Something Else! Interview: Orrin Evans, jazz pianist, composer and bandleader

Orrin Evans arrived amidst a wave of new jazz performers in the early 1990s. Unlike many of those young lions, however, he managed to bob up from that era’s ultimately empty retro-conservatism. “A lot of those guys, quite frankly,” Orrin says, “just gave too much of a f—. And I never did.” By that, Evans means he never cared that much about being careful, for convention. It hasn’t sold him more records, nor made him a bigger star. Yet, even today, his passion for the work remains unquestioned. And, it seems, Evans is finally getting his due.

SomethingElseReviews.com caught up with Evans this week to talk about his new project, key influences like Barron and Bowen and his abiding passion for Philadelphia …