CD Reviews
Ballads
Even though Evans previously recorded with his Free-Jazz quartet, now he has tackled the sometimes difficult challenge of interpreting ballads with sufficient sensitivity to reach the listener's emotions and with still enough originality to claim the music, frequently played by others, as his own.
Evans' tone on baritone sax is light, and he stays mostly in the upper register, the instrument being more melodic than growling, even though Evans does drop often into the lower register during cadenzas. With graceful command of his instrument, Evans seems to have arrived from out of the blue.
Evans' performance is sensitive and advanced as it remains within the themes, and the moods, he establishes, even as he avoids the pitfall of many younger musicians who try to include widely divergent work on their early recording efforts. Having studied with Dave Liebman, Evans shows the potential for wider recognition in the future.
~ Bill Donaldson, Cadence Magazine March 2006
New York based jazz bari player Charles Evans combines consummately all the viable & polyphonic, areas of the saxophone genre. His playing style however, culminates in the evocative character of his musical presentation. In a word, his bari playing is extremely distinctive. His rendition of the Ellington-esque standard 'Chelsea Bridge' was fluid & expansive so as to evoke respect for his academically earned technical prowess. Evans' artistry is warm & relaxed, & emerges from the same rhythmic mold as a Gerry Mulligan. His unique style will by default protect him from any influences so as to dilute his originality.
~ George W. Carroll, The Musicians' Ombudsman, www.eJazzNews.com
Baritone saxophone player Charles Evans is a new artist on the scene and a welcome discovery. You might think this is another standards album by the new kid on the block to show off his chops. However, Ballads reveals Charles Evans as talented musician and composer, not just another sax-wielding wunderkind. Evans' tone is warm and breathy. He plays in the upper registers of his instrument, sounding a lot more like a tenor than baritone at times. Still, an underlying trace of throaty growl and plenty of excursions into the instruments lower registers assured me I was listening to a baritone saxophone. Perhaps one of the major jazz labels will add Evans to their roster so he gets the recognition and distribution he deserves.
~ Paul Oberlin, www.jazzreview.com
It Needs It
Really enjoyed your record man - Great trumpet player and r section - you are BURNING!!
~ David Liebman
And now for something completely different. Upon receiving my review copy of Charles Evans and the Language Of, It Needs It, a cursory glance made me assume it was probably just another run-of-the-mill quintet date. Man, was I ever wrong. The single sheet cover holds no clues to the background of Charles Evans; a youthful face topped by a short Gerry Mulligan haircut and playing a vintage baritone (probably with a low A attachment) without a speck of lacquer to be seen and employing an unorthodox embouchure that some of the old dudes used to use. Yet everything is secondary to the power of the music encased within the disc. To adequately describe it one would have to invent some new adjectives. The closest musician playing anything on the big horn would be heard in the most adventurous Hamiet Bluiett from back in his India Navigation days or one of his rave-ups with James Carter. Maybe like Pepper Adams on acid but not quite. The tracks with trumpeter Peter Evans (maybe no relation but they play together like brothers) have an Ornette-tinge but with Lester Bowie blowing piccolo trumpet instead of his customary cornet, and the longest cut, "What" even reminds of the classic Hot House at first. From the get-go there's interesting simultaneous improvisation between the two on the beginning I Can't Do The Anymore. As with some of Anthony Braxton's low end sorties, there are moments of pops and squawks into bursts of rapid intervallic leaps leading to overblown altissimo cries and screams. Like contains beautiful overtone work with lines overblown into partials (harmonics). The leader brings to mind Rahsaan Roland Kirk's fascination with the bottom end of the saxophone and it runs a lot deeper than just how low can one go. The split tones and popping key pads are also Kirkish. This young man is onto something and he means to get to the bottom of it. Hold onto your hat.
~ Larry Hollis, Cadence Magazine April 2006
No Relation
Sidestep this clumsy name for a jazz quartet and you'll find some intriguing music on NO RELATION. New Yorker Charles Evans — a student of Dave Liebman — is a vehement baritone player; Peter Evans (no relation) is a fiery and daring trumpeter. They're supported by drummer Jan Roth and double bassist Moppa Elliott in a programme of tense and suspenseful improvisations that use bebop as a springboard and take Anthony Braxton swerving unpredictably out of the tradition as one of their overt guiding lights. The rhythm section often assumes a very literal approach to timekeeping, while the saxophonist and trumpeter reserve the right to startle with unorthodox virtuosity. A residue of standards and familiar chord progressions are overwritten with assertive microtonal flurries, wild disjunctions and general feverish inventiveness.
