WASHINGTON, DC.- The Library of Congress has acquired the complete collection of music manuscripts of jazz bandleader, arranger, pianist and composer Gil Evans (1912-1988). Evans is widely remembered as one of the greatest orchestrators in the history of jazz – and is celebrated for his collaborations with legendary jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader Miles Davis (1926-1991).
Evans was inducted into the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986 and awarded the 1960 Grammy for Best Jazz Composition for “Sketches of Spain” (with Miles Davis), and a 1989 Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for “Bud and Bird.”
“It’s an honor and we are grateful that the Gil Evans hand-written scores, sketches and lead sheets have been placed at the Library of Congress, where his brilliant work will be preserved,” said Miles Evans, son of Gil Evans. “We are thrilled that scholars, researchers and musicians will be able to access his innovative masterpieces within the Music Division for generations to come.”
This archive contains a vast collection of Evans’ compositions and arrangements, much of it in his own handwriting. The collection includes approximately 350 scores, 35 lead sheets, five music sketches and 50 instrumental parts for works Evans created for recording projects between 1947 and 1987. Lead sheets a condensed, single-staff musical notation that provides only the essential elements of a song.
A unique part of this collection is approximately 160 scores, 20 lead sheets and 35 instrumental parts for pieces that were never recorded. This is the first time that these items are publicly available for researchers to discover and access. Additionally, the collection features 14 boxes of professionally copied scores (not in Evans' hand), an extensive collection of lead sheets that Evans called his "Fake Book" and one large manuscript sketchbook.
"Gil Evans had a multi-faceted impact on jazz in the 20th century," said Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres, acting chief of the Library's Music Division. "His distinctive artistic voice earned him a place in the pantheon of jazz greats. We are especially pleased to bring his musical legacy to the Library where researchers can explore the connections between Evans’ significant oeuvre and the musical legacies of many of his collaborators and influences."
An important innovator, Evans developed an individualistic style that was memorable for its richly chromatic harmonic language. Early on, he used French horns, flutes and tuba in his scores. Adding these instruments enabled him to create the rich, dark-textured orchestral sound that played an important role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion in the years from the late 1940s into the 1970s.
The collection showcases the breadth of Evans' musical interest, containing his arrangements of works by popular jazz songwriters including Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, W.C. Handy, Jimi Hendrix, Huddie Ledbetter ("Leadbelly"), Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Parker and Fats Waller. The collection features the arrangements for a live performance by Sting with Evans and his orchestra which resulted in the album “Last Session - Live At Perugia Jazz Festival, July 11, 1987”— indeed, Evans’ last session.
Other items in this collection highlight Evans’ arrangements of songs by many composers known for their work on Broadway and in Hollywood, including Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz and Jule Styne. It also includes Evans’ collaborations with concert hall and opera composers such as Alban Berg, Frederic Chopin, Léo Delibes, Modest Mussorgsky, Giacomo Puccini and Maurice Ravel.
Evans' other landmark recordings with Davis included “Miles Ahead” (1957) and “Porgy and Bess” (1958), which is now regarded as one of the greatest interpretations of music by George Gershwin in any musical style. In the mid-1970s, Evans incorporated electronic instruments into his scores and expanded into some film scoring, including his arrangements for Martin Scorsese's “The Color of Money” (1986).
Gil Evans’s manuscripts complement many collections held by the Music Division. This includes papers and music manuscripts of numerous jazz luminaries, especially those of other Miles Davis collaborators like Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach and Gunther Schuller. But also important composer/arrangers like Charlie Barnet, Billy Byers, Ralph Burns, Teo Macero, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, Billy May, Sammy Nestico, Tommy Newsom, Don Sebesky and Billy Strayhorn. Many Copyright deposits of Evans were long ago selected for preservation in the Music Division. To learn more about the collections referenced above, please visit: https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/performing-arts/researcher-resources/finding-aids/. This collection will be available for researchers in late Spring 2026.
