WILMINGTON — Samirah Evans and the George Kaye Quintet will make summertime living easy with a jazz concert featuring the music of George Gershwin at Historic Memorial Hall in Wilmington. Show time is 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 30.
Vocalist Evans and bassist Kaye will be joined by Miro Sprague (piano), Michael Zsoldos (reeds), Eric Miller (trombone) and Claire Arenius (drums), according to a news release. The first set will consist of Gershwin's popular jazz standards, while the second set will feature selections from the composer's opera, “Porgy and Bess” covered in the style of the 1958 recording of the work by Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra.
Evans and Kaye have played together numerous times since Evans moved to Vermont from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Kaye says it was during a long car ride to a gig several years ago that the idea for this program was originally conceived.
“It was a three-hour drive each way to a wedding in upstate New York. Sam and I just started talking about music and I told her how much I loved 'Porgy and Bess,'” Kaye recalls in the news release. “We listened to tunes from the opera recordings and then compared them with the Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaboration. What a great way to pass the time on the road!”
At the time, Kaye was in the midst of getting his master's degree in jazz arranging and composing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He had immersed himself in the nuances of the opera and how Gil Evans approached it as an arranger when working with Miles Davis and a 20-piece orchestra. He said he relished the challenge of reinterpreting the music for a smaller group with Evans' voice in the role of the legendary jazz trumpeter.
“First, we found the right players with the right spirit to do this. Second, it's Gershwin; the music is loaded with counter-melodies that are as memorable as the primary melodies, so there was plenty to pass around the band,” says Kaye, who says they are essentially covering the original album. “We're keeping with Gil Evans' approach of what was swung, what are literal melodies, and what is improvisation to present the spirit and feel of this fabulous recording.”
Samirah Evans says she is excited to present something altogether different than the swampy mix of jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues to which her fans are accustomed, and calls the program “the greatest challenge” of her career.
“I've been putting my nose to the grindstone to learn the parts and approximate the charted lines performed by Miles,” Evans says. “It has been a tremendous growth experience for me and I chose the right musical director and a stellar aggregation of musicians. I'm quite honored to share the joy of this work with them and with audience members.”
Samirah Evans was a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for more than 15 years before relocating to Brattleboro. She formed Samirah Evans & Her Handsome Devils in 2007 and has performed at clubs, concert halls, and music festivals throughout the Northeast.
In 2011, Evans released her third recording, “Hot Club: Live at the Vermont Jazz Center” (Misha Records). She has shared stages with legendary artists such as James Brown, B.B. King, Irma Thomas, Sheila Jordan, Terence Blanchard, and Donald Harrison, Jr. in her career, and has toured Europe, Asia, and South America as a headliner.
She is the curator of the “Ladies in Jazz” series at the Arts Block in Greenfield, Mass., and teaches vocal technique and performance both privately and as a member of the faculty at Williams College.