are commonplace among jazz practitioners. The continuous and rapid developments of the music often left many musicians stranded, artistically speaking, particularly in terms of their mainstream appeal. (Consider the fact that veterans like Duke Ellington lived long enough to witness every significant era IN jazz history, and that Louis Armstrong was still playing dixieland trumpet when Bitches Brew dropped). Bop was this man's art and his survival, so i don't begrudge him his opinions regarding what came later.
I don't care who he is or what he had accomplished, Bill Evans was awesome. I'm sure the sycophantic "the master is speaking" comments will come but whatever. People from before his time could say "I don't understand" about him and could be valid.
Bill Evans presented a problem for that part of black jazz community who insists that jazz is black music only. He was an innovator, totally original with solid roots in swing and bebop. He was one of the few white jazz musicians whose concept influenced nearly every pianist of his generation and younger of every race and nationality. As good as Barry is or has been, his whole concept is not original but coming directly from Bud Powell, whereas Bill has learned from Bud but came up with his own style.
Bill Evans WAS all that. I saw him play nights on end at the Top of The Gate in the Village in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Barry Harris is a fine educator of his method. There is room for everyone, from Billy Taylor to Cecil Taylor. Barry needs to remember that when students flock at the master, no one appreciates the put down.
Funny how he doesn't like Bill Evans, but there is a video of him playing Waltz for Debby. To me, that's a great way of honoring another musician by playing his music.
Whilst I think BH should have more tact to talk like this to *students* (who you should always try to encourage), (conversations about race, on the other hand, should be had with as much honesty and frankness as possible) that's exactly the point. In no way was Bill Evans a genius. Other, black, musicians were but they don't anywhere near the stature that Bill Evans enjoys amongst white folk. Bill Evans is fine, good even. I'm ok with saying that - I'm just exhausted seeing the constant elevation of Evans above his black colleagues. Jaki Byard. Eroll Garner. Teddy Wilson. Duke Ellington. Andrew Hill. Geri Allen. Herbie Hancock (tho to be fair he is maybe tied with BE in terms of popularity). Keith Jarrett. Bud Powell. Cedar Walton. Thelonious Monk. McCoy Tyner. Chick Corea. Kenny Kirkland. Richard Muhal Abrahams.
Barry Harris has forgotten more about music than anybody watching or commenting will ever know about. He was there on the scene. He's an old man and a veteran, who has earned the right to say what he wants to say about this art form. And whoever doesn't like it, be damned.
It's more the ignorant comments that are made here than what Harris said that are irritating. "bill evans didn't play jazz, he played experimental improvised music" ????? really Buford, how did that work with Paul Chambers and Jimmy cobb as the rhythm section if Evans wasn't playing "jazz". unbelievable stupidity here. Stella by Starlight on Kinda Blue sounds a lot like jazz to me, and not exactly like Hank Jones. It sounded GOOD. All y'all can say what you want about Evans, and Rodman and Isiah can talk shit about Bird, but the bottom line is, they both could do it. And often OUTdid the black man at his own game, and in his own genre. Aww. I'm sorry. Get over it. You only have to STFU and watch Bird play, and listen to Evans play to reckanize. Herbie recognized. So just do that, and stfu. and get over it. Tyner and Hancock were also both classically trained , and innovators, nobody here is talking them down. Like it or not, this is the way jazz piano has been taught for the last 70 years. Harris is part of the conservative move back towards "the traditional". Choose what you want, and just STFU, enough of the blah blah, and play the piano if you think you really have something to "say". btw I hardly listen to Evans , and almost never to Harris. I only really like his solo concerts in Berkeley.. His trio stuff? meh. never floated my boat. I listen to Monk, Les McCann, Tyner, Mehldau, Terrasson. and have listened to everybody else.
Man listen to Barry at his best and Evans at his worst... I rest my case. Evans would've never presumed to make these kind of sweeping negative disempowering statements because he was actually a man possessed of great humility. Wow.
that's actually true. but barry is more offended by putting evans as the end goal of piano players. people just enjoy it as music. not necessarily as learning the way barry is trying to promote. he is an advocate of bop. not of music. and that's his problem
@@JohnsonSmithson yeah he's pretty good at times but so many white jazz fans talk about him like he's the GOAT and its just laughable. Not even top 50.
I like when jazz musicians and fans have strong opinions. Most people in the jazz world just think everyone is a genius. It's boring and ends up being meaningless. I enjoyed this. He is wrong about Bill Evans (and George Cables) but there is a good lesson in honesty here.
I think it must have been hard that Bill got so much recognition and so many talented pianists got so little financial support. I think he is bitter here about that and it’s understandable. That said- there is a reason Evans got the awards and recognition. It was well deserved. Barry is great. He did not change in any substantive way how one plays piano. Imo. Bill transformed the approach and his miles brought- him back- for a reason. .
Evans has some good moments but his stature is massive over so many better black pianists. Imo its because Evans is white and white middle class folk got into his aesthetic.
@@TehWinnerz that I would agree with 100%. Bill got so much from those who preceded him- especially Bud. Conversely- in the world of black musicians- lennie Tristan imo has not gotten the credit he deserves. Nor joe Albany. Your point is well taken.
I like Barry's comment at the end of the interview... learn how to sing a solo. That's where the music comes from ... deep down inside and it' got to be completely personal and authentic.... not just a bunch of notes.
Bill Evans is my favourite jazz musician. Ed Bickert is my second. I love Miles and Coltrane and Monk and Jim Hall and countless other musicians who paved the way. Bill was something special.
The beauty of jazz is the cornucopia of players who have contributed to the music, whether Black, White, Brown, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, etc. You get my point. Some arguably may seemingly have had a greater impact than others on paper, or in the press among the general public. That unfortunately can play a role in how the music gets promoted or who gets selected to play a festival. For every recognizable player, how many get lost in the shuffle? People are so quick to name guys like Tatum, Powell, Peterson, The Duke, Basie, Evans, McCoy, Horace, Corea, etc. even Barry Harris. How many get forgotten like Norman Simmons, Dodo Mamarosa, Dick Hyman, Phineas Newborn,Jr., Ray Bryant, Fats Waller, Jimmy Rowles, Al Haig, Tommy Flanagan, Monty Alexander, Cedar Walton, Mary Lou Williams, etc. I think I've made my point. Barry maybe feels slighted or under appreciated. Ron Carter is known to harbor similar sentiments as far as his importance in the great Miles Davis Quintet to make possible the things Herbie and Tony did because he was anchoring everything as the pulse and foundation. It's a normal human desire to be recognized and appreciated. We have as a musical community a wealth of history and knowledge that is amazing and staggering. So many great musicians get lost in the shuffle because it's the way the music business works. Thete are great regional players who regular people may not know in another part of the country, but musicians know and they refer each other for gigs or have longtime musical relationships with them. This is how it has been for the guys who work and love to play. One of my mentors, the great bassist, George 'Buddy' Catlett, grew up in a thriving scene in Seattle playing with his friends Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, Floyd Standifer, and Southern transplant, Ray Charles. Buddy would do some great things include play with Basie, Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong and play on some legendary recordings. But he moved back to Seattle in the early 1970's and spent the rest of his life there and had a nice musical career and kept on practicing and trying to get better. He didn't worry about this fame stuff and who was better or contributed what to the music. To Buddy it was all about THE MUSIC. Buddy said to me on a gig one time duringour break, "The key to this business is longevity. I've seen great players come and go. You keep practicing and playing and eventually you'll get your due.." Words of wisdom to live by.
