I was the technical director on this show. What an amazing series of jazz shows we did back then. The video quality compared to todays standards is pretty poor but the audio and the performances are superb! And I dearly miss the director, John Beyer, who made this and many more shows I worked on a real joy.

I hired the Bill Evans Trio in Victoria BC , provided my piano and tuned it for Bill. I have a recording of that memorable night in June 1980. Bill and I had dinner, spoke of him maybe moving to beautiful Vancouver Island, dreams unrealized. Bill kindly shared some musical ideas with me, a younger jazz pianist and I am eternally grateful for Bill's inspiration. I have over 70 of Bill Evans albums and his genius has inspired millions. Bill's virtuosity, sensitive, emotional playing has blessed the world forever. Bill Evans lives on through his music. Keith Allison.

I met Bill when he was at the top of his game in the early '70's. He played a gig at a jazz club in Buffalo N.Y called the "Revillot Lounge", and I was sent there to cover the show and to interview him for my family's local entertainment magazine. I was only seventeen or eighteen years old at the time! Bill gave a sterling performance. He was already beginning to suffer from the effects of the Hep C which later took his life. His wife told us that he would inject heroin into his fingers before a performance to kill the pain. That's dedication. Probably the greatest and most prolific jazz pianist of all time left us far too soon.

My wife and I were watching this video on PBS when a friend called to tell us that Bill had died that very day. He was my "main man", and I couldn't listen to his recordings for about 6 months after that. I knew him slightly, and we had a number of conversations over the years, for which I'm eternally grateful. BTW, this was not his last performance. He continued performing for nearly two more years, until shortly before his death on 15 September 1980.

What Bill Evans left behind is pure Gold

Took me years to fully comprehend and appreciate late bill evans. Now I recognize it as some of the greatest music of all time.

His touch to the keys is so painful and yet so true and colourful. As he plays, he is capable of evoking a poignant memory to the listener in such a way that I feel personally connected to him. I think that's what makes Bill Evans so awesome, he paints a melody with his fingers that goes right through your throat and shows you that he felt that same way too... I will forever love Bill for what he did for me and for all of his listeners

This music can lift you out of this troubled and depressing world of today. This tremendous gift of creative expression and incredible technique gives you some kind of hope that something so much better is intended for mankind than the horrors of the 21st century.

Setlist 00:24~04:56 Re: Person I Knew(Evans) 05:12~12:32 Midnight Mood(Zawinul) 12:40~18:30 The Peacocks(Rowles) 18:48~23:05 Theme From M.A.S.H.(Suicide Is Painless)(Mandel) 23:30~29:06 Quiet Now(Zeitlin) 29:08~35:10 Up With The Lark(Kern) 35:10~43:30 In Your Own Sweet Way(Brubeck) 43:40~50:10 I Do It For Your Love(Simon) 50:10~end My Romance(Rodgers/Hart)

This looks like sacred space to me. Jazz is truly a meditation that opens up emotions. Bill Evans was the best.

I was influenced by Bill Evans since the first time that I heard him. I was a teenager. After 40 years he remains a daily partner.

This man was an impossible, impressive level of genius.

Collected jazz for 50 years ..... Bill is the wind beneath my wings .... I enjoy all types of music, jazz and otherwise, but Bill is the one that digs into my heart and just won't leave ..... his music touches the very deepest parts of my soul. I saw him once ... and that was enough for a lifetime. RIP, Bill.

Im currently 17 and am sick of the overplayed crap I hear on the radio!! I truly wish with all my heart that this music comes back into style in a huge way!

The 1st time I heard Bill Evans was his Blue & Green recording. By then he was gone and I had no idea of who he was, the album was on the 50% rack at the music store and I liked the cover. Then I listen to it on my father’s stereo system. I was 22 years old and the music was hunting, emotional and beautiful. I’ve never considered music in such a way, however, this was something different. To this day, and 40 years later Bill Evans music moves me, almost to tears. His touch and emotion that he brought out in his music is unmatched. He’s long gone, However, his music will live forever.

