I recently received an email from saxophonist, Evan Parker, extolling the virtues of the “phenomenal young trumpet player Peter Evans.” It would be hard to find a more significant encomium than this. It brought me to the eMusic catalogue where I found “The Peter Evans Quartet.” Much to my surprise the trumpeter was quite a different type of player than I'd envisioned. Although Peter Evans makes his home around the outer margins of what's generally regarded as jazz, there's no question that his approach comes out of recognizable traditions. Conspicuously virtuosic, Evans nevertheless has learned much from Don Cherry, an emphatically non-technical player. “Bodies and Souls” could almost be Cherry, had he the facility to play what Evans can. There are also noticeable traces of Dave Douglas's playing, reminiscent of that heard his “Tiny Bell” trio, in some of Evans 'punchy, sardonic lines.

The album's biggest wildcard though — the thing that takes much of the music far, far away from more straight ahead playing — is the creative noisemaking of guitarist Brandon Seabrook. On the album's opener “!!!!!” there are places where the guitar is little more than a wash of loud, disruptive white noise. This is… read more »