Orrin Evans

Artist ∙ Jazz

Orrin Evans is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader well-versed in hard and post-bop, neo soul, and R&B. He is also a first-call sideman. He has released dozens of albums in various settings under his own name, including 2001's Blessed Ones and 2010's Faith in Action, he also leads, tours, and records with the bands Tarbaby and the Captain Black Big Band. The former's 2013 outing Ballad of Sam Langford has been heralded as a hallmark of vanguard jazz, while 2015's trio outing, The Evolution of Oneself, is regarded as one of that year's best albums. In 2018, Evans joined the Bad Plus, issuing two albums with the group before leaving in 2021. His quartet offering, The Magic of Now, followed in July.

July 22, 2021 at PDT
The Magic of Now
7 Tracks
November 26, 2015 at PST
The Evolution of Oneself
18 Tracks
September 10, 2001 at PDT
The Art of War (feat. Jeremy Pelt, Jimmy Greene, Orrin Evans & Eric Revis)
Mentored by Art Blakey, drummer Ralph Peterson blazed a trail in the ’80s and early ’90s and remained influential up until his untimely death in 2021 at age 58. Much like Blakey, he became a father figure to younger players, the quintet from The Art of War being a prime example: trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, saxophonist Jimmy Greene, pianist Orrin Evans, and bassist Eric Revis are just a few who came through the proving ground of a Peterson-led band and grew into major musical personalities themselves.

This intact lineup went on to make Subliminal Seduction and Tests of Time. Along with The Art of War, these albums not only capture Peterson’s galvanizing, unstoppable drumming but also the zeitgeist of mainstream acoustic jazz at the turn of the millennium. As a title, The Art of War speaks to how Peterson played the long game, conquering addiction, and not only fulfilling his own potential but identifying and harnessing it in others.

