In mid-February my partner and I attended a show at the Aeolian, the performing group turning out to be a jazz/classical hybrid. This group performed both classical and jazz standards as a mish-mash of both styles. And one of the numbers that they performed was ‘Time Remembered’ by Bill Evans.
If you know me, you know that I like Bill Evans. In his day he was a masterful jazz pianist who was particularly skilled in slow numbers while using keys sparingly. Throughout his career he didn’t change up his style very much, to the point that parading through his discography can border on tedium, but the music he produces is beautiful nonetheless.
One of his albums is called ‘Time Remembered’, which, even if the music is abstract, prompts the listener to remember time, evoke nostalgia, and look back over one’s own life. At the Aeolian show we attended the song ‘Time Remembered’ from this album was performed.
Whenever I listen to this Evans album I make it a point to look back, but being at an actual performance of the song was different, as there were no distractions to deter me from taking in the music and visualising my own reactions to it.
Having had a few whiskies before being chauffeured by my partner to the Aeolian, and imbibing a few beers at the show as well, I closed my eyes and let the music of Bill Evans wash over me.
I let my mind wander and looked at the imagery as it passed me by, and I noticed something striking: all of the memories that my mind was conjuring up were of people. I wasn’t remembering solemn moments alone, or the time I spent studying in school, or periods where I did a lot of reading or playing music. I remembered people.
As my memories bounced from period to period, I saw all of those people who had been prominent in my life. Old girlfriends, old friends, my parents, my family. It was striking that time remembered was really about people remembered.
And so I took away something new with me that night. I realised that being human is about our relationships with other people. I realised that we’re a social species, and without positive relationships in our lives, there is really no point to it all.
