Evan Christopher (Searles Castle, Rave Review Series, 4/14/01)
By Seth Rogovoy

GREAT BARRINGTON- The clarinet has long been out of fashion in jazz, in spite of its central role in early jazz ensembles. But with renewed interest in the entire history of jazz, sparked in large part by Ken Burn's documentary series on public TV, the time is ripe for a restoration of clarinet to its central place in the jazz ensemble.

There has always been a revivalist movement lurking below the surface of mainstream jazz, and thus musicians like Evan Christopher - who performed before a sold-out audience at Searles Castle on Saturday night as part of the Rave Review series - are ready to step into the breach with the old repertoire and stylistic authenticity already at their fingertips.

Performing with a quintet assembled by Rave Review's artistic director and pianist, Robert Kelly, Christopher, 31, took his audience thorugh a journey down "Clarinet Road." It was a road that led from New Orleans outward, with forays to the Caribbean, Paris, New York and back again. Wherever it went, it never left the spirit of New Orleans far behind.

Christopher began at the beginning, with "Blues in the Air," a piece by the original and probably the greatest jazz clarinetist of all time, Sidney Bechet. Christopher's tone was immediately evocative of Bechet's and that of early jazz clarinetists, fat in the low register and percussive, almost trumpet-like, in the high notes.

Christopher and his group also tackled several spirituals adapted to a New Orleans strut. "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" began with a breathy clarinet solo, before becoming sensuous, lush and playful, while "Ovre in the Glory Land" was a jaunty march.

With the Mills Brothers's classic "Paper Doll," the ensemble -- performing almost entirely without the aid of electric amplification in the acoustically alive organ room of the castle - kicked the show into second gear. The number featured a particularly lively stride solo by Kelly. "Creole Mardi Gras," a beguine dance tune from Martinique, was powered by a Caribbean lilt courtesy of drummer Tom Briggs, a Berkshire native who currently works with the U.S. Coast Guard Band. Christopher, a native of Long Beach, Calif., changed his attack for the piece, forming sharper, more pinched, highly-syncopated notes that came in angular flurries.

From Martinique it was a leap across the ocean to Paris and the heyday of Gypsy swing as exemplified by "Dark Eyes," a Russian folk song from the repertoire of Django Reinhardt's Hot Club of France. As one would expect, the piece was a showcase for guitarist Scott Sasanecki, currently of Holyoke, but Christopher also used the song's inherent drama to bring the first half of his program to a fiery close.

The ensemble, which was driven by bassist Dave Santoro of Boston, returned to New Orleans for the second half with a rousing, Dixieland-style version of ViNcent Youman's 1925 Broadway hit, "I Want You to Be Happy." Christopher did a nice instrumental imitation of Ella Fitzgerald on a version of Fats Waller's "Black and Blue," and really stretched out on Jelly Roll Morton's "Shreveport Stomp," which with its complex, fugal arpeggios out of Bach anticipated the Modern Jazz Quartet by four decades.

Christopher was less successful at communicating through speech what he was clearly capable of communicating with his instrument. He tended to ramble somewhat incoherently through the historical and personal anecdotes that peppered his program. While not without a certain charm, he seemed slightly ill at ease in the role of frontman - perhaps he is better suited to the role of featured soloist in a traditional-style ensemble.

[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on April 17, 2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]