I've heard that video and have read about what Bill had to say concerning his methodology or approach in books.

Here's what I think this great improvising pianist meant by that statement:

The "structure" of a song consists of those same things we must know when setting up a song inside Band in a Box:

The number of bars of the whole chorus in total.

The number of bars for any possible A section, B section, etc.

How many of those A, B, C, etc. sections there are in the chorus and their locations within one chorus.

The Melody.

To some certain extent, the feel of the original.

Bill's knowledge of chord theory and his incredible ear, it likely was not necessary for him to think of any of the Standards as a series of specified chords.

Matter of fact, one of the most intriguing parts of his performances comes about due to the marvelous ways he could substitute chords and entire chord change sequences on the fly. Some of which require us mere mortals to have to painstakingly transcribe the passage onto paper and then analyze what really took place. Lots to learn by doing that with the playing of Mr. Evans.

So in this instance, "structure" = "foundation".


--Mac

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