When you started, what piano players did you admire?
Bill Evans: I think first Nat King Cole. A great pianist. And then Earl Hines, Bud Powell. Bud had been my greater influence because he's got a sense of the form. Also Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, Al Haig, Lou Levy.
Why Dave Brubeck?
You see, you learn from everyone. From Nat King Cole I'd take rhythm and sparsity; from Dave Brubeck a particular voicing; from George Shearing also a voicing, but of another kind; from Oscar Peterson a powerful swing; from Earl Hines a sense of structure. Bud Powell has it all, but even from him I wouldn't take everything. I wouldn't listen to a recording by Bud and try to play along with it, to imitate. Rather, I'd listen to the record and try to absorb the essence of it and apply it to something else. Besides, it wasn't only the pianists but also the saxophones, the trumpets, everybody. It's more the mind "that thinks jazz" than the instrument "that plays jazz" which interests me.
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