New York, 1961. Jazz pianist Bill Evans has finally found his dream trio with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro. During a legendary series of concerts at the Village Vanguard, they record the music that would later appear on the jazz classics Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby. Ten days later, LaFaro was killed in a car accident. Evans, paralysed by grief, did not touch his piano for months. Whilst struggling with his addiction and the loss of his musical soulmate, he slowly tried to find his way back to music.

Bill Evans is one of the most influential jazz pianists of the twentieth century. Following his collaboration with Miles Davis on the legendary Kind of Blue, he developed, with his own trio, a subtle, innovative playing style in which the three musicians engaged in dialogue with one another as equal voices. The sudden loss of LaFaro therefore signalled not only the end of a close friendship, but also of an exceptional musical partnership.

Director Grant Gee, known for the music documentaries Meeting People Is Easy about Radiohead and Joy Division, has opted for an unconventional biopic. Based on Owen Martell’s novel Intermission, the film moves associatively through Evans’ life, weaving between memories, music, family, addiction and self-destruction. The high-contrast black-and-white imagery and the fragmentary narrative structure reflect the inner world of a musician trying to regain his balance.

Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person in the World, Oslo, 31 August) plays the brilliant but tormented pianist, alongside Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf, amongst others. With Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Gee looks beyond the romantic myth of the tormented jazz genius and crafts a portrait of the silence following loss that is as intimate as it is musical. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where Grant Gee was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director.