About This Past Event:
It was a celebration of traditional New Orleans music culture in the house where Jazz was born. Clarinet crusader Evan Christopher collaborated with living legend Don Vappie to explore the roots of New Orleans Jazz in a festive, family-style dinner-theater setting.
WHEN:
Saturday, March 16, 2019 @ 7:30p
WHERE:
Little Gem Saloon
445 South Rampart Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
WHO:
Evan Christopher & Clarinet Road
Featuring Don Vappie, guitar
Kerry Lewis, bass
Map:
TICKET INFO:
$20 Online
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Photos: John Herr (Nov, 2022)![]()
Shea Center for Performing Arts - William Patterson University, Wayne NJ
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![To be precise: No, I never “won” a Grammy. It’s a misunderstanding that I suppose I should correct when it appears in marketing such as this weekend's Charlotte shows.
What actually occurred? The year was 2006... [cue harp sweeps with whole-tone scale]
I was exiled in Paris after Federal Levees failed and flooded New Orleans in August, 2005. My first return home was a show with a New Orleans-based big band as their clarinet soloist. I appeared with them often through 2011, and also played alto saxophone in the ensemble. In the group at that time, there were many stellar musicians whose camaraderie I enjoyed including Edward Peterson, Derek Douget, David Pulphus and Victor Atkins.
Anyway… For a 2006 tour, the group’s leader conceived a clarinet feature for me and presented his idea in a rehearsal at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He had mapped out a chord progression for a funky minor section that went into a sort of shout-chorus in major. On a subway en route to the second rehearsal, I scrawled actual melodies for the two sections. My arrangement re-worked harmonies of his original sketch and incorporated his shout-riff with some small rhythmic improvements.
In 2009, the band recorded its debut CD in New Orleans in the cafeteria of Warren Easton High School. My clarinet feature was included, and the year the CD was released, 2010, it received the Grammy award from NARAS for “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album”. Somewhere, I still have a certificate acknowledging my participation.
Did it annoy me that I wasn’t credited? Not much. The composer/arranger credit would have only been for that one song. And the arrangement, like the tune itself, was naively simple and, frankly, rather unremarkable. However… It had its place in the group's program and I was always proud to showcase the New Orleans clarinet tradition in a contemporary context. Performances included a now infamous Carnegie Hall concert in 2012, as pictured here.
[Photo credit unknown. Ashlin? And, no, I haven’t a clue what I am doing in this pic. 80's shuffle? Or perhaps I had just played the solo?]](https://www.clarinetroad.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
