Orrin Evans Quartet - Cleveland, Ohio July 15

[Captain Hate]

As part of the Ingenuity Festival in downtown Cleveland (insert snarky comment here) Orrin Evans and his quartet played five songs in a little over an hour on a sultry July afternoon in front of maybe 50 people when you consider that diners at the Harry Buffalo eatery were listening in just down the street from the stage. I didn't write down the names of the bass player and drummer but they were quite good (and both are from Philly); Evans and soprano saxist Sam Newsome completed the quartet. I don't know how they happened to be here (although I think it was arranged by somebody at Cuyahoga Community College, which has a certain presence in the festival) but it was a very good choice, particularly since Evans lived for a while in Cleveland Heights when his father was artistic director at the Karamu Theater.

I'd wanted to see Evans for quite a while and he didn't disappoint; in fact in one of the songs he sounded very Pullen-esque, which was a pleasant surprise to me until, in his patter between songs, he revealed that he played in the Mingus Tribute Band. He switched briefly to the Fendor Rhodes for switches in texture during some songs. If you like his Criss Cross releases you would've liked his performance today, mixing some new post-bop originals with a finale that was a fairly straight reading of "The Star Spangled Banner" followed by some limited improvisation by Newsome. Everyone played well and a good time was had by all.