Evans remembered Leland with affection for not insisting on a heavy technical approach, with scales and arpeggios. He quickly developed a fluent sight-reading ability, but Leland considered Harry a better pianist. At the age of seven, Bill began violin lessons, and soon also flute and piccolo. He soon dropped those instruments, but it is believed they later influenced his keyboard style. He later named Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert as composers whose work he often played. During high school, Evans came in contact with 20th-century music like Stravinsky's Petrushka, which he called a "tremendous experience", and Milhaud's Suite provençale, whose bitonal language he believed "opened him to new things." Around the same time came his first exposure to jazz, when 12 years old he heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James's bands on the radio. At the age of 13, Bill stood in for a sick pianist in Buddy Valentino's rehearsal band, where Harry was already playing the trumpet. Soon he began to perform for dances and weddings throughout New Jersey, playing music like boogie-woogie and polkas for $1 per hour. Around this time, he met multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott, with whom he later recorded. Another important influence was bassist George Platt, who introduced Evans to the theory of harmony.
Evans remembered Leland with affection for not insisting on a heavy technical approach with scales and arpeggios He quickly developed a fluent sight-reading ability but Leland considered Harry a better pianist At the age of seven Bill began violin lessons and soon also flute and piccolo He soon dropped those instruments but it is believed they later influenced his keyboard style He later named Mozart Beethoven and Schubert as composers whose work he often played During high school Evans came in contact with 20th-century music like Stravinsky's Petrushka which he called a "tremendous experience" and Milhaud's Suite provençale whose bitonal language he believed "opened him to new things" Around the same time came his first exposure to jazz when 12 years old he heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James's bands on the radio At the age of 13 Bill stood in for a sick pianist in Buddy Valentino's rehearsal band where Harry was already playing the trumpet Soon he began to perform for dances and weddings throughout New Jersey playing music like boogie-woogie and polkas for $1 per hour Around this time he met multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott with whom he later recorded Another important influence was bassist George Platt who introduced Evans to the theory of harmony