Jazz Articles about Orrin Evans

About Orrin Evans

Album Review

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 ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans: #knowingishalfthebattle

Read "#knowingishalfthebattle" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
January 23, 2017

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 ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans: The Evolution Of Oneself

Read "The Evolution Of Oneself" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 27, 2015

Simply put, if there was no Philadelphia sound, there would be no Orrin Evans. The pianist, hailing from The City of Brotherly Love, finds plenty of Philly passion on this busy trio recording, his 25th as a leader or co-leader. Here he teams up with Detroit drummer and former roommate (back in the day) Karriem Riggins, and Philly's go-to bassist Christian McBride. His amazing career has developed from the early post-bop Criss Cross recording days to his neo-soul ...

Album Review

Michelle Lordi: Drive

Read "Drive" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
March 22, 2015

It's difficult to conceive how this wonderful album of restrained and subtly rendered ballads came to be called Drive, a term which leads the listener to expect a package of revved up swing or rock. However, you don't have to be a cryptologist to realize that it comes from the last track, “Drive," which contains the line “Who's gonna drive you home?" This sense of melancholy and hoped for love, like so much of the American Songbook, is the essence ...

Interview

Orrin Evans: Hot Irons In The Fire

by R.J. DeLuke
July 7, 2014

A pianist with great chops, great touch and an attack that fancies many influences from fierce swing to gospel, Orrin Evans is one of the outstanding creative musicians on the New York City scene. His work, no matter what the context--and he loves different contexts--is downright riveting at times. But for the 38-year-old who hails from Philadelphia, jazz, though a pleasure, was a bit of a mystery when he was first experimenting with it. “I didn't ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band: Mother's Touch

Read "Mother's Touch" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 2014

New York-based pianist / composer (and two-time Grammy Award nominee) Orrin Evans served notice with his first big-band album for Posi-Tone Records that there was an impressive new ensemble on the scene, a message that is firmly underscored by the second, the cryptically named Mother's Touch, whose tone and temperament mirror Evans' contemporary point of view. Evans wrote six of the album's nine numbers, the first of which, the gospel-flavored “In My Soul," kick-starts the session with ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band: Mother’s Touch

Read "Mother’s Touch" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 20, 2014

The studio-versus-stage argument will forever rage on in music, but it really shouldn't. Each setting has its advantages and disadvantages. The jazz community has forever favored the stage, as many feel that jazz is meant to be experienced and created in the moment, with artist(s) feeding off the room and creating here-and-gone sounds. That preference is completely understandable, but the studio has its advantages; clarity, balance, and the right working conditions can often only be found there. ...