Bill Evans earned a reputation as a jazz giant in the 1950’s, thanks to his work with Miles Davis (you can hear him on albums like 1958 Miles and Kind of Blue) and a ground-breaking trio that he led with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. The key innovation in this group was the departure from traditional time-keeping roles. The bass, drums and piano were equal partners and interacted in a near-telepathic fashion. La Faro’s premature death at the age of 25 brought the trio’s work to a halt, but all of the subsequent trios that Evans led built on its musical precepts.
Joe La Barbera is a Los Angeles-based drummer and educator whose distinguished career includes stints with Woody Herman, Chuck Mangione. Jim Hall and the Brecker Brothers. He is originally from Mount Morris, New York and his older brothers are saxophonist Pat La Barbera and trumpeter John La Barbera.
In the late 1970’s, he successfully auditioned for the drum chair in the Bill Evans trio. Along with bassist Marc Johnson, he spent twenty months in what turned out to be the very last group that Evans ever led.
In this interview La Barbera discusses what it was like to audition and play for Evans during a period when the pianist had substance abuse and health issues. He discusses Evans’ unusual qualities as a leader and the lasting impact that the trio had on his musical career.
La Barbera’s memoir about this period and his relationship with the pianist is called Times Remembered: The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio, co-written with Charles Levin and published by University of North Texas Press.