Funny... Chick Corea went to go see Bill Evans play with miles and he was unimpressed. But to Chicks credit, he never dissed him. And to Bill Evans credit, he dissed the living hell out of Chet Baker. Bill Evans redeeming factor was his 'Black Awareness' which made his black peers comfortable around him. The only person that has ever spoken on it was Drummer Jimmy Cobb. Bill Evans was so much more than just a pianist.
I studied with Sophia Rosoff at the same time as Barry. Sometimes he would arrive early for his lesson after me and "sit in" on mine. He was a wonderful guy, very supportive although he was certainly opinionated. It was something to hear him go from a Chopin Etude into a Bud Powell tune!
Guess Everybody Doesn't Dig Bill Evans. I sure do. Bill Evans, like Monk, bucked what was considered cool at the time and became a true artist, one whose contemporaries respected enormously and whose music will live on and on. Now, back to listening to the teachings of the incredible Barry Harris, another rare musical god who has given us mere mortals a treasure trove of knowledge, wish I had more years left to absorb even a fraction of what he's laid down for us.
There are certain musicians, even masters like Barry Harris, who are very rigid in their views about who can play. Lou Donaldson is like that about saxophonists. Barry probably doesn't like any pop or rock and roll either. It's too bad, but the reality is that every great artist has their detractors. Fortunately we can all form our own opinions.
Barry harris really is salty that no one thinks of him as one of the greats. Bill evans is a genius and impossible to replicate and i bet that scares Barry
@@themidger1 that is such a watered down simple way to put his playing. You also just highlighted one of the many techniques he uses to craft solos and arrangements. I consider oscar to be the best but bill evans has a much more distinct and recognizeable sound than Barry harris and that's just a fact that most people would agree with. I like barry's playing but it is downright disrespectful to insult one of the greats in a manner like that.
@@dylanmcgaharn5676 he doesn’t really insult or disrespect Bill himself. I mentioned on another comment he sees all the modern academic berklee jazz as not-jazz and his comments here extend through that lens. He has consistently said this, even in the old videos of him there’s clips of him saying he doesn’t like that style. Also, to continue the “how to ape BE” tips - quick glissando at the peak of a run, pentatonic 3 on 4, and modal block chord runs really help mimic his sound. To my ears Barry is more distinct, no one else can melt chords together like him. Stuff like That Secret Place is the peak of beauty to me but it’s all subjective
impossible to replicate? LOL its the easiest Jazz Piano to replicate. There's a reason why theres a thousand of white pianists at music college learning 'his' rootless voicings and playing saggy-ass 'Jazz Piano'.
Barry Harris has an opinion about everything and everyone. He is a critic, theorist and is very dogmatic. That's just him; and his input to jazz is appreciated.
Right, we could all benefit from being a little less thin skinned. And anyway, if I pick up Barry Harris in my car to take him somewhere, I play no music at all in the car, as a courtesy. Just assume that the silence will be appreciated by your likely road-weary guest/passenger.
Respect his opinion and ofc he knows so much more about jazz and piano and me. But Bill Evans is Bill Evans, his music and style hits me hard repeatedly. Can’t help it sorry Barry 😢
He's not against Bill Evans, just fed up with the publicity machine that made him dominate music audiences to the exclusion of many other piano voices. This music can't be discussed without considering the forces that told people what to like via media dissemination. I too find Hank Jones's touch, thoughtfulness, harmonic imagination and pianism just as beautiful as Evans's.
@@rxw5520 I'm not saying BE didn't deserve success. It's about falsely making music into a business. It just isn't, in its nature! Thus all the phoniness and injustice [particularly racial, as in the US machine]. As to pianists carrying out the Armstrong/Parker approach to music, no one, to this day, outplays Bud Powell, or earlier, Earl Hines - as to musical force and wonder, as embodied by 'West End Blues' and 'Koko'.
I've learned a lot from Barry but Bill Evans is not only my favorite piano player, but one of my favorite jazz musicians.
And that's fine. There's no law to prohibit anyone to say what their favorite jazz artist is. All of it is art and should all be appreciated
@@mrgoodnight7387 I agree with you. However, Barry Harris doesn't seem to be accepting of this basic rule, he'd rather say that Bill Evans music is like manure.He also fails to acknowledge that Evans himself admitted that he learned bebop phrasing from Bud Powell. Barry Harris was a good bebop pianist, but not the most innovative for sure.
@@alighieroalighieri404 All that goes to show is that very educated people can also be very opinionated, that it's not just the province of the uneducated person.
Art Tatum, Hank Jones, Bill Evans, George Cables, Barry Harris. All different flavours of genius. And I do love hearing the old school cats talking about it all. But I do owe a huge debt to Barry. His classes turned my musical world around when I was a young musician.
Except the rest of those guys did spend their lives criticizing other artists. This man has a sever case of Insecurity. Mommy must not have hugged him.
@@murrayr7703 Criticism can be a great thing.. it all depends on how you respond to it.
It's easy to say pleasantly hip things instead of digging into the serious issues that BH touches on.
@@bronzewand Probably criticizing a dead person has less ability to get a response.
"didn't" @@murrayr7703
I met Barry. I went to a lot of his Masterclasses and of course, I was exposed to his rantings. He comes from a line of musicians who are very conservative about the style of music they are teaching. Just like my Classical piano teacher, who loved Bach, Beethoven and Chopin but couldn't stand music by Bartok or Prokofiev. And that's fine, as I learned a lot from her too. When you get to meet these amazing teachers, you take whatever wisdom you can from them, and incorporate it in your life. You don't have to agree with them on everything (And I even think it's healthier not to, otherwise you turn them into Cult Leaders) Barry has every right to dismiss Bill Evans as a total fool. And I have every right to find Evans one of the most influential pianists ever to exist. When it comes to music learning, it's just like with everything else music-related, as Miles used to say when defining music: "You take what you need and you leave out the rest". I learned a lot from Barry in regards to voicing, harmonization, and the application of the Diminished scale in tonal harmony, and I also loved him as a human being.
He’s not dead dude. Not yet...
@@AlexVonCrank Yeah, I can see how it may have sounded like I implied he's no longer with us in my use of the "loved" but that was not my intention. If anything, I hope he lives for many many years.
@@rontomkins6727 damn…
@@AlexVonCrank R.I.P. Barry Harris😪
@@mambojazz1 RIP
Great older cats like this always have opinions about other players. It’s entertaining. To be taken with a grain of salt. He’s a treasure. Just like who you like.
Yeah sure ok
@@paxwallacejazz well it sounds like you could use a little more Barry in your playing, that is, solid bebop language. I’m not hearing it so maybe Barry has a point.
