Evan Christopher

Evan Christopher ( born August 31, 1969 in Long Beach ) is an American jazz clarinetist. He strives to revitalize the New Orleans style of the clarinet repertoire in jazz.

Christopher attended the Idlyllwild Art Academy in Idyllwild and studied saxophone at the University of Southern California and clarinet at California State University at Long Beach. He also took lessons with Kenny Davern, Tony Scott, and George Probert. The early 1990s, he first came to New Orleans, on tour with the singer-songwriter AJ Croce, and moved in 1994 quite there. He played several years in the Jim Cullum Jazz Band in San Antonio. Then he was back in New Orleans, where he studied the early jazz clarinet style, while initially aimed also graduated from Tulane University with its investigations. But he had to move away in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. He was artist in residence on French invitation in Paris and there formed his Jazz Traditions PROJECT and his band Django à la Créole ( with Django à la Créole albums in 2008 and 2010 Finesse, both at Frémeaux & Associés ), the New Orleans jazz traditions with Creole music and Gypsy Jazz combined. He toured with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Irvin Mayfield ( he plays on the album Book One from 2009, which won a Grammy and also compositions by him contains ) and is since 2008 in New Orleans resident. He taught 2008/9 at the University of New Orleans and supervised there a New Orleans Music Ensemble.

He composed and recorded his compositions: In 2006 his album Delta Bound ( Arbors Records) with pianist Dick Hyman, 2010 The Remembering Song ( Arbors Records) with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. In 2010, his Treat it Gentle Suite listed with the Minnesota Orchestra. More albums by him are Clarinet Road 1-3 (with STR, Volume 1 of 2001), Live at the Meridien (from the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club at the Meridien in Paris 2006).

In 2012 he was awarded the Rising Star Award in the Downbeat Critics Polls.