~ Julian Cowley, THE WIRE
The title of the second disc by Charles Evans and Peter Evans' band The Language Of is a punning affair; No Relation refers not only to the fact that the two Evanses share no blood, but to the methods by which the pair dissect four jazz standards as the basis for the CD's eight tunes. But in actuality, the disc is all about relations, from the multitude of twinned opposites which litter the cover (Anthony Braxton with Toni Braxton; Wilt Chamberlain with extra-virgin olive oil) to the bridging of Charles' interest in post-bop experimentation rooted in tradition and Peters' steeping in free jazz. The twain meet at the junction of the standards they use for inspiration, which may no longer bear any resemblance to the end product but linger somewhere deep inside the music. The literal originals may be lost in translation, but their intentions come through loud and clear."
~ Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper
There you go . . . a young bright baritone player who doesn't want to imitate anybody and dares to tread on dangerous waters. His name is Charles Evans. The many slopes of Evans urge to prod his New York based band to a resonant denotation on No Relation.
At first glance the art-cover gives the impression that one will get a confrontation into a musical patchwork, but this is not the case. The pieces on No Relation were a groundwork from four jazz standards: Cole Porter's What Is This Thing Called Love, Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis' How High the Moon, Jerome Kern's The Song Is You and Billy Strayhorn's Isfahan.
Charles Evans endorses his artwork with trumpeter Peter Evans, bassist Moppa Elliot and drummer Jan Roth. The result has nothing to do with the standards at all, but with pure talented free micro-tonal de-creation.
What is a 2 minutes kind of be-bop song in which the quartet bespeak a discreet, hard-headed side that is displayed as a mind exploration of the theme. Forceful trumpeter Peter Evans reacts straight with Love. His voice is imparting an assured demeanour, signing his field with authority. How prioritizes harmonic structure, fast tempo and improvisation. Elliot's bass contours thrive distinctly into imparted aesthetic explorations and Roth's curlicue, exploring medium to fast tempos, is a pinnacle in this piece. Peter Evans phrases knotty polyrhythm in High. Song features a 2/4 time bossa nova-like style. You unshackles the band. Charles Evans de-constructs and improvises, separating two great solos. Both Evans play with fever off each other, the trumpet flaking staccato notes while the baritone uses polyphonic tinges. As the complication builds up, the trumpet cannonballs along, creating whirling notes to relieve the baritone in an atonal outburst. Roth keeps the junctures and his encountering is free with a touch of geniality. Is be-bops along with a well structured rhythm section and some Charles Evans virile and contrapuntal attacks. Isfatek closes this creation, showcasing the accomplished high technical skills of this quartet with the trumpet voice remarkable.
From What to Isfatek, Charles Evans evidences a great ability to de-phrase, arrange/de-arrange musical structures. No Relation is without a doubt an ensemble of compositions delineated by Charles Evans' capable hands. He has persevered here with his talent, releasing a great CD which proves his musical and intellectual courage. Courage is the making of willpower. The world will unquestionably (and luckily) hear a touch of this young gentleman's willpower.
~ Dr. Ana Isabel Ordonez, www.jazzreview.com
I often wonder "What am I looking for in jazz these days?" and, truth be told, rarely come up with a satisfactory answer. Too many times I listen to players showing disfunctional conditions and evident discrepancies between a fabulous technique and the correspondent absolute lack of sense of humour — not to mention the ability to WRITE serious music without resorting to the habitual (and often unconsciously used) formulas and definitions. That's why I’m enjoying time and again this lively, articulate and — yes — humour-gifted album released in 2005 by Charles Evans (baritone sax), Peter Evans (trumpet and piccolo trumpet), Moppa Elliott (double bass) and Jan Roth (drums). As the title could suggest, no blood relation exists between the Evanses, but LOTS of relations are instantly audible as far as ingenious playing is concerned. This CD is what you'd usually call a "'breath of fresh air", in that it mixes excellent soloism and ensemble interplay of the highest calibre in eight tracks ranging from post-Braxton regulated freedom to various kinds of bipolar behavior during the exposition of more "popular" motifs. The interaction between Charles Evans' baritone sax he's a stunning virtuoso with irony to spare and Peter Evans' trumpet is such that one can sustain long minutes of microtonal nuances and unpredictable mental processes without any strain, feeling the buzz of an energy that is certainly not too common among today's jazz groups. There is some sort of "unbalance" at work here, which gives the music an eccentric character, but there's also a sense of ethical seriousness corroborated by an ever-active reciprocal listening (Elliott and Roth swing, mourn and — when necessary — rumble like madmen, for good measure). The booklet artwork is great too, in perfect line with the stimulating music and compositional intelligence that I perceive throughout the disc; the counter-liner notes (written in an undecipherable, fabulous jargon which could rival Christian Vander's Kobaian in terms of incomprehensible meanings for us poor mortals) are alone worth a good laugh. This project spells "advanced communication", representing a perfect antidote against the frigidity of many current composers — jazz or non-jazz. These guys are working at the margins of the market yet manage to fulfil our needs of smart syntactical deconstruction, and if you love body building there's an additional reason to appreciate Charles Evans (don't ask — check for yourself).
~ Massimo Ricci, www.touchingextremes.org