Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Orrin Evans was born on March 28, 1976 in Trenton, New Jersey but was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nurtured in a household filled with music due to his classical singer mother who surrounded him with the melodies of Puccini to the pulsating rhythms of Basie and Ellington.
Evans graduated from high school in the early 90s and studied at Rutgers University before going on to study piano privately with Kenny Barron and be employed as a sideman by Bobby Watson, Ralph Peterson, Duane Eubanks, Lenora Zenzalai-Helms and others.
Evans recorded his first session as a leader, The Orrin Evans Trio, for his own Black Entertainment label in 1994. After that, he signed with Criss Cross and between 1997-99 he recorded Justin Time, Captain Black and Grown Folks Bizness. Into the new millennium Orrin recorded prolifically releasing “Listen to the Band”, “Blessed Ones” and “Meant to Shine”, continuing his yearly release schedule up to his latest “Flip The Script”.
Influenced greatly by McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk among others, he remains in the hard bop genre but occasionally detours into soul-jazz and R&B when backing vocalists Denise King and Dawn Warren. In 2010 he was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. He continues to perform, record and tour.