Blindfold Test: Orrin Evans

By Willard Jenkins I Apr. 4, 2023

“Ahmad’s voicings inform so much of how I look at music,” said Orrin Evans about fellow pianist Ahmad Jamal.
(Photo: Jati Lindsay)

Pianist Orrin Evans, artist-in-residence for the 2022/2023 DC Jazz Festival, is not only an exceptional pianist. He is also a prolific bandleader with configurations ranging from trios (including the rangy co-op Tar Baby) to quartets, quintets and his Captain Black Big Band. Evans participated in this live Blindfold Test in front of an audience in the afterglow of a triumphant festival encounter between his big band and vocalist Dianne Reeves during last year’s festival. The setting for this Blindfold Test was the festival’s Meet the Artist Tent at The Wharf, the site of DCJF’s annual closing weekend on the sparkling Potomac Riverfront.

Randy Weston

“Ifrane” (Blue Moses, CTI, 1972) Weston, electric keyboard; Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Grover Washington Jr., tenor saxophone; Hubert Laws, flute; Billy Cobham, drums; Ron Carter, bass; Phil Kraus, Airto Moreira, Azzedin Weston, percussion; studio horn section; Don Sebesky, arranger.

It’s funny because I was never really into big bands for a long time. The reason that I wasn’t into it is because I had a different impression of what big bands were about. When you’re in high school and college it’s like, “I gotta go to big band … .” And it wasn’t until I joined the Mingus Big Band that I realized I enjoyed big bands when they operate as small groups, or when they’re arranged correctly by some great arrangers. So I say all that to say I don’t know who that is, but I can tell the time frame — I’m thinking this is from the ’70s just from the way that the drums sounded and the recording of it.

But I loved it. I loved the use of the brass. I really loved the arrangement. And I wanna say who I think it is on trumpet but I’m probably dead wrong — but I was gonna say they’re Freddie-ish, let me put it like that.

Horace Tapscott

“Social Call” (Thoughts Of Dar Es Salaam, Arabesque, 1997) Tapscott, piano; Ray Drummond, bass; Billy Hart, drums.

It’s definitely one of my elders. I’m listening to the quality of the recording, and it definitely sounds like an older recording. I’m a little leery of saying this, but I wasn’t really knocked out by the bass and drums combination. As far as the piano, I loved his or her approach to the melody and then when it went into the swing or solo section, I just wasn’t a fan of how the rhythm section was playing along with the pianist. For some reason the name Horace Parlan is popping into my head.

Don Pullen

“Mr. Smoothie” (Mosaic Select: Don Pullen, Mosaic, 2005) Pullen, piano; George Adams, tenor saxophone; Cameron Brown, bass; Dannie Richmond, drums.

Me and another piano player out there [in the audience], Benito Gonzalez, had the pleasure of playing with this gentleman. We got to tour with him — for a while with [drummer] Will Calhoun, and I loved just hanging out with him and getting to know him. That’s the great Pharoah Sanders. Am I wrong? Ah, that was George Adams! I need some more records. That totally sounded like Pharoah to me, those first couple of notes. This is fun.

Christian Sands

“Rebel Music” (Facing Dragons, Mack Avenue, 2018) Sands, piano; Yasushi Nakamura, bass; Jerome Jennings, drums.

I love the arrangement. [The Blindfold Test] is rough! I’ll tell you a funny story. I did a Blindfold Test years ago, and I literally had to call some folks up and apologize to them afterwards, and one of them was Geri Allen, and she was so great. I was listening, and I said, “Whoever this is, is playing with some balls.” She said, “Thank you,” when I called her! I’m gonna take a stab at this one — but I really enjoyed that. I liked the arrangement.

It sounds like a newer pianist and a younger composition, and I know I’m taking a risk in saying it but I’m gonna say it’s Joey Alexander.

Charlie Haden & Brad Mehldau

“Au Privave” (Long Ago And Far Away, Impulse!, 2018) Mehldau, piano; Haden, bass.

Now that’s one I want to listen to all the way through. I’m not sure who that is at all. At first, I’ll be honest listening to that melody and some of the liberties they were taking with the melody … but then when they got to the solo section and you hear them going in between and in and out of these keys, and in and out of the form, I really enjoyed it. So whoever this is, I’m gonna buy the whole record and listen to it a bunch of times. I don’t even want to take a guess at this one.

Ahmad Jamal

“Swahililand” (After Fajr, Dreyfuss, 2005) Jamal, piano; Idris Muhammad, drums; James Cammack, bass.

I’m gonna take a stab right now — is that Ahmad? There’s a short list, for me, of pianists who orchestrate, and you don’t need anything else. Trudy Pitts was another one like that: They sat at the piano and played all 88 keys at the same time. Ahmad’s voicings inform so much of how I look at music, and his use of space.

The Awakening was the first record of his that I got, and he would play a normal standard and take [liberties] with space and time. Even that record we just listened to — that’s trusting that your audience is gonna be with you and hang on every note, and Ahmad Jamal does that, really just grabs you and takes you in from the beginning … whether it was a record or a song or a concert. What was that record he did? … Rossiter Road. As a kid I used to listen to that record over and over just because of his use of space and time and his orchestrations. DB

The “Blindfold Test” is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to discuss and identify the music and musicians who performed on selected recordings. The artist is then asked to rate each tune using a 5-star system. No information is given to the artist prior to the test.