This was NOT Bill last performance! His last performance was in September 1980. I'm not sure the club in NY where that was. I saw him October 31, 1980 in San Francisco, Keystone Korner. His hands were quite swollen. This was a sign of impending kidney failure which finally took his life Sept 15, 1980. Just to set the record straight... I provided the piano, my Steinway "D" that I rebuilt and tuned for Bill and Dave McKenna at the Lulu White Boston performance Oct 30, 1979. I owned a piano rebuilding shop next door at 5 Appleton Street. I lived upstairs over Lulu White's on the 3rd floor. My girlfriend Veronique cooked a spectacular "Canard ala Orange" (orange duck) for dinner that night, and fed Bill and Marc and Joe. It was a memorable evening, one I'll never forget. Dinner with Bill Evans, Marc Johnson, Joe La Barbera, Doshie Powers, Micky Coutant, Veronique Prudhomme, and a piano performance I'll never forget. - David McCord

OMG!....47:42... Bill went above genius. Totally amazing performance. Thank you so much for this!

The greatest. The greatest jazz pianist of all times. No matter.

His playing in the last few years of his life was tempestuous, more intricate rhythmically and harmonically, restless. That airy, spacious feel of the late 60's was gone.

What a loss. But, Bill lives forever. What a blessing.

How chilled and relaxed people used to be without ugly handy phones stuck in your face, Bill lived the best era :)

I just recently discovered Bill Evans' work and now I can't stop listening to it. Especially this last trio... I'm in awe. Thank you Bill, Marc, Joe! Thank you KZfaq-algorithm. You've enriched my life!

SO BEAUTIFUL.... emotion, lyricism, harmonies, chemistry between the trio..... loss of words

great Bill always in my soul...I'll never will say good bye...

Nothing short of breathtaking. Bill Evans on piano and Napoleon Dynamite on bass. 'Heck yesss!' What more could you want?

Bill. We wish you were with us still. Stunning,fluid effortless and oh so sweet.

Marc Johnson is amazing 🤩

Profound performance. So many great players today as well, bull they are completely out of Evans league. This guy was something special.

Napoleon Dynamite on bass is killing it.

Bill Evans, we all should study this guy forever, What timing and touch and original trajectories like shooting stars to my ears and heart, Thanks so much for posting this precious farewell concert.

Absolutely amazing!

His playing is magnificent on this album...hard to believe he left us so soon after....

Bill Evans last performance, I have not seen this before. His artistry remains forevermore ❤ Marc Johnson, Joe LaBarbera

My music would be so much less without his influence. Thank you Bill. Sadly he probably had no idea how loved he was.

Oh my goodness Bill Evans and friends tearing it up!

Pianista immenso, paradisiaco

A genius, lost way before his time. We are blessed to have all his music.

please god let me time travel when i die so i can see him play again

Tracklist: 1 Re: person I know 00:00:25 2 Midnight mood 00:05:12 3 Peacocks 00:12:41 4 Theme from M.A.S.H. 00:18:49 5 Quiet now 00:23:40 6 Up with the lark 00:29:08 7 In your own sweet way 00:35:20 8 I do it for your love 00:43:54 9 My romance 00:50:20

John Pulham. Can't listen and watch this beautiful outpouring without a tear. Bill Evans so great and lost to us so young. Thanks Bill.

spiritual jazz music....... so important for the world today. Better then every therapy

So ill, so sad. So brilliant.

This is such a great performance! Bill Evans was and will always be a musical hero of mine whose playing has deeply influenced me as an improviser and composer. One of the greatest to play the instrument!

He OWNS the piano.

I was at his last performance, but he didn't show up, he passed away the same night, one of my saddest experience ever. My wife and myself were on visit from Europe.

I have practically everything bill has ever recorded and I swear his playing just kept getting better and better. The two guys he has accompanying him are top-notch players. I'd love to get this concert on CD.

I've always greatly admired Bill Evans after seeing him at Ronnie Scotts many years ago. His insightful and highly innovative style was absolutely unique among pianists, there was never a superfluous note in an Evans performance.

