Around this time he met multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott, with whom he would later record. Soon, Bill began to perform for dances and weddings throughout New Jersey, playing music like boogie woogie and polkas for $1 per hour. 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. During high school, Evans came in contact with 20th-century music like Stravinsky's Petrushka, which he deemed a 'tremendous experience' and Milhaud's Suite provençale, whose bitonal language he believed 'opened him to new things.' Around the same time also came his first exposure to jazz, when at age 12 he heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James's bands on the radio. He later cited Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert as frequently played composers. Even though he soon dropped those instruments, it is believed they later influenced his keyboard style. At age 7, Bill began violin lessons, and soon also flute and piccolo. He would soon develop a fluent sight-reading ability, though his teacher rated his brother as a better pianist.
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