Now Jarrett cannot stop speaking, mumbling etc because he is alone with the music, oblivious of us, we are not with him for him ...
Evans is with us silently ....Music for him is not a show so good it can be but a sacred intimate moment he partake with us and never just for himself ...
I saw Bill Evans in mid 70’s.
With Evans, I’d just begun to listen to Jazz and wasn’t able to really take it in. Jazz still sounded "foreign" and "abstract’ to me. I didn’t know how to connect with it. Oh well.
I saw Jarrett in late 70’s. By that point I was much more tuned into Jazz and was eagerly exploring the genre. At the Jarrett gig, the crowd treated him as if he were a god and when he got up and reached into the piano and began plucking the strings (in a not particularly musical fashion) they went nuts, as if he were walking on water or something. It was at that point that I realized that what I’d assumed was a concert was in fact a cult ceremony and I left.
Subsequently, I’ve come to appreciate both, although forced to choose, it’s no contest for me -- I’ll go with Evans. If I had to choose just one piece of music to be played at my memorial service, it would be the live V. Vanguard performance of "My Foolish Heart" .