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Jazz Articles about Orrin Evans
Thomas Marriott: Trumpet Ship
by Paul Rauch
In a day and age when social and personal narratives pervade the jazz recording medium, it is a welcoming feeling to experience a recording of superb jazz musicians playing music in the moment the way it's supposed to be played—for the people. For his spring 2020 quartet release Trumpet Ship (Origin, 2020), Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott has summoned a powerhouse quartet that hits hard from the outset and never lets up. He has convened a band that shares ...
Continue ReadingThomas Marriott: Trumpet Ship
by Dan McClenaghan
Spontaneity rules. Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott had a day off from touring with his quartet, so he decided to go into the studio and record an album: Trumpet Ship. His twelfth outing for Origin Records—all of them reaching for the stars, all of them getting there—this quartet album lines up after his stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous Romance Language (Origin Records, 2018). A tough act to follow. Marriott and his band follow it well, with a sound which is freer, but every bit ...
Continue ReadingJD Walter: Dressed in a Song
by Victor L. Schermer
JD Walter is a consummate vocalist who has devoted himself over many years to evolving a unique style that is nevertheless ensconced in the jazz tradition. The public relations sheet for this new CD states that “this is his first release since recovering from a life-threatening heart condition and surgeries on his heart and vocal cords." It states that this is a “comeback" record. That is a misnomer. In this recording, he takes the music to new levels of structure, ...
Continue Reading2019 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival
by C. Andrew Hovan
2019 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Pittsburgh, PA June 20-23, 2019 Now in its ninth year, the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival continues to grow and prosper as one of the country's best jazz festivals. Tied to the efforts of the city's August Wilson African American Cultural Center, the festival continues to prosper under the leadership of center CEO Janis Burley Wilson. While there has been an increase in the number of ticketed events during the festival, these ...
Continue ReadingRoberto "Zizzi" Zanetti, Orrin Evans, and Michael Formanek
by Bob Osborne
From Verona, Italy Roberto “Zizzi" Zanetti takes us on a trip through the jazz of the Roaring Twenties paying homage to the music innovators who flourished during the social and political problems of the Prohibition Era. Orrin Evans raises the temperature with live recordings from his large ensemble The Captain Black Big Band and Michael Formanek displays true innovation with his new band the Elusion Quartet featuring Tony Malaby, Kris Davis and Ches Smith. In between more jazz, old and ...
Continue ReadingOrrin Evans: Presence
by Mike Jurkovic
You have to wonder how many outlets a restless creative like hard bopping pianist Orrin Evans needs to fully express himself. Twenty-five or so albums into a legacy that finds him as the newest member of The Bad Plus after years of riffing and ripping it up with The Mingus Big Band, experimenting with soul/jazz Luv Park; solo successes--Faith In Action, (Posi-Tone, 2010); The Evolution of Oneself (Smoke Session, 2014)--and various collaborations, Evans still has a talent bursting with ideas ...
Continue ReadingOrrin Evans: #knowingishalfthebattle
by Mark F. Turner
Since the 1990s Philadelphia-based pianist Orrin Evans has carved out a revered career as a band leader, producer, composer, and first and foremost, one helluva jazz pianist. Recorded live at New York's Sear Sound's Studio, #knowingishalfthebattle is his third release on Smoke Sessions with an all-star lineup that includes two other well-known Philly natives, guitarists Kevin Eubanks and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Energy runs through the session through the virtuosic performances of the three headliners as well as the ...
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