Jazz Articles about Orrin Evans

About Orrin Evans

Album Review

JD Walter: What the World Needs Now

Read "What the World Needs Now" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 15, 2023

JD Walter beckons listeners into a soulful and captivating journey through modern jazz interpretations of non-jazz material. With his unique vocal stylings and innovative arrangements, he brings a fresh perspective to familiar popular tunes, and several jazz standards, while delivering thought-provoking original compositions. From the very first track--Stevie Wonder's “Golden Lady"--it is evident that Walter's vocal prowess is a force to be reckoned with. He dashes along in full flight and then effortlessly shifts into intricate ...

Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 31, 2023

Coast to Coast is the third East West Trumpet Summit recorded by Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott in a musical partnership that has spanned nearly three decades. The years have been kind, and when it comes to playing persuasive jazz, neither Vega nor Marriott appears to have lost a step. Marriott, a native of Seattle, and Vega, New York-born and bred, first met in 1995, and the mutual admiration and respect was immediate. Their first two albums as co-leaders were ...

Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
June 16, 2023

For some people, the whole notion of an east-west summit of anything in jazz brings up the perceived differences over time between American west coast jazz and its east coast counterpart. The basic premise is that jazz on the American west coast is a cousin to the cool jazz movement, a calmer, less soulful part of the tradition that relies more on composition and arrangement than the playing of individual improvisers. East coast jazz is seen more as hard driving, ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans: The Red Door

Read "The Red Door" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 13, 2023

A most generous craftsman, composer and bandleader, pianist Orrin Evans never fails to bring out the best of whoever he chooses to create with. The Red Door is gratefully, and gracefully, no exception to that rule. Whatever musical setting Evans chooses to practice his sinewy, r'n'b inflected post-bop in--sideman, big band, trio, quartet, duo, whatever--a sweet animation propels his music and buoys the players gathered around him. In this case the two core units feature bass legend Buster Williams, ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans: The Red Door

Read "The Red Door" reviewed by Dave Linn

by Dave Linn
June 10, 2023

Orrin Evans released his debut album for quintet, “Justin Time," in 1996, at the age of 21. Over the next 25 years, Evans released over 20 albums in all shapes and sizes. From trio to standard ensembles to large bands and big bands, Evans' history included a ten-year stint as a member of the Mingus Big Band, leading to his formation of the Grammy-nominated Captain Black Big Band in 2009. Additionally, when pianist Ethan Iverson (who wrote the liner notes ...

Album Review

Ben Wolfe: Unjust

by Dave Linn
May 19, 2023

The history of modern jazz contains only a handful of bass players who have both led their own groups and been visionary in their compositions and approach. Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Jaco Pastorius and Christian McBride are those who come to mind. With the release of his 10th album, Unjust, Ben Wolfe shows he belongs in that group. Wolfe began his musical career as a classical bassist and studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in ...

Liner Notes

Conrad Herwig: A Voice Through the Door

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 5, 2023

In the challenging economic and political climate of present day, it seems that much time is spent on matters of only fleeting importance. Furthermore, it seems that our culture has experienced a paradigm shift that places more emphasis on immediacy and instant fulfillment and less on rumination and appreciation of more profound matters. On the one hand come the duties and obligations that embody day to day survival, but there is also a need for balance. It is this current ...