Recorded at MIT for Professor John Harbison’s 75th birthday (Sunday, December 8 2013 at 7 p.m. Kresge Auditorium in Cambridge

Lush Life by Billie Strayhorn

This suite of five contrasting movements is my tribute to the following composers from the twentieth century: Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Paul Hindemith, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and George Rochberg. This group has deeply influenced my current contemporary classical oeuvre, and their representative melodic, harmonic, and compositional styles continue to be a source of endless invention and recapitulation. Whilst the twenty-first century has blurred many of the distinctive qualities of early twentieth century post-tonal composition, the re-enactment of transposing the modernistic originality of these titans of music is indeed necessary for discovering and developing one's own craft. Thus this exercise in compositional refinement is tantamount to similar acts of human endeavors such as reaching the summit of a great mountain or deciphering the architecture of a lost pyramid.

Five Movements for Piano

Five Movements For Piano (2021) - Mvt. 4

This is the title track from my 2012 album of original solo piano works entitled "Flurious."

Flurious

Springfield Streams and Standards: a dedication to my sister, Marte Koleda
Ran Blake At An Die Musik - Set Two
(December 4th, 2014)

Ran Blake At An Die Musik Set Two (December 4th, 2014)

This album was completely improvised: there was no written music used before or during the process. Every track was conceived “in the moment”, with the intention of being entirely through-composed. The majority of the album was recorded in one or two takes, with some of the improvisations requiring up to five different takes and a bit of digital editing. I like to think of contemporary improvisation as a process, more than a practice or a sound. It is in the process that the complexity of sound is born. The techniques that are required in the process are based on years of psychological musical practice, aural memory, and long-term melodic and harmonic adaptation, as well as the learned physical technique of playing a grand piano or a digital keyboard. The styles that I have incorporated into this process range from Impressionism, Romanticism, Primitivism, Traditional Jazz, Modern Jazz, Latin Jazz, Neo-Classicism, Avant-Garde and New-Age. 

These ideas, these unions of mind, soul and ear, are spontaneous as well as hierarchical, in that the transformations and adaptations of many different styles of music from my past are ordered into a constantly evolving organic system, like signals being transmitted and relayed to each other over a vast landscape. It is the unfolding of this hierarchy from a higher dimension into our immediate perspective that generates the sound that is my sound. I believe that music should always be curious, constantly pushing the boundaries of thought, expanding into a quest for limitless wonder and amazement. The process of improvisation enables musical ideas to be explored exponentially, continuously building upon previous explorations. 

There are several composers, jazz pianists and teachers that have influenced my sound over time, and these include Franz Liszt, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau, Frank Zappa, Ran Blake, and Cecil Taylor. The absorption, imitation and reflection of artistic content from others is imperative for the development of an individual’s own craft. However, there is still the need for innovation and experimentation, to continue to advance an art form, to allow for contemporary expansion. As a composer, performer and improviser, I believe I am offering a personal and revolutionary evolution of the process, the art of making music spontaneously, the art of contemporary improvisation. The ultimate gift would be that the listener, on his or her journey through my brief encapsulation of sonic frequency in time, finds this music to be invigorating, sentimental, optimistic and enlightening.

This album was recorded on a Roland Juno 88 digital keyboard, with Logic Pro X running on a MacBook Pro, during March to July, 2019. All tracks were mastered at the SoundLab (Frankford Wayne), at Cd Baby Disc Manufacturing.

The Art of Contemporary Improvisation

Lamentation - Impressionistic Soundscape 2

Compatibulation

Theme for Melancholic Lovers

Theme For Melancholic Lovers

Invention and Fantasy in A Maj

Invention And Fantasy In A Maj

Ostinatonitis

Interdimensional Twilight Zone

Improvisation recorded live at Sunne kyrka, Sweden, July 3, 2019.
Painting by Tina Hopp, untitled (from excavation series), pigmented gesso on board, 2014.

Sediment (improvisation)

An enthralling, world-class pianist with exceptional talent at improvising and composing in a multitude of styles ranging from contemporary classical and modern jazz to progressive rock and new-age, Evan has focused on blending his influences into one unique, individual style. These influences include bands, artists and composers such as Dream Theater, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau (and trio), The Bad Plus, Frederic Chopin, Maurice Ravel, Franz Liszt, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Cecil Taylor, John Adams, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, and Rush. A native of Canada, Evan now lives in the USA.

Five Movements For Piano (2021) - Mvt. 4

Evan Whitfield

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