Bingo
So this guy doesn't sound as good as Barry, therefore Bill Evans is nothing?
What complacency!
Putting Bill Evans down like this is just ridiculous. You don't need to do that in order to emphasize the greatness of Bud or Hank. They are great anyway, as well as Bill. And no, they don't sound alike.
fuck outta here. Bill Evans was amazing!
Bud Powell was rivited by Bill's early playing, and once asked in an interview about Bill in 1963 said: "He's nice. He can play."
@宇宙愛 read the bio 'Dance of the Infidels' by Francis Paudras, Bud's caretaker in Paris ?? It's in there. Francis used to play Bill's early records for Bud and he sat there, listened intently, and asked "Who is that? What's his name?". Bud was known for putting few pianists above himself, except for Tatum, his idol. So words from coming from Bud re Bill are high praise, since he usually talked little. Francis wanted to introduce Bud and Bill to each other in NYC 1964, sadly never happened..
@宇宙愛 go to ruclips.net/video/D7TMC9QfAoc/видео.html at 4:30 ...
@იყავი საკუთარი თავი is this a joke? it looks like irony
Everyone jumping all over Barry Harris, I think you may be reading into his tone a little much. He's coming across as mad or bitter but I think it's frustration. Frustration that often students and younger musicians that he interacts with are unaware of some of the musicians that he feels are the most important musicians in jazz. It's his opinion on something that is his entire life's passion, so nobody should be surprised if he has strong opinions! As an educator I think he could have been a bit more diplomatic, or at least more specific. As a musician and person, let him talk some shit! Let him be frustrated! Musicians are humans and are emotional beings.
And why are so many worthy figures forgotten? Go into it!
@@georgemcfetridge8310 it seems to me a big reason many great figures are forgotten is simply that there are so many great musicians throughout history. Another major reason is the sway that critics, writers, magazines, and today RUclips, has over who gets "pushed" to the forefront. The musicians that are "pushed" may or may not be the most important/influential in everyone's view. Like it or not, this has always been the case and continues to be.
@@michaelmullmusic You and I are both talking about the publicity machine, brought to a fine art in the US, where PR was invented a century ago. When you say 'so many great musicians throughout history' you're using the discourse that the machine wants you to use. Actually, greatness in any field is quite rare. Anyone who buys into this manipulative state of affairs is a stooge. Particularly since 2020, there's a pervasive smothering of critical faculty in the world. NO to that dehumanization.
@@georgemcfetridge8310 I appreciate what you are saying. I would hope to humanize, rather than dehumanize, in that I believe the rare "greatness" you speak of is present in all musicians who sincerely and lovingly contribute their time to the music. And so, to me it isn't so much rare in general, but perhaps rare in a concentrated amount in an individual. What words would you choose in place of "so many great musicians throughout history"?
@@michaelmullmusic How about 'so much to listen to on recordings'? Which leads back to the commodification of art, which is the elephant in the room. If it's a record, it's not music, it's recorded music. We've lost the sense of the profound difference between the two.
The man's enormous dedication and contribution to jazz, especially to jazz education and promotion, entitles him to be a bit cranky in his old age...not that he wasn't always strongly opinionated to begin with. I'm sure Bill Evans would have understood it was just old Barry being the same old Barry. Another point of light leaves this world when souls like Barry Harris and Bill Evans cross over to "death's other kingdom", as the TS Eliot poem goes.
Interesting to hear Barry bring up Art Tatum..."he was too much for all of us"! Seems like any time I pull up a video of an older jazz guy talking about jazz Art Tatum somehow always comes up. As Tatum is so little known to the general public these days, it's hard for most people to get their heads around how stunningly phenomenal he really was, and why so many other great jazz (and classical) musicians put him in a class of his own and talk of him with authentic reverence. They weren't joking when they use to say about Tatum "God is in the house"!
1) I'm Black American (Or "African American") and can see misunderstandings in the comments here. People are critical of his tone but he really has no malice behind his words. In our culture this is just how we speak, he's being chill, laid back, and just shooting the shit with these people as if they were his family or if he were at the barber shop. As I'm listening to him it's like I'm listening to my dad, my mother, my uncle, and just having a good time. Not all cultures will understand this, but thankfully we live in a society where we accept cultural differences, no?
2) He is a competitor. He is no different than an athlete on the field or court. You may not always hear your favorite athlete or musician talk their shit - not everyone has the testicular fortitude to say what they really feel on camera for all to hear - but you better believe that they do.
3) Lastly, he is being honest and true, what you see is what you get; unlike others who smile in your face and talk behind your back.
Barry Harris is a good pianist but definitely second tier compared to Bill. Not in the same league.
@@matthewnewton2753 I wholeheartedly disagree. When you use the term "pianist" you are speaking in terms of having greater "piano technique" - which he did not. Bill Evans is far, far more known for his musical works/compositions than he is for being a great "pianist."
He most certainly is *not* above Barry Harris in music theory it's most probably the other way around.
@@iampetergriffin ok sure pal
@@matthewnewton2753 Alright, buddy.
@@iampetergriffin amazing take down 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
This is a great discussion. I studied with Walter Bishop Jr., Jaki Byard and took Masterclass with Barry Haŕris. I remember hearing a tape Jaki Byard played for me from someone who recorded him in 1949 and it was amazing. Even before Bill Evans Jaki Byard was using that style of playing.
All pianist have something different to offer far as technique, phrasing and harmony. Everyone is influenced by someone. That’s how you develop your style.
Jaki was a genius ahead of his time.
I was honored to study with him for a brief time and it changed me forever.
I feel bad for the funk kiddies who never understood Barry and missed out on all his wisdom. All my jazz friends think of him as stuck up but he's just honest about his own taste. People cant handle other peoples opinions for some reason.
People here on this thread don't even understand what he's really getting at! But that's youtube 'culture' for you.
Harris was a limited pianist lacking a singular voice and a exceedingly jealous man. Maybe even a little racist that a white cat was so great playing and writing jazz. To his credit Miles always knew the greatness of Bill Evans, from day one.
@@peterandreadakis3851 Sounds like barry wasn't the jealous one lmao. Stay mad that real cats will never respect funk
I dig Barry, but Bill Evans style is timeless in my opinion. He was amongst that core group of musicians ushering in that modern sound, and has contributed greatly to the musical literature. Truly gifted in his own right.
Sure he was..love Bill Evans piano . Berry had an opinion and that’s fine. .
Bill Evans is a musical genius and a pioneer. But Barry Harris is an excellent music teacher too.
BE lacks guts or body-groundedness, good a musician as he was. This is obvious if he's heard back to back with Horace Silver, his contemporary. Can't hear the difference? Your loss.
Barry was another jealous, limited black musician who simply lacked the musical imagination to match his narcissism and, truth be told, was a supreme racist. (Cecil Taylor was another one.) In this video Barry excels at name dropping and shooting off his mouth with an impressionable youthful audience.
Give it a rest home wipe.