The influence of the ’60s Miles Davis Quintet is still felt in terms of harmonic sophistication and unrelenting swing, qualities also present in Wynton Marsalis’ mid-’80s quintet. Peterson, too, had a role in the proud revival of that sound on his own Blue Note albums of the period, including Volition and V. He and Marsalis’ drummer, Jeff “Tain” Watts, were the twin architects of the swaggering, elastic swing feel at the heart of what became known as the Young Lions movement. It was an inheritance from Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and others, brought to a boil and infused with Latin, funk, and other rhythmic traditions. It’s strongly present on The Art of War, in complex and modern-minded pieces like “Monief” and the title track. But there’s also lyrical sensitivity on “All My Tomorrows” and “Portrait of Jenny,” the latter harking back to Blakey’s practice of featuring trumpeters on intimate ballads. Pelt also brings in the compositions “Inner Sanctum” and “Apocalypse,” while Evans weighs in with the closing “Big Jimmy.”
10 Tracks
April 30, 2020 at PDT
The Intangible Between (feat. The Captain Black Big Band)
8 Tracks
June 15, 2023 at PDT
The Red Door
12 Tracks
March 17, 2022 at PDT
EEE (Eubanks-Evans-Experience)
There’s something admirably visceral and straightforward in this duet project from Philadelphia jazz stalwarts Orrin Evans and Kevin Eubanks. Fresh from a brief but intense stint as pianist in The Bad Plus, along with Grammy nominations for his Captain Black Big Band, Evans is the acoustic voice here, and the blend of piano with Eubanks’ amplified, extroverted electric guitar makes for a wonderful mood and texture. (Eubanks is a fine acoustic guitarist but opts not to use it here.) There are two live extended cuts, based on Evans’ “Half the Battle” and Eubanks’ “Adoration,” respectively, plus two loose improvising vehicles (“I Don’t Know,” “And…They Ran Out of Bisquits!”), a hidden gem by pop-fusion trumpeter Tom Browne (“Dreams of Loving You”), and an affecting Evans tribute to his wife (“Dawn Marie”). “Novice Bounce,” a brisk, Wes Montgomery-esque waltz from Eubanks’ 1983 debut, Guitarist, gets an electric makeover to start the album in a dreamy and lyrical vein.
7 Tracks
September 20, 2018 at PDT
Presence (feat. The Captain Black Big Band)
Though pianist Orrin Evans has earned global renown, he’s always carried a torch for his local Philadelphia jazz scene. The third LP—and second in the live setting—from his ferocious big band is culled from performances at two Philly clubs, and there’s no mistaking the high spirit and camaraderie that prevailed on those bandstands. This is modern, tightly executed yet still spontaneous, and hard-charging music. The composers are not just Evans but trombonist David Gibson (“The Scythe”), saxophonist Troy Roberts (the transcendentally funky “Trams”), and trumpeters Josh Lawrence (“Presence”) and John Raymond (the majestic “Onward”). Lawrence and Raymond are the credited arrangers, respectively, on two of Evans’ tunes (“Answer,” “Flip the Script”). They’re all monster soloists as well: Roberts’ tenor feature on “Question” (by longtime Evans colleague Eric Revis) is a marvel of loose, hurtling swing and sheer endurance. With its formidable talent pool, the CBBB captures Evans’ musical ideals as vividly as any project he’s documented.
9 Tracks
May 17, 2004 at PDT
Eternal Journey
11 Tracks
June 27, 2005 at PDT
Gemini
13 Tracks
June 11, 2012 at PDT
Flip the Script
Since emerging in the '90s, Philadelphia-rooted pianist and composer Orrin Evans has been a sideman to several artists (including Bobby Watson and Ralph Peterson), cut a number of albums as a leader, and more recently has helmed The Captain Black Big Band. Evans generally works in a straight-ahead, post-bop mode, and he’s very good at what he does. On 2012’s Flip the Script, he plays with a trio that includes bassist Ben Wolfe and Donald Edwards. Most of the tracks are four or five minutes long, and they’re generous with melody. The album opens with “Question,” a piece written by bassist Eric Revis that has a touch of Monk in it. The band swings hard and also embraces edgy abstraction, effortlessly erasing differences between playing in and out. Evans displays a big sound on “Clean House,” while a cover of Luther Vandross’s “A Brand New Day” evokes McCoy Tyner. A lovely Evans original, “The Answer,” precedes a slow, solo-piano version of Gamble and Huff’s “The Sound of Philadelphia.” Evans slows the latter song way down, and the result is a superb inner-city-blues rendering of the R&B classic.
10 Tracks
March 17, 2016 at PDT
Prelude to Real Life (feat. Walter Smith III, David Gilmore, Orrin Evans & Luques Curtis)
12 Tracks
December 31, 2008 at PST
Captain Black (feat. Ralph Bowen, Tim Warfield, Antonio Hart, Sam Newsome, Avishai Cohen, Rodney Whitaker & Ralph Peterson)
8 Tracks
May 31, 2013 at PDT
"...It Was Beauty" (feat. Eric Revis, Donald Edwards & Ben Wolfe)
10 Tracks
October 6, 2016 at PDT
#knowingishalfthebattle (feat. Kurt Rosenwinkel & Kevin Eubanks)
Engaging a pair of guitars for a free-flowing Philly jam.
13 Tracks
December 31, 2008 at PST
Tests of Time (feat. Jeremy Pelt, Jimmy Greene, Orrin Evans & Eric Revis)
11 Tracks
October 2, 2012 at PDT
A Voice Trough the Door (feat. Ralph Bowen, Orrin Evans, Kenny Davis & Donald Edwards)
8 Tracks
February 1, 2010 at PST
Faith In Action
10 Tracks
August 15, 2024 at PDT
Walk a Mile in My Shoe (feat. The Captain Black Big Band)
9 Tracks
March 28, 2011 at PDT
Captain Black Big Band
7 Tracks
December 31, 2008 at PST
Pharaoh's Children (feat. Jeremy Pelt, Orrin Evans, Eric Revis & Gene Jackson)
11 Tracks
November 26, 2015 at PST
Liberation Blues
12 Tracks
October 21, 2002 at PDT
Subliminal Seduction (feat. Jeremy Pelt, Jimmy Greene, Orrin Evans & Eric Revis)
11 Tracks
April 28, 2014 at PDT
Mother's Touch
9 Tracks
September 17, 2007 at PDT
A Jones for Bones Tones (feat. Steve Davis, Orrin Evans, Boris Kozlov & Donald Edwards)
8 Tracks
March 3, 2011 at PST
Good and Bad Memories (feat. Craig Magnano, Orrin Evans, Ryan Berg & Jeremy 'Bean' Clemons)
8 Tracks

Orrin Evans

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