# CD review: Orrin Evans & The Captain Black Big Band – Presence 2018: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/11/29/cd-review-orrin-evans-the-captain-black-big-band-presence-2018-video/
- Published: 2018-11-29T20:42:04+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band Returns with Raucous Live Recording,
Presence: The influence of the late playwright and educator Donald Evans has always
loomed large over the Captain Black Big Band. **

Pianist and bandleader Orrin Evans named the band for his father’s brand of pipe
tobacco, the aroma of which always announced his father’s presence in the house.
The big band’s third album, Presence, is a celebration of the warmth and spirit 
of the elder Evans, but more importantly it’s quite simply a celebration – an approach
to not only music but life that Evans inherited directly from his parents.

Presence, due out September 21 via Smoke Sessions Records, features a scaled-down
11-piece version of Evans’ long-running big band, recorded live at a pair of venues
in his hometown of Philadelphia: Chris’ Jazz Café (where the band made its debut
in late 2008) and South Jazz Parlor. The line-up features a core group of collaborators
that the pianist tends to refer to as “a family” or “a village” more than a band.
Most of the musicians on this recording have played with Captain Black for years,
while many of them have contributed compositions and arrangements to the ensemble’s
ever-growing book.

The album’s cover art, drawn by a close friend, depicts the face of Donald Evans
gazing upon the band, his enlivening spirit embodied by the diversity and raucous
sense of joy that Captain Black always brings to the stage. “There was always a 
party in my household,” Evans says. “I always looked forward to events at the house,
where guests would gather around the piano in our living room. That leads into how
I approach the Captain Black Big Band. I try to create that party and to have people
in the band that are fun seekers.”

That pervasive sense of familial camaraderie shines through the music on Presence,
especially in the band’s smaller, tighter incarnation. The band’s downsizing can
be explained in part by practical considerations: it makes an easier fit for their
long-running stint on the intimate stage of Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, for one. It’s
also been easier to manage as Evans’ schedule has become more crowded since joining
The Bad Plus in January.

But the 11-piece band also represents a distillation of the larger ensemble, pared
down to a close-knit core of players that know each other very well, can navigate
the music with the spontaneity of a small band, and simply enjoy the experience 
of sharing the stage together.

“I look for something different in the Captain Black Big Band,” Evans says. “I look
for the ability and desire to be part of a family. I actually get disappointed sometimes
when other people don’t see the appeal of that. You have to be ready and down to
be a part of this. That all stems from what I saw growing up in my household.”

“In all the bands I lead, my concept is allowing for the unknown to happen,” Evans
concludes. “This is a real, raw and honest representation of what happened on stage
on those nights.”

**Tracklist:**

 1.  The Scythe
 2.  Question
 3.  Onward
 4.  When It Comes
 5.  Flip the Script
 6.  Trams
 7.  Answer
 8.  Presence
 9.  When It Comes (alternate take)

**Caleb Curtis, alto saxophone**
 **Todd Bashore, alto saxophone** **John Raymond,
trumpet** **Bryan Davis, trumpet** **Josh Lawrence, trumpets** **David Gibson, trombone****
Brent White, trombone** **Stafford Hunter, trombones** **Troy Roberts, tenor saxophone****
Orrin Evans, piano** **Madison Rast, bass** **Anwar Marshall, drums** **Jason Brown,
drums**

![Картинки по запросу Orrin Evans & The Captain Black Big Band -
Presence](https://i0.wp.com/dlmediamusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Orrin-Evans-
CBBB-PRESENCE_Cover.jpg?w=640)

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