Your preferences, and what you think of as your amazingly perceptive ears don't mean shite to nobody no how. Blakey needed hard bopping funkster Silver, and Miles preferred Evans touch and chord colorings, like on Stella, where he also plays a pretty gutsy, Red Garland style block chord solo, but with the Evans upper structures, which apparently were stolen from Hank Jones, according to Harris. "hmmm really? ...?? to that claim.... But, probably, not "gutsy and grounded enough" for you. YEs, of course we can hear the difference, McFelcher. Night and Day difference. But I'll take Les McCann over Silver any day, for "guts and grounded" bluesy, rootsy, funky piano playing.
"Can you hear the difference" ? between McCann and Silver? And Evans. Yes, we can. what an arrogant and dumbass thing to ask, on a jazz posting. Of course of we hear the difference(s), Evans with qualities that Silver lacked, other than your abstract and vaguely named qualities. Subtler dynamic touch, enormous and far deeper and wider (and original) harmonic palette. Oh, sorry, not original. He stole his whole sound from Hank Jones, I forgot. pshhh
Of course we hear the differences Georgy boy.
We just don't set ourselves up as a superior judge of pianistic qualities like you sho nuff did. Trying to do it all sly and ironic and clever, too. And failed. Go practice your licks and stfu.
Of course the difference is OBVIOUS. That's why you didn't even need to point it out.
.
@@georgemcfetridge8310
I can easily see how this man would have gotten sick of constantly hearing about Bill Evans. But on the other hand, he is a TEACHER, and supposed to be a little more even handed when he speaks to young minds. Listening to this kind of talk makes me terribly sad.
Listening to a bunch of young laughing students is even more sad.
@@carlomorena6728 ?????
@@Marie-qv6on nobody of us has the right to laugh about Bill Evans. No Jazz Master does it.
@@edwardgibbon2557 what you say about industry may have sense. Bill may have been 'the new guy' (instead of Paul Bley, for example, that was probably almost as important as him, but not for the piano trio revolution...Bill was the first one ever). Do you love 'some' Evans tracks? Her left us a big heritage, a world of poetry, of silences, of tensions and relax. His voicings were the first amazing modern voicings (they have NO passion??? they are welcome!!) Nobody can play ballads in a previous way, after Bill. And...nobody killed the older but evergreen piano music...nobody will forget stride piano, nobody will ever ignore Eubie Blake, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, the young Basie, Teddy Wilson and their sons...Dick Hyman, Dave McKenna and so on.Bill was, and still is, just something else. One of the most influential pianists ever. Jazz piano simply changed after him.
@@carlomorena6728 thanks honestly I didn’t know what you meant but you clarified it rly well
This is fucking hilarious. Classic Barry; stubborn, savage and still legendary at the ripe old age of 90 something.
Sure ok
Racist,too!
Yeah, racist--up North in Yankee Land, it's okay to be a Black racist or drool over Black racists. Down here, he wouldn't last 10 minutes.
@@MrRickywallace lmao you are so fragile
@@daniel67797 No, I am tough. I come back when I see Whites racially attacked.
Great piano player, great musical teacher... But those statements about Bill Evans, George Cables and in other videos Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock are dangerous; teach students music non what they should like. Music is bigger than an opinion
MUCH bigger.
You said it best
I wasn't the biggest fan of Chick either, although his skills and legacy are undeniable. But since he has his Facebook Live thing going on every single night... You've got to admit that this guy is giving, and giving, and giving so much! I just put his, in my opinion, ridiculous church aside, just as I put Dr Barry's dissing aside. I've got no time for that, only for their music and the positive things I can learn from them.
@宇宙愛 music is no competition at that level. And oh yeah, I just bought Tiptoe Tapdance by Hank Jones and even met him backstage at North Sea Jazz, years ago. I also was invited by Dr Barry Harris to his house, where I played on Monk's piano next to Barry. You know what we played? Isn't she lovely, by Stevie Wonder. Thank you very much!
@宇宙愛 got no footage, only pictures. It was about seven years ago and he said about it that it was such a good song, that it could have been written by a jazz musician. He kicked out the triplet pentatonic line at the end of every chorus and replaced it by more bebop type language.
With all due respect to Jon Raney (who plays better than I ever will) and the other excellent folks here, I don’t think this is primarily about jealousy or sour grapes. I think it’s primarily that Barry is sad and angry that, in his view, jazz took a wrong turn and the wrong people became the main influences. I don’t think he’s trying to cut Bill Evans or Dave Brubeck or anyone, per se, so much as he’s angry that most piano students will be taught that playing like Bill Evans is the right, modern way to play. (At least I was.) And as to it being lame for him to say this, I think what a teacher says in class to his students should reflect his actual thinking. This isn’t like Michael Jordan cutting people in a public speech. I love Barry and have always found him warm (especially after he’s criticized someone). Sorry to see the anger here - I think if you listen to him enough you’d hear that it’s mostly about his frustration about the way the music went. Not his personal jealousy/pettiness. (FWIW, I love Bill Evans.)
Nah, it's sour grapes and jealousy. There may also be a racial component.
Barry loves Bill too. He was making a very specific point. Great post.
I was there and I completely agree.
Conservatories teach to play jazz like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, I want to distance myself from that to have my own voice with my own influences.
@@jimjiminy76 i always felt that there was sort of an unconscious racial component when people talked about bill evans like he was the epitome of jazz piano.
First, let me say I don't begrudge artists having strong opinions about other artists.
The thing about Bill Evans, for me, is: there may not be any one thing Bill Evans did better than anyone else. But he did so many things so well and he did a huge diversity of things. There's a lot of great early swing. His My Funny Valentine with Jim Hall is very bop, right down to the shell voicings. He has enormous diversity and complexity in his ballad arrangements. His solos feel much less like solos and more like fully realized compositions. People are obsessed with him, but if you're honest, not a lot of people sound like him. That kind of improvisation through motive development is very hard to teach, very hard to imitate.
nobody sounds like bill evans.
Insightful comments. I think MANY try to sound like Bill, but as you suggest, easier said than done. Still, his voicings (no one can claim a particular voicing, but his overall harmonic approach) are his legacy, if there is such a thing, and I'd say yes to that.
well said sir
Bud Powell did all those things with more artistic force. It's obvious.
The last two lines in this review are brilliant and true.
i just made a discovery while on Amazon looking for info on Bud Powell. there is a paperback memoir about Powell called "Dance of the Infidels."
i will give you 3 guesses who wrote the forward to this book - none other than Bill Evans! a direct quote from Evans: “If I had to choose one single
musician for his artistic integrity, for the incomparable originality of his creation and the grandeur of his work, it would be Bud Powell.” those words
could have easily been written by Harris himself, but perhaps the fact that Evans was chosen to write the forward only increased his resentment.
Easy for him to say. He had the machine behind him; unlike Powell.
Barry is a world class teacher and I have learned so much from him. But I confess, I play chords with the left hand sometimes ;)
He never said not to play them. But he objected to playing them “all the time”. Check some videos where he plays them himself when improvising.
Evans is a legendary musician that people all over the world enjoy, Harris is a phenomenal bop teacher respected mostly by students
Is there a full version?