Bill Evans is one of my absolute favourite Pianists. I have so many... He however is one of the Pianists who readily comes to mind & really inspires me as a Pianist/Keyboard Player. I never had the honor & pleasure of meeting him in person. I am grateful for his musical legacy & wonderful contribution to our world. I am most grateful to you Friskounet for posting this video. Thank you so much. Blessings to you all.

Great music.we need much more of the.

I like Bill E, Thanks. Pianist Kiyoshi from Japan

Comments are not worthy of this language and heart ...just too COOL. Adore. perfection point and love this still lives to enjoy. Thank-you for sharing this ~

I would have loved to been there! Bill Evans! Wow!

Non ci sono parole...Soltanto...orecchi...e anima...

Bill played at his alma mater, Southeastern Louisiana University, only a few months before passing. It was an incredible evening; he even addressed one of his former teachers and classmates in addition to introducing the tune. He also held a very nice interview on the CD "Homecoming."

Bill Evans was the last pianist to express through the keys of a percussive instrument a personal voice that sang excruciating pain one instant and ecstatic joy the next. He belongs in the tradition of the great Romantic artists--like Shelley, Keats and Yeats-- Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Berg, Schoenberg, Debussy and Ravel. Much of what he did was beyond logical analysis and explanation, but some of it can be seen in the mechanics of his physical structure--he was practically born to play the piano. He had broad, powerful shoulders which, when leveraging huge and thick but dead accurate fingers, coaxed from the instrument spell-binding pianissimos and thunderous fortissimos--all without a hint of pounding, forced dynamics, or wasteful elbow movement. Then there's his uncanny control of dynamic scale--his left-hand textures matching those of the right hand--except when, through the careful adjustment of pressure to the keys, he wishes to bring out a countermelody. Whereas many players lay back on the tempo, Bill employs, very deliberately and incessantly, a device he calls "anticipatory rhythm," which he achieves by "lunging" into a measure before its arrival in metrical time, thus gaining a beat and injecting greater momentum and urgency to all that he plays (to hear Bill's explanation and demonstration, check out his visit on Marian Mcpartland's "Piano Jazz," the NPR program that he visited in 1979, just before debuting his final trio (which replaces the intimate impressionistic art of his early trio with the deep, profound and unabashed expressionistic art of his last. There's much more, but that would require another box or two. His life was short, and his career interrupted by numerous setbacks and tragedies, yet he managed to evolve as an artist, the totality of his journey comprising as impressive an arc of development as any other jazz artist.

One of Mark Johnson's best solos.

people with this much talent I cant understand the need for things like heroin most of us would love to have just a little of his talent. As I hack away on the piano I can only dream to play like that. Thank you for posting this wonderful video

The GOAT. Despite his personal issues, nobody has played like Bill Evans.

Can anyone say there are others that sounds like him? Nobody I know. The unique touch of mr bill evans. My piano teachers favorite, thank you jerry Samuel of instilling in my ears the wonder of This great pianist composer.

Legendary Bill Evans last performance in Ames, IA at the Maintenance Shop, w/ Joe LaBarbera on drums and Napoleon Dynamite on the bass.

The music flows through my heart....Awesome.

Bill evans was my mommy and lived with me for some time what a beautiful time it was back then

Was blessed to study with Marc Johnson at NTSU for a semester. A very humble and cool guy and a great teacher.

"Re: Person I Knew". It's an anagram on the name of Orrin Keepnews, the co-owner of Riverside Records, for which Bill first recorded on a regular basis.

Right, he was active for over a year and a half more. We could have been at Bourbon Street that same night. And we saw BE there a few years earlier when he still had Eddie Gomez and I think Marty Morell. Well that would make it before 1976. And of course we were always at the Town Tavern in the very early days, when BE came in with Scotty LeFaro and Paul Motian and they blew everyone's minds. What a genius. What a band. What a loss. Thank goodness for the records. They never ever get old.

This is incredibly moving & beautiful . Every tune. So very bittersweet. "In Your Own Sweet Way"...So wonderful...."Up With The Lark"...and "I do it for your love...Ahh...Exquisite. Really there are no words to articulately reveal Bill Evan and his musicianship. RIP, forever.

I can never hear enough of Bill Evans such a sad loss, just wonderful. Thank you so much for this.

