Book Review: 'Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations,' by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner

By xoxoxoe, BLOGCRITICS.ORG
Published 10:00 pm, Saturday, July 27, 2013

"I either write the book or sell the jewels, and I'm kinda sentimental about the jewels."

Ava Gardner, in 1988, after suffering two strokes a few years previously, felt pressured to come up with some money, somehow, to cover her expenses. She could no longer act, as the strokes had left her fabulous face paralyzed on one side, and her right arm useless. She toyed with the idea of an autobiography, and friendDirk Bogarde suggested journalist Peter Evans. Ava Gardner, in her heyday

Evans enthusiastically took on the task of ghostwriting Gardner's memoirs, and things moved along, if not swimmingly, at least steadily, for several months - until Gardner learned, most likely from ex-husband number three Frank Sinatra, that he had sued Evans and the BBC many years before for writing about his association with the Mafia. The collaboration came to an abrupt halt. After Evans's death in 2012, his publisher, with the permission of Gardner's estate, decided to publish the notes for the book as Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Book-Review-Ava-Gardner-The-Secret-4692075.php

Peter Evans....

Peter Evans has been a member of the New York musical community since 2003, when he moved to the city after graduating Oberlin Conservatory with a degree in classical trumpet. Peter currently works in a wide variety of areas, including solo performance, chamber orchestras, performance art, free improvised settings, electro-acoustic music and composition. As a performer, Evans has been working to broaden the expressive range of his chosen instrument and enjoys playing with steady configurations of players and composers.

Current bands include the Peter Evans Quartet, Moppa Elliott's terrorist bebop band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the hyperactive improvisation duo Sparks (with Tom Blancarte), duo with trumpeter Nate Wooley, as well as a sustained interest in solo performance. Other collaborators include: Mary Halvorson, Dave Taylor, Steve Beresford, Okkyung Lee, Keiji Haino, Jim Black, Evan Parker, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Brotzmann, Mark Gould, Weasel Walter, Tobias Delius, Joel Ryan, and Luka Ivanovic. In New York, Peter also performs contemporary notated music and is a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

He has continued to perform on piccolo trumpet in Baroque settings, performing Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Bargemusic series, and in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at St Peter’s Church. Peter is also an experienced teacher, having given workshops on music, trumpet, and improvisation at institutions including the University of California in San Diego, Buffalo University, University of Oregon, Northwestern University and the Walden School. In June 2008 Peter traveled to the Philippines with the Cultures in Harmony project, teaching, collaborating and performing with tribal musicians in Mindanao.

Recent travels have brought Peter to venues and festivals in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the UK, and Southeast Asia. These include appearances at the Moers Festival, the Ulrichsberg Kaleidophon Festival, Bordeaux Jazz Festival, Jazz a Mulhouse, and the Free Music Festival in Antwerp. Recordings the self-titled first album of the Peter Evans Quartet (on firehouse12), the self-titled "Sparks" on Creative Sources, "This is Our Moosic" the third album by MOPDTK, on HotCup Records. Upcoming recordings include a 2-disc set of solo trumpet pieces, "Nature/Culture" on psi (April of 2009).

Peter Evans - A Night in Tunisia

Mostly Other People Do the Killing at the Rotunda. Moppa Elliott, Kevin Shea, Peter Evans, Jon Irabagon. "Abbreviated "MOPDTK" and billed as a "bebop terrorist band," they rip up history and make it anew while reusing proven hooks."