💥 Bill Evans is the greatest Jazz pianist of all time. Everybody digs Bill Evans, but he's unique. His perfect voicings, innovation, classical music knowledge, and outstanding creativity makes he a true genius of all music. 🎉❤❤❤
We will all miss Barry Harris very much...
:((((
He was a racist!
Nope
Umm can you define "we and all." Miles, bill Evans yes I miss them, and Barry has FINALLY stopped whining.
i can listen to bill evans for ever, so some like apples, some like rhubarb, i used love raw onions and cheese, everybody is different, thank goodness, and bud and bill are totally different, also to our great fortune
bud used to listen to Bill Evans recordings in France with Francis Paudras and considered him like a promising talent
Ironically Bill Evans said his single greatest influence was Bud Powell LOL
why is he so salty
Yeah, I don't think Barry Harris is educated on Bill Evans in my opinion. He is just talking his mouth off.
Too bad you can't hear it in his playing though. It's like he just listed a great whose name he knew but never really listened to
@@guidemeChrist No way... that is so insulting.... have you listened to Bill's early stuff? You can definitely hear Bud's influence. Stop with the disrespect...
@@zu0832
Right and isn't the idea to find your own voice? Take what came before and develop your own approach. Bill took Beethoven and Bud (many more) and made his own voice. I love BH but his vibe is extremely negative and not a good influence.
@@guidemeChrist If you can't hear it in his playing, you should probably invest in some ears.
“Art Tatum was too much for all of us”. Indeed he was!
When you find out his recording of Over the Rainbow was made only a week after the film came out 🤯🤯🤯
Emerson wrote, "envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide."
Barry is the man. I don't understand why he would put Evans down.
Bitter man. Barry was good, but Bill was far more talented
Because as great as Bill was, he didn't have the fire, the swinging drive of the cats Barry mentioned. It's a feel thing Barry maybe doesn't dig about Bill, more than a harmonic thing I am guessing. And I am a Bill Evans fanatic. Doesn't bother me a bit the Barry doesn't like Evans. Barry's feel as a player speaks for itself. The closest thing we'll get to hearing Bud Powell live folks.
@@johnvalentine3456 no 'fire' and no 'drive' here?...ruclips.net/video/b2ir78Ft3tM/видео.html
we learn about bill before barry before terry pollard before mary lou because of white supremacist patriarchy. im sure hes bitter. he watched people he knew personally suffer from poverty and inhumane conditions while others became complict and collaborative with the destruction of the tradition to favour white big money and white academia by pushing their individual career. i still like bills playing, but it seems immature to ignore that political context. and it seems ridiculous to me to say he was inventive. he had privilege and full access to indigenous and black music. ill give him credit for not using it go settle for mediocrity. if we can learn anything from bill as white people engaging with this tradition, its that. i get why hes bitter. whats happened to this tradition is horrible and has been incredibly violent, and figures like bill are used in the current berklee pedagogy to represent things that are so far from the traditional roots.
@@evelyncharlottejoe4238 when I listen to this I don’t hear him trashing Bill or his playing. He’s specifically bemoaning the fact that Bill has been put up on a pedestal in mainstream music culture as the greatest jazz pianist of all time. Aside from the hostility he feels as a prominent black musician watching a slow gentrification of “street music” (his term), I doubt he appreciates being overshadowed in his educational efforts by the sainthood bestowed to Bill’s teaching through his early death. Barry is old school to the core, even in The Hague videos you hear him take shots at the academic approach to jazz theory. Bill The Legend represents more than himself in this respect, and I think Barry is projecting a lot of that animosity onto his fame and canonization in the music world
I think many of you who have posted here are missing the point. This isn't an attack on Bill Evans, but this is an attack on anything called Jazz that comes after Be Bop! Barry has said Miles Davis's modal music is not jazz. To Barry, anything post post-BeBop is not Jazz. It was just on this day, he was talking about Bill Evans. On other days, he would talk badly about Miles Davis or Coltrane.. Barry has condemned modal Jazz before. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis is known probably as the best Jazz album of all time (if there is such a thing). All Jazz aficionados consider "Kind of Blue," if not the greatest Jazz album of all time, at least on the top five greatest jazz albums of all time. I've heard Barry Harris say modal music is not jazz, and "Kind Of Blue" mostly modal. So, what many consider the best Jazz album (or one of the best) of all time, Barry would not even consider it Jazz.I've heard Barry Harris condemn Coltrane's "Giant Steps!" So, what you are hearing here is not bitterness, but musical dogma. Nevertheless, Barry can opine about Bill Evans, and on other days Miles Davis and Coltrane; however, Barry is a musical genius. He's not bitter. Bitterness is for losers, but Barry is a winner. He is around 90 years old, and still going strong. Among Jazz musicians, he is viewed like a God when he visits Europe and does his workshops. He has nothing to be bitter about. What you are hearing is not bitterness, but the teacher in him. All teachers are dogmatic to a certain extent, and he no exception.
I could not have said it better.
I agree. Coltrane, Davis, Giant Steps and the like all contributed to the ruination of Jazz and Jazz musicians … especially saxophonists. In order to play like Coltrane you need a loose setup so everyone sounds like they are playing a kazoo now and its all histrionics. Nobody has the guts to play slow and find a melodic line and develop it … Max Ionata and Scott Hamilton being the exceptions. All these musicians destroying themselves to learn a tune they will never play on a gig and if they do you can be certain the audience doesn’t have a clue what they are hearing.
The greatest album? Armstrong's 1927-28 work surpasses everything since for freshness, invention, deep excitement, meaning, joy. Second to that is Bird's 'Koko' session of 1945. I'm sure not one commenter here will go with this.
Perfect.
That way he repeats "get outta here" at :50 is priceless 🤣🤣🤣
RIP master Barry! you will always be remembered with love!
Yes as opposed to the way he lived his life with vitriol, envy, resentment. I hope he RIP cause he certainly was not at peace in his life.
@@murrayr7703 I didn't see that in your classes. if you met him personally then ok. But even reflecting on that after someone's death says more about you than about him.
@@Weily_Alcequiez Your are welcome to your opinion as I am to mine. And my opinion is he was obviously a bitter envious man and talking smack about Bill Evans is quite childish especially when you are 90 year old. If he were alive I'd just say to him - "Let it Go gramps.
@@Weily_Alcequiez very well said bro. Definitely Changed the way Many look at music-and that’s a fact. RIP the great Barry Harris
@@murrayr7703 he had his manners and strong opinions... That's it! And, with 90 years old You become less polite...
Lol! Bill Evans is an artist first and a pianist second. His art is so damn beautiful. Harris is a pianist first. I take his remarks from that point of view
Smart comment.
Wtf does this even mean.
Zenit D learn and grow maybe you’ll figure
@@smiley122688 stop getting too romantic. Every is an artist at some level. Expression is nothing special, as even bill Evans says. I would say it takes a lot of piano training before any level of art exists. I'd even say some musicians are not artists. What was said was frankly ridiculous and can't be quantified in any way except naively
Bill was a Great artist and a GREAT pianist. As great as anybody in jazz.