There are times all one can do is listen and love . When the great do great it’s magic.

Precious footage. Thanks.

Dear Peter: Thank you for sharing this. I am neither a professional musician nor a jazz critic, but in my humble opinion what made Bill Evans great was his ability to improvise without losing the beauty of the melody. He is the most romantic (I don't mean this in a degrading sense) jazz pianist I have ever heard.

Großartig, ohne Worte

There is a CD:"His Last Concert In Germany"(rec.August 15.1980 in Bad Hönningen).It was his last recording date. CD 2022 Westwind Greetings from Germany

miraculous, thanks a million for sharing.

Fantastic--thanks for posting!

This is wonderful music to work by. Thanks so much to all who played in this Bill Evans recording.

Priceless! Thank you so much

It always amazed me how gentle he was with the keyboards. He literally coaxed the sound out...can't think of another jazz pianist who caressed the keys the way he did......almost like a person with a lower modulated voice who somehow gets people to listen even when they aren't the loudest voice in the room....

Love his first trio, and the 2nd, but I am loving his last trio the most lately. His playing so beautiful at this stage, most profound, right to the very end. The Keystone Corner tracks incredibly moving. He knew the end was near and was living to play. Read "How My Heart Sings" book, puts it all in perspective and so many records and live videos available to refer to. Best time to get into Bill.

I adore Bill's genius!!!! Thank you for mounting this!

too beautiful for words...

Thanks for sharing!

Bill Evans歌ってますね。さすがの演奏。

18:50 - 19:10 This is so Beautiful

The greatest jazz pianist of all times!!! God bless you

Yes, I concur - this was not his last performance. I saw him perform in SF roughly Sept 1, 1980, about 2 weeks before he died. Joe and Marc and I went to breakfast after the gig and worried about Bill whose hands were quite swollen (impending kidney failure) He played well anyway. I provided Steinway pianos for him and tuned for him whenever he played in Boston during 1977 to 80. I also knew him a little bit.

Increible ,pero cierto.....que manera de tocar y armonizar......uyyyy!! pasa el tiempo y parece que fué un sueño verlo por ultima vez en el 79 en una actuacion de despedida ......impresionante, con un joven Marc Jhonson y un Labarbera , que me marcaron con un Adios Maestro!!!!!

Ho cominciato da poco ad ascoltare i brani di Bill Evans ..mi sono innamorata della sua musica strepitosa e non smetto di ascoltarla appena posso ..rilassante meravigliosa... al mare eun connubio favoloso

amo este maestro y su increible inteligencia al momento de ejecutar una pieza o improvisar.

Merveilleux et limpide comme toujours avec Bill Evans.

His performance of My Romance on this set, blows my mind.

man you are lucky to have had a chance to speak the "voice" of modern music himself. what i would give for one stellar conversation

Never heard any great jazz musician talking about the tunning of the piano on any Bill Evans record. This is music, art, not a piece of machinery.

un poeta indimenticabile, sempre vero, sempre autentico. Il più grande di tutti per la sua struggente liricità.

how fortunate you were to know him. i envy that he passed through your life. thankfully, he left music for all of us.

i love bill evans

My hometown, Ames, IA! I was 13, stupid, and didn't know who Bill Evans was at that time!❤️ Couple years later I saw a production of PIPPIN in that same space and was freaked out how intimate it was with the actors singing right up in my face!

Genius on display shinning a torch for aspiring jazz pianists the world over. Loved the David Bruce comment below: "I knew him a little bit" .How modest ! Many of us would have cleaned his shoes for nothing just to be in reach of the hem of his jacket!

just amazing. i can watch this all day. the sound is soo pure. one of the most influential jazz pianists in my personal opinion.

Absolutely one of the best performances of Bill's so called "last trio", which consisted of bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Joe Labarbera. Thank you for your great work Mr. Sears. The sound is crystal clear and superb.

I caught Bill Evans, I want to say in late August 1980 at a Jam-packed LA Hollywood Bowl summer evening Jazz series concert entitled "Piano Masters" with Brubeck & Shearing & you could hear a pin drop from the top of the Hollywood Bowl where I was seated on that Sacred evening...