Peter Evans & Tom Blancarte - Sparks

Peter Evans: piccolo trumpet
Tom Blancarte: double-bass

A similar abstract approach is taken on Sparks, a series of improvisations between Evans and bassist Tom Blancarte, who plays in his quartet and with whom he has an obvious rapport. Blancarte matches Evans' swirling lines with deft bowing to blend with and contrast the brass on the opener "Xangu," particularly a segment of overblown multiphonic squawks. Seemingly inexhaustible, their non- idiomatic ideas rapidly flow without establishing recognizable forms or grooves, an amorphousness that challenges player and listener alike. (from AllAboutJazz)

2008 SPARKS (rapidshare/mediafire)

Peter Evans Quartet - Live in Lisbon

Peter Evans: trumpet
Ricardo Gallo: piano
Tom Blancarte: bass
Kevin Shea: drums

Liner notes rarely describe the process used (and why should they?), yet on this album it is almost programmatic : "In addition to being an interesting way to connect improvisation with fixed materials the players are likely to already have under their fingers, it is also great fun to see what elements of surprise we can squeeze out of something that, on its surface, may seem very familiar".So writes trumpeter Peter Evans in the liner notes of this incredibly jazzy yet equally modern piece of music. The familiar material are harmonies and melody from "All The Things You Are", "Lush Life" and "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love", to name but a few.

Evans is joined by Ricardo Gallo on piano, Tom Blancarte on bass and Kevin Shea on drums. The music is incredibly complex. Themes change, tempos change, rhythms change : and this several times within the same piece, and not at the same moment, but sometimes in overlaying structures, demanding incredible skills (and concentration!) from the musicians. The result is nice. Inventiveness abounds, the music changes itself the whole time, like a kind of sonic caleidoscope: you can't know what comes next, yet it follows logically and unpredictably from the previous notes, all in the same frame and structural context. The creative discipline and musicianship are stellar.

Yet in the end, it gives me a little bit the same feeling as the later albums by the Empty Cage Quartet, or some of Dave Douglas' music: the musical skills combined with intellectual play with structure create a more distant feel than the expressive and soulful straight from the heart jazz that gets my preference. It is musicians' music of a very high level. (from Free Jazz)

2010 LIVE IN LISBON (rapidshare/mediafire)

Peter Evans Quartet

Peter Evans: trumpet
Brandon Seabrook: guitar & electronics
Tom Blancarte: bass
Kevin Shea: drums

Occasionally, a debut album from a new artist arrives that so perfectly encapsulates the prevailing zeitgeist, it sounds like the visionary work of a seasoned veteran. The Peter Evans Quartet is such an album.

While Peter Evans' solo trumpet album, More is More (Psi, 2006) is technically the Oberlin University grad's debut recording, this quartet session is far more indicative of his wide-ranging artistry.

Evans is joined by a close-knit group of regular collaborators. Drummer Kevin Shea, of the experimental post-rock band Storm and Stress, also works with Evans in Moppa Elliott's radical be-bop revisionist band, Mostly Other People Do The Killing. Bassist Tom Blancarte is one-half of the energetic duo, Sparks, with Evans, while guitarist Brandon Seabrook (Naftule's Dream, Alex Kontorovich Quartet), has played with Evans in the nostalgic quartet, Imaginary Folk.

Evans' writing uses harmonic material found in the classic American Songbook as the basic foundation for dense, labyrinthine structures. Additional layers of counterpoint, notation, harmony and incidental noise yield an endlessly shifting set of interlocking patterns. Recognizable melodic vignettes drift in and out of focus as blasts of cacophonous frenzy and feverish group interplay obscure familiar themes and standard chord progressions, invoking a surreal refraction of tradition.

Interpreting multi-layered compositions with a combination of dazzling virtuosity and plucky élan, this crack ensemble balances boundless energy with knowing finesse. Continuously in flux, the quartet endlessly modulates between collective improvisation, intricate notated charts and individual solos with graceful verve.

Driving the ensemble with irrepressible vigor, Shea delivers the same ramshackle vitality and roiling propulsion as he did on Mostly Other People Do The Killing's Shamokin!!! (Hot Cup, 2007). Blancarte's stalwart bass acts as the group's harmonic anchor, an unshakeable pillar in a whirlwind of interactivity.

Demonstrating his academic proficiency with a soaring tone and keen phrasing, Evans shares a neo-classical sensibility with trumpeter Dave Douglas in his choice of divergent angles and jagged edges. But Evans is a far more unfettered stylist, incorporating brassy smears, buzzing howls and an endless array of overblown textures into his profuse narrative statements.

The perfect front-line partner for Evans, Seabrook unveils a correspondingly exploratory outlook, fully embracing the electronic capabilities of his instrument, veering from oscillating ambient drones to blistering white noise. Alternating between gauzy ethereal strumming, punctilious angular runs, scorching leads and shards of reverberating feedback, he shares a mercurial temperament with Evans that finds them in waggish accord.

Evans' knotty, dynamic writing offers a fractured, encyclopedic view of jazz history, moving effortlessly from time honored melodic motifs and euphonious lyricism to dizzying, frenetic improvisation. The Peter Evans Quartet is not only a definitive statement from a rising new voice, but one of the finest jazz records of the year. (from AllAboutJazz)

2007 THE PETER EVANS QUARTET (rapidshare/mediafire)