Listen to his solo and duo recordings to get a sense of how his voicing ideas changed based on the context. Lord of Bill Evans voicings worked particularly well because there was a bass player establishing a root note. Keep finding the next thing, and then work to get that in your ears and hands. Don’t ever beat yourself up because you don’t have a sound in your ears and hands yet. It’s challenging and frustrating and exciting and joyous and never ends. But in the moment he was thinking of the sound and feeling of the harmony against the melody he was playing. I’m sure knew the math and could explain it to you if you asked him just as he did it.
Bill Evans probably wasn’t thinking all that math. It becomes demystified through practice and experience. It can all seem overwhelming and insurmountable at first. Work through every color tone.ĭo it again, but with open Vs closed voicings.ĭo all of those again, but now play lines and scales and licks and patterns with your right hand. Run all your diatonic 7ths cords in every key in every inversion through a rhythmic pattern to a metronome and work the click up.ĭo it all again, but adding a specific color tone to each chord. You gotta actually get in the shed on this one
