A crowd of San Jose community members filed into the Hammer Theatre Center Wednesday night to be transferred into a jazz
swinging world.
The Orrin Evans Trio had audience members tapping their feet and swaying in their seats as they graced the stage for an hour.
The trio consists of lead pianist Orrin Evans, drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith and bassist Eric Revis.
The trio closed out the Hammer Theatre’s Black Cab Jazz series, a collaborative series between the theatre, San Jose Jazz and San Jose State showcasing jazz artists to SJSU students and community.
The Black Cab Jazz series began in November and showcased other musicians including Grammy-nominated saxophonist Melissa Aldana.
The Black Cab gets its name from being a black box theater and the “cab” part is short for cabaret, according to a Nov. 29, 2022 article by
SJSU News Center.
Evans, who has been nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble twice, has an extensive jazz discography starting in 1995 which includes 28 albums.
Revis is a Grammy award winner and Smith was previously the drummer for Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” band.
“[Revis] is a great composer,” Evans said to the audience. “He writes some hard-ass shit that I can’t play though.”
The trio performed songs including “Wildwood Flower,” “All The Things you Are” and “M.B.B.S.”
“I come from a theater background, my father was a playwright,” Evans said to the audience. “Anytime I do things in a black box or anything like that kind of theater is always special.”
Evans grew up in Philadelphia and came from a music background as his mother was an Opera singer, according to a Sept. 21, 2018 New York
Times article.
“Growing up in Philly, there were so many [jazz musicians]: Shirley Scott, Trudy Pitts and Mickey Roker,” Evans said. “So many famous jazz musicians are from Philly and they were still there when I was growing up.”
Evans said the environment at the Hammer Theatre
was great.
“After years of not playing for live audiences it’s great to feel that energy and feed off of people,” Evans said. “I really enjoyed the Black Box Theater and the intimacy and the energy of the people. It was a really great experience.”
Evans said he hopes students in his workshops can incorporate his music into their studies.
Chris Burrill, executive director of the Hammer Theatre, said it was important to get the Orrin Evans Trio to perform on Wednesday night.
“This has special meaning because these performers as a part of this series go on campus and do a workshop with students,” said Burrill. “So that’s an opportunity that adds value to San Jose State music students as well as a great
performance opportunity.”
Burrill said he wants students to open their minds to other forms of music such as jazz.
“It gives them a vocabulary,” Burrill said. “This just helps them form with something that shows them the big picture.”
Max Ryan, San Jose native and jazz enthusiast, said he was looking for jazz concerts in the area and this one happened
to pop up.
“As someone who last year kind of made it a point to go to live performances, this was my favorite performance I’ve been to in a while,” Ryan said. “It was largely because of Orrin.”
He said he was impressed with Evans’ piano performance.
“It really sounded like he would make the piano pulse at times,” Ryan said. “It would feel thunderous, but also
so delicate.”
Ryan said the ending of the show when Evans had the entire crowd singing together was his favorite part.
“A really warm feeling and solid participation from everybody too,” Ryan said.
