Orrin Evans strikes it rich and finds a comfortable niche as the leader of “Semi” Big Band. He plays piano, contributes a few of the compositions along with trumpeters John Raymond and Josh Lawrence with the result a pair of concert recordings from South Kitchen and Chris’ Jazz Café’ that swing with muscle.
The rest of the team, Caleb Curtis/as, Todd Bashore/as, Troy Roberts/ts, Bryan davis/tp, David Gibson/tb, Stafford Hunter/tb, Brent White/tb, Madison Rast/b, Anwar Marshall/dr and Jason Brown/dr mix swinging saxes with modal blues on Monkish pieces like “The Scythe” the sauntering “Flip the Script” and the lilting “When It Comes.” Some gospel funk complete with hand claps create a festive “Trams” while the bright “Question” opens with a rich Roberts intro before bright sparks fly. The team knows how to hit hard as the drums punch like a heavyweight on the extroverted “Presence” with a mix of charts, sections and solos making this both easy to please and excitingly fresh.