Mother's Touch (feat. Captain Black Big Band)

Pianist and composer Orrin Evans, who's played with Pharoah Sanders, Branford Marsalis, Gary Bartz, Ravi Coltrane, and many others, released his 1994 debut, The Orrin Evans Trio, while he was still a teenager. He’s gone on to issue a number of other releases as a leader, but 2014’s Mother’s Touch is the first studio effort to feature Evans’ large ensemble, The Captain Black Big Band. The album is a pleasurable slice of straight-ahead jazz that's lush, muscular, and melodic. Evans’ group continually display nuances as they move through a variety of moods. “In My Soul” has a silkiness that evokes Duke Ellington, and Evans’ bluesy turn at the piano delights. The two-part title track recalls John Coltrane’s impressionistic free-time excursions. A version of Wayne Shorter’s “Water Babies”—which originally appeared on the saxophonist’s 1969 album Super Nova—keeps the mystery of the original, and the soloists craft fine statements. The closer, “Prayer for Columbine,” has a tight arrangement; the energetic cut points to the hope that can exist even after tragedy.