Program Notes:
Orrin Evans & Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, “Swing-tennial!” - Nov. 7-8, 2026:

Before delving into the particulars of Orrin Evans’ first concert as the new Artistic Director of the Seattle
Repertory Jazz Orchestra, I’ll reference our first meeting, in 1998, when Criss Cross records asked me to
write the booklet text for his second album, Captain Black. It’s a terrific date, for which Orrin, then 23,
convened a combo of New York’s strongest jazzfolk, each of them five years or more his elder. Seven of
the eight selections are propelled by the ultra-flexible rhythm section of Evans, bassist Avishai Cohen and
drummer Ralph Peterson, who propel still-active saxophone heroes Ralph Bowen, Antonio Hart, Sam
Newsome, and Tim Warfield, presented in different configurations, through a series of inspired
improvisations that reflect their individualism. The end result – which includes Evans’ compellingly
kaleidoscopic solo piano rendition of the spiritual “Calvary” – reflects the leader’s already well-
established preference for placing comprehensive technique and conceptual breadth at the service of
spontaneity and chance-taking, and his mature focus in guiding his gifted bandmates to animate his
vision.

When I arrived at Orrin’s Brooklyn apartment for our interview, he was supervising his lively
five-year-old and feeding his infant son. Neither one was interested in settling down for a nap while their
father and I discussed the album. No worries – for the next hour, as Orrin cooked, cleaned, and monitored, he responded to my questions in clear, complete sentences and paragraphs, fully conveying his intentions. I was 43 at the time, with a 2-year-old, and my thought as I walked home was, “I want to be like Orrin Evans when I grow up.”

“Whatever music Orrin Evans presents, fear of failure won’t attenuate it,” I led off my text,
before quoting his still applicable self-description: “I go head-first for a lot of things. I like to stretch out.
Wherever the music takes me, I’m going there.” Twenty-eight years later, Evans displays his predisposition to opt for roads less traveled, diverging from the almost universal decision among jazz presenters to celebrate the centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane with events or seasons devoted exclusively to their music. Instead, Evans celebrates them in a non-hierarchical manner, opting “to shine a light” on five of their fellow 1926 babies“who also made an impact on the music” with choice cuts, a few of them quite obscure, from their respective oeuvres.

Captain Black Big Band mainstay David Gibson signifies on fellow trombonist Melba Liston’s
gorgeous strings arrangement of “Hi-Fly,” the signature song by the immortal, Brooklyn-born pianist-
composer Randy Weston, who played it on his 1997 album Earth Birth, and on Liston’s self-
descriptively titled flagwaver “Pow” from Melba Liston and Her Bones (1958). Trumpeter Josh
Lawrence, also from CBBB, contributes charts to “Morning Star” and “Super 80” by trumpeter Johnny
Coles, nicknamed “Little Johnny,” whose sublime, poignant tone burnished the sound of various Gil
Evans- and Charles Mingus-led ensembles, the Ray Charles band, and Herbie Hancock’s lovely score for
The Prisoner. Standing in for Coles on both songs is the superb Philadelphia-born trumpeter Duane
Eubanks, who in 1993 introduced Evans, then 18, to Johnny Coles, who subsequently retained Evans’
services until his death in 1997.

The accomplished SRJO guitarist Milo Peterson refracts into his own argot the flavor of 7-string
guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli’s inspired treatment of “Memories of You” with Zoot Sims, followed by a
Josh-Lawrence arranged chorus of the tune. Then the outstanding Seattle trombonist David Marriott
transforms Pizzarelli’s lovely 1972 trio performance of “Tangerine” into a feature for both Peterson and
home town trumpet titan Thomas Marriott.

Evans celebrates the individualism of the SRJO members with “Coltrane Journey,” assigning
each member of the saxophone section to spontaneously improvise on a Coltrane song of their choice, and assigning Lawrence to arrange Coltrane’s immortal ballad, “Naima,” premised, Evans says, on the notion of “Trane guest-starring with the Yellowjackets.” Preceding “Naima,” SRJO pianist Randy Halberstadt will improvise a medley of solo reflections on repertoire associated with Miles.
As a finishing touch, Evans contributes a new composition of his own. Titled “Stan The Man,”
it’s dedicated to Ralph Bowen’s father, born in 1926, who transitioned on a night in late September when
that Evans and Bowen were playing a tribute show for Coltrane. “The song is my dedication not only to
the musicians who were born in 1926, but the parents born in 1926 that gave us amazing humans like
Ralph Bowen and Ravi Coltrane,” Evans says.

Stay tuned for more informed iconoclasm as the 2026-27 season progresses.

Ted Panken