Miles Davis said Bill Evans was the greatest pianist and taught him a lot. Bill was a genius he didnt take anyones stuff. You surprise me Barry.
Not only that, but Bill invented an entirely new way to play jazz, especially standards.
@@sitarnut i agree jim. Also miles davis never commented on anyone really so to pick out Bill is something interesting.
@@timmo491 Miles said good things about Ahmad Jamal as well, I think.
@@maxwesmont totally yes
Barry doesn’t buy the hype on Miles either which is wild
Hey, Barry being Barry and speaking his mind, is a treasure. Students come to learn from who the master is. To "moderate himself for young minds" would be to drop from a master class, to an ordinary class.
So we can be us and speak our mind about him?
@@shaolin1derpalm the master remains the master and the students remain students. Everyone should stay in their place
@@cocovi so the master was never the student? Speaking his mind against what came prior?
blah blah blah let's all just stfu and goes practice on our instruments, make ourselves useful to the world and move the air around with music instead of blah fucking blah blah@@cocovi
Rest In Peace you wonderful jazzmaster
Based Legend. Rest in peace
Bill Evans changed music, neo-soul, modern RnB, even some hip-hop, still use his voicings. Blue in Green
You’re exactly right, Bill Evans changed music forever, and that’s the problem. He’s easily the most copied jazz pianist in history, and Dr. Harris thinks that his popularity did a lot to extinguish the legacy of earlier, greater piano players (like Art Tatum and Bud Powell).
Personally I agree, but it also happens that Bill Evans’ style is much more digestible to the average casual listener than Powell or Tatum. Whether you see that as dumbing down or not is up to you.
STOP
you just whitewashed all that music. Its all black. That you think this is evidence that all the Black musicians who already did what Evans did don't get the props because they weren't white
@@TehWinnerz it's all American
@@liquidmotion09 well that we can agree on :)
He’s certainly entitled to his opinion. Personally I find Bill Evans’ music deeply moving.
EVEN After Miles Evans encountered huge rejection by club owners and sadly some some blacks (listen to his last interview taped in his car) many on the scene black musicians were up for being in his trio but didn't need the political rejection. So here's some more from Barry Harris. Oh well.
I read all the comments and most of them has nothing or very little to do with what Barry Harris said in the video.
I like how he badmouths "In Your Own Sweet Way" but has enough respect for it to insist on getting the composer's name right.
Competitive Jazz? Oxymoronic. A silly conversation.
It's how Jazz was born
@@BirdBop battling hip hop battles are just an extension of this mentality. I saw this in the film Cadillac records. Muddy Waters and co used to do it.
But they don't get it.
Seek out Oscar Peterson reflections on "cutting" contests......Jazz is VERY competitive, though we might consider it more "friendly" competition than outright cut-throat. Many have objected to 'contests' - same in classical field. But there's no getting around a certain competitiveness in a crowded field with less jobs than job seekers.
It’s quite sad to see such a great master so bitter. What never changes is that those people are always surrounded by aslickers .
The asslicking is what stood out to me the most. Jesus... have some fucking dignity.
宇宙愛 Barry Harris is a great player, so was Bill Evans. Dodo Marmarosa is maybe even more underrated ( or Hampton Hawes), and in this video are som bloody asslickers .
宇宙愛 All great players as Elmo Hope, Andrew Hill, Herbie Nichols, Harold Mabern, Al Haig and so on and on. I simply find all those dogmatic discussions about “what id real jazz” ridicoulous. It reminds me some stupid and unproductif discussions in the early music world. Imagine, Duke Ellington would have thought like that, all we would remember ( if we would) were the “Soda fountain rag”. Of course, Barry Harris teaching is marvelous when he speaks about what he likes ( small chords vs big chords, the 6th diminueshed etc.) . He is a unbelievebly precious witness and ambassador of the great art of Bebop (piano)playing. Yet I’m glad there is also other music out
there. PS. You can be sure that Bill Evans was able to appreciate and admire all hes great predecessors, as great artists normally are, which doesn’t keeps them away frm moving on.
宇宙愛 Not my cup of tea, but go on if you like
宇宙愛 maybe
Bill Evans is awesome. You can't take that away from him. But I agree that he isn't the end all be all of Jazz piano.
The real deal -RIP Genius
Keith Jarrett doesnt like art Tatum plays too much notes according to jarret ...vice versa as Harris to Evans..i guess we all are diffrent in views and tastes..I respect both of them ..Bill Evans is my influence his music is expressiive and sophisticated.
Jarrett is full of it. He doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the nuances of what Tatum was doing. This no doubt contributes to Jarrett's fruity sound.
@@TheDubChronicles You are so right! I couldn't express it better myself.
Respect to you Broth ... Well Said
Anyone who disrespects what came before is naive.
keith never said anything like that haha
Barry is one of my very favorite pianists, second only to Bill Evans. I've recorded close to 40 hours of his music, listened to much more. I've shared meals with him, he played for our wedding reception. love him dearly. But I don't share his assessment of Bill Evans.
I have to meet him :(
Telling Bill Evans sounds like Hank Jones is ridiculus! And Bill’s artistry is not only about “jazz”. His sonority is up to par with Horowitz or Rubinstein... you name it, his pianism is in that league. Then his compositions? BarryHarris’s orthodoxy and tribalism just get out of the way time to time, it is not new to me!
Not cool to have this up on RUclips. Barry allows one and all to sit in on his weekly informal, intimate workshops for a modest fee, and even allows the students to record him and their own instruction for their own future reference, but it seems like a bit of a violation to post these informal comments publicly; he doesn't even allow his dedicated, longtime students to publish written recaps of his weekly sessions on facebook, so I'm fairly certain he wouldn't be cool with this. Bad form.
As a tremendous Barry Harris fan, I think he is mistaken for one reason or another. Listen to Bill Evans on the album "Alone (Again)" and tell me Evans doesn't swing. The bebop on there is of the highest caliber.
Bill Evans is good at what he does. But there are levels. That album proves to me he can’t do bop.
@@TreBeL1000 check out modern art by art farmer if you wanna hear bill really swing playing bop. he sounds a lot like sonny clark or red garland, plus everybody else is really swingin too
These sort of takes are commonplace among jazz practitioners.
The continuous and rapid developments of the music often left many musicians stranded, artistically speaking, particularly in terms of their mainstream appeal. (Consider the fact that veterans like Duke Ellington lived long enough to witness every significant era IN jazz history, and that Louis Armstrong was still playing dixieland trumpet when Bitches Brew dropped).
Bop was this man's art and his survival, so i don't begrudge him his opinions regarding what came later.
I don't care who he is or what he had accomplished, Bill Evans was awesome. I'm sure the sycophantic "the master is speaking" comments will come but whatever. People from before his time could say "I don't understand" about him and could be valid.
Unfortunately taking into account the beauty of someone else’s beauty and developed voice is absent in this segment.
Barry did like John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and Bill Evans. Basically anybody who played with Miles in the late 1950s and the "Hard Bop" era.
