About This Event:
The duo with David Torkanowsky is partnering with Bizou Fine Wines for a new experience. We are calling it the "New Orleans Jazz & Wine Show," and here's how it works:
...We make music while you drink wine.
But not just any wine: For each show, Bizou selects three bottles from small-production, international artisan vignerons. Upon purchasing your ticket, your bottles will be available for pick-up at Swirl Wine Bar & Market (near the Fairgrounds) anytime before showtime.
And not just any music: The duo has become known for high-level live-streamed concert experiences. This was a pandemic project that has slowly taken shape over twenty weeks. We have been imagining projects that are more personal and intimate even though we can't yet be together in the same room.
In addition, when possible Bizou will let you meet the vignerons by video chat to talk about their wines. And the duo will host special guests each week who represent the best of New Orleans music.
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
7:30-8:30pm CDT
WHERE:
NEW ORLEANS, ONLINE
WHO:
Evan Christopher, clarinet
David Torkanowsky, piano
SPECIAL GUEST
TBA
Map:
TICKET INFO:
Video Preview:
Latest Facebook Posts:
Latest