Evan Christopher “Craft is not Subjective”

Traveling the Clarinet Road Evan Christopher is passionate about two things: the style in which he plays his musical instrument, and the adopted city which he has called home since 1994. Based on the impact he has had on the world of music over the past quarter century, it should come as no surprise that the common denominator is New Orleans. Alyn Shipton of the London Jazz News wrote: “If there is a better living exponent of the New Orleans Creole clarinet style than Evan Christopher, then it’s a discovery I have yet to make.” Critics remarking on his dynamic expressiveness and intimate approach have coined the phrase “close-encounter music.” The New York Times called his respect for the music traditions of New Orleans “a triumph, joining the present seamlessly to a glorious past.” He travels on Clarinet Road as he strives to extend the legacies of the early Creole clarinetists such as Sidney Bechet, Lorenzo Tio Jr., Omer Simeon, Barney Bigard, and Albert Nicholas. Known as a meticulous researcher, he has identified certain stylistic traits that evolved from the work of early clarinetists that are part of the instrument’s broad history in the Crescent City. He has identified a New Orleans clarinet vocabulary, which he has incorporated into his own style that has allowed him to produce a unique sound that looks to the future from the vantage of the past. Orig