Rest in peace Barry
Bill Evans presented a problem for that part of black jazz community who insists that jazz is black music only. He was an innovator, totally original with solid roots in swing and bebop. He was one of the few white jazz musicians whose concept influenced nearly every pianist of his generation and younger of every race and nationality. As good as Barry is or has been, his whole concept is not original but coming directly from Bud Powell, whereas Bill has learned from Bud but came up with his own style.
vova47 i thought he was a classical musician
Bill Evans was classically educated but a true jazz musician.
There’s a big difference between Bill and Barry.
if you listen to Bill Evans' early records, a lot of it came from Bud Powell. but Bill eventually evolved into his own style
Yes, AND Bill brought all that wonderful Classical training from his college days at Southeastern Lousiana U.
Funny thing is, Bill Evans I'm SURE would have had nothing but nice things to say about Barry's playing...
Very sad to see him denigrate Bill Evans
Bill Evans WAS all that. I saw him play nights on end at the Top of The Gate in the Village in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Barry Harris is a fine educator of his method. There is room for everyone, from Billy Taylor to Cecil Taylor. Barry needs to remember that when students flock at the master, no one appreciates the put down.
The Legend 👍🏼
"Bill Evans, one of my favorite pianists of all time..." Miles Davis
ruclips.net/video/VXhmvOa5Xjo/видео.html
"Bud Powell was the best of all the bebop pianists" Miles Davis (and Barry would agree).
When Bill died in 1980 Miles said , "I learned more about music from Bill Evans than from anybody."
Funny how he doesn't like Bill Evans, but there is a video of him playing Waltz for Debby. To me, that's a great way of honoring another musician by playing his music.
I mightve heard wrong, who is elenor j kat?
Bad comment to young students-how can you minimize the genius of Bill Evans-Jealous??
I don't think he's jealous.. he's a bad cat himself. He's a disciple of Bud Powell
Whilst I think BH should have more tact to talk like this to *students* (who you should always try to encourage), (conversations about race, on the other hand, should be had with as much honesty and frankness as possible) that's exactly the point. In no way was Bill Evans a genius. Other, black, musicians were but they don't anywhere near the stature that Bill Evans enjoys amongst white folk. Bill Evans is fine, good even. I'm ok with saying that - I'm just exhausted seeing the constant elevation of Evans above his black colleagues. Jaki Byard. Eroll Garner. Teddy Wilson. Duke Ellington. Andrew Hill. Geri Allen. Herbie Hancock (tho to be fair he is maybe tied with BE in terms of popularity). Keith Jarrett. Bud Powell. Cedar Walton. Thelonious Monk. McCoy Tyner. Chick Corea. Kenny Kirkland. Richard Muhal Abrahams.
Barry Harris has forgotten more about music than anybody watching or commenting will ever know about. He was there on the scene. He's an old man and a veteran, who has earned the right to say what he wants to say about this art form. And whoever doesn't like it, be damned.
It's more the ignorant comments that are made here than what Harris said that are irritating.
"bill evans didn't play jazz, he played experimental improvised music" ????? really Buford, how did that work with Paul Chambers and Jimmy cobb as the rhythm section if Evans wasn't playing "jazz". unbelievable stupidity here.
Stella by Starlight on Kinda Blue sounds a lot like jazz to me, and not exactly like Hank Jones. It sounded GOOD.
All y'all can say what you want about Evans, and Rodman and Isiah can talk shit about Bird, but the bottom line is,
they both could do it. And often OUTdid the black man at his own game, and in his own genre. Aww. I'm sorry. Get over it.
You only have to STFU and watch Bird play, and listen to Evans play to reckanize. Herbie recognized. So just do that, and stfu. and get over it.
Tyner and Hancock were also both classically trained , and innovators, nobody here is talking them down. Like it or not, this is the way jazz piano has been taught for the last 70 years. Harris is part of the conservative move back towards "the traditional".
Choose what you want, and just STFU, enough of the blah blah, and play the piano if you think you really have something to "say". btw I hardly listen to Evans , and almost never to Harris. I only really like his solo concerts in Berkeley.. His trio stuff? meh. never floated my boat. I listen to Monk, Les McCann, Tyner, Mehldau, Terrasson. and have listened to everybody else.
Man listen to Barry at his best and Evans at his worst... I rest my case. Evans would've never presumed to make these kind of sweeping negative disempowering statements because he was actually a man possessed of great humility. Wow.
that's actually true. but barry is more offended by putting evans as the end goal of piano players. people just enjoy it as music. not necessarily as learning the way barry is trying to promote. he is an advocate of bop. not of music. and that's his problem
Bill Evans is the most overrated pianist in all of Jazz and its because he is white
@@TehWinnerz he's just good, deal with it
@@JohnsonSmithson yeah he's pretty good at times but so many white jazz fans talk about him like he's the GOAT and its just laughable. Not even top 50.
Goat of all time? Are you confusing sports with music?
listening to Bill Evans in the car sounds good to me!
I like when jazz musicians and fans have strong opinions. Most people in the jazz world just think everyone is a genius. It's boring and ends up being meaningless. I enjoyed this. He is wrong about Bill Evans (and George Cables) but there is a good lesson in honesty here.
Nobody here has thought about the US's publicity machine's effect on perception of this art. Barry Harris felt it.
I think it must have been hard that Bill got so much recognition and so many talented pianists got so little financial support. I think he is bitter here about that and it’s understandable. That said- there is a reason Evans got the awards and recognition. It was well deserved. Barry is great. He did not change in any substantive way how one plays piano. Imo. Bill transformed the approach and his miles brought- him back- for a reason. .
Evans has some good moments but his stature is massive over so many better black pianists. Imo its because Evans is white and white middle class folk got into his aesthetic.
@@TehWinnerz didn’t know miles and cannonball were white. Thnxs. Who knew.
@@golds04 my point is that so many Jazz fans think Evans is THE Jazz Pianist and don't give time to the black masters. Its a travesty.
@@TehWinnerz that I would agree with 100%. Bill got so much from those who preceded him- especially Bud. Conversely- in the world of black musicians- lennie Tristan imo has not gotten the credit he deserves. Nor joe Albany. Your point is well taken.
@@golds04 I think Lennie is pretty huge now among musicians. Warne Marsh too. I think they're more important than Evans tbh
That's oral history, really interesting perspective.
I like Barry's comment at the end of the interview... learn how to sing a solo. That's where the music comes from ... deep down inside and it' got to be completely personal and authentic.... not just a bunch of notes.
And can't do that very well either...
and who's the cat from Slovenia?
More flavors, more joy, more beauty.
❤️❤️❤️Sing a Solo, great stuff!
no one is immune from jealousy, simple as that
Bill Evans is my favourite jazz musician. Ed Bickert is my second. I love Miles and Coltrane and Monk and Jim Hall and countless other musicians who paved the way.
Bill was something special.
I love Bill Evans - hands down - Barry love your sound too. ha ha and yes Bud is the tops, amazing.
The beauty of jazz is the cornucopia of players who have contributed to the music, whether Black, White, Brown, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, etc. You get my point. Some arguably may seemingly have had a greater impact than others on paper, or in the press among the general public. That unfortunately can play a role in how the music gets promoted or who gets selected to play a festival. For every recognizable player, how many get lost in the shuffle? People are so quick to name guys like Tatum, Powell, Peterson, The Duke, Basie, Evans, McCoy, Horace, Corea, etc. even Barry Harris. How many get forgotten like Norman Simmons, Dodo Mamarosa, Dick Hyman, Phineas Newborn,Jr., Ray Bryant, Fats Waller, Jimmy Rowles, Al Haig, Tommy Flanagan, Monty Alexander, Cedar Walton, Mary Lou Williams, etc. I think I've made my point. Barry maybe feels slighted or under appreciated. Ron Carter is known to harbor similar sentiments as far as his importance in the great Miles Davis Quintet to make possible the things Herbie and Tony did because he was anchoring everything as the pulse and foundation. It's a normal human desire to be recognized and appreciated. We have as a musical community a wealth of history and knowledge that is amazing and staggering. So many great musicians get lost in the shuffle because it's the way the music business works. Thete are great regional players who regular people may not know in another part of the country, but musicians know and they refer each other for gigs or have longtime musical relationships with them. This is how it has been for the guys who work and love to play. One of my mentors, the great bassist, George 'Buddy' Catlett, grew up in a thriving scene in Seattle playing with his friends Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, Floyd Standifer, and Southern transplant, Ray Charles. Buddy would do some great things include play with Basie, Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong and play on some legendary recordings. But he moved back to Seattle in the early 1970's and spent the rest of his life there and had a nice musical career and kept on practicing and trying to get better. He didn't worry about this fame stuff and who was better or contributed what to the music. To Buddy it was all about THE MUSIC. Buddy said to me on a gig one time duringour break, "The key to this business is longevity. I've seen great players come and go. You keep practicing and playing and eventually you'll get your due.." Words of wisdom to live by.
You overlook the control exerted by the US publicity machine - utterly unjust.
Barry Harris is a fine Bop pianist, Bill Evans is a genius innovator. That is why he talks like that.
Possibly !!
Opinion
Bill Evans....is from another planet.
I hope he never die
He just did
@@brothercaleb yeah I heard about that just yesterday... RIP
Funny... Chick Corea went to go see Bill Evans play with miles and he was unimpressed. But to Chicks credit, he never dissed him. And to Bill Evans credit, he dissed the living hell out of Chet Baker. Bill Evans redeeming factor was his 'Black Awareness' which made his black peers comfortable around him. The only person that has ever spoken on it was Drummer Jimmy Cobb. Bill Evans was so much more than just a pianist.
His rant is akin to saying that Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett are all overrated since they're not Bill Evans! 😮
Bill Evans was and is Bill Evans that's it.Barri is getting older Godbless him.
fuck him. he's old and bitter.
@@WELCOME2PATSPLACE Patrick, get a grip. Curmudgeons add color to this world. Hope you can still put on the Evans Vanguard sides and enjoy.
I wish I was in nyc. i'd be at his classes all the time.
@Cj McCollum 👀
I studied with Sophia Rosoff at the same time as Barry. Sometimes he would arrive early for his lesson after me and "sit in" on mine. He was a wonderful guy, very supportive although he was certainly opinionated. It was something to hear him go from a Chopin Etude into a Bud Powell tune!
Bill Evans is great but Bud have something really unique in his playing that nobody can't replicate. Bud is so good
Guess Everybody Doesn't Dig Bill Evans. I sure do. Bill Evans, like Monk, bucked what was considered cool at the time and became a true artist, one whose contemporaries respected enormously and whose music will live on and on. Now, back to listening to the teachings of the incredible Barry Harris, another rare musical god who has given us mere mortals a treasure trove of knowledge, wish I had more years left to absorb even a fraction of what he's laid down for us.
Wish you had a fraction of real understanding of the injustices of the music business...
Their all great!!
There are certain musicians, even masters like Barry Harris, who are very rigid in their views about who can play. Lou Donaldson is like that about saxophonists. Barry probably doesn't like any pop or rock and roll either. It's too bad, but the reality is that every great artist has their detractors. Fortunately we can all form our own opinions.
Bill hated rock
There are piano "stars and superstars" and there is BILL EVANS - above them all and above the time!
Barry harris really is salty that no one thinks of him as one of the greats. Bill evans is a genius and impossible to replicate and i bet that scares Barry
Bill is very easy to replicate. Just play high clusters on 9ths and #11ths very softly 🙄
@@themidger1 that is such a watered down simple way to put his playing. You also just highlighted one of the many techniques he uses to craft solos and arrangements. I consider oscar to be the best but bill evans has a much more distinct and recognizeable sound than Barry harris and that's just a fact that most people would agree with. I like barry's playing but it is downright disrespectful to insult one of the greats in a manner like that.
@@dylanmcgaharn5676 he doesn’t really insult or disrespect Bill himself. I mentioned on another comment he sees all the modern academic berklee jazz as not-jazz and his comments here extend through that lens. He has consistently said this, even in the old videos of him there’s clips of him saying he doesn’t like that style. Also, to continue the “how to ape BE” tips - quick glissando at the peak of a run, pentatonic 3 on 4, and modal block chord runs really help mimic his sound. To my ears Barry is more distinct, no one else can melt chords together like him. Stuff like That Secret Place is the peak of beauty to me but it’s all subjective
impossible to replicate? LOL its the easiest Jazz Piano to replicate. There's a reason why theres a thousand of white pianists at music college learning 'his' rootless voicings and playing saggy-ass 'Jazz Piano'.
Barry Harris has an opinion about everything and everyone. He is a critic, theorist and is very dogmatic. That's just him; and his input to jazz is appreciated.
Right, we could all benefit from being a little less thin skinned. And anyway, if I pick up Barry Harris in my car to take him somewhere, I play no music at all in the car, as a courtesy. Just assume that the silence will be appreciated by your likely road-weary guest/passenger.
Bill played with more honesty than 99% of the other jazz legends. On par with with Chet Baker.
Respect his opinion and ofc he knows so much more about jazz and piano and me. But Bill Evans is Bill Evans, his music and style hits me hard repeatedly. Can’t help it sorry Barry 😢
I like the way he interacts with students and people.
Wow Barry Harris is real humble
He's not against Bill Evans, just fed up with the publicity machine that made him dominate music audiences to the exclusion of many other piano voices. This music can't be discussed without considering the forces that told people what to like via media dissemination. I too find Hank Jones's touch, thoughtfulness, harmonic imagination and pianism just as beautiful as Evans's.
Kind of Blue did a lot of it. Miles Davis, not just a nameless publicity machine.
@@rxw5520 I'm not saying BE didn't deserve success. It's about falsely making music into a business. It just isn't, in its nature! Thus all the phoniness and injustice [particularly racial, as in the US machine]. As to pianists carrying out the Armstrong/Parker approach to music, no one, to this day, outplays Bud Powell, or earlier, Earl Hines - as to musical force and wonder, as embodied by 'West End Blues' and 'Koko'.
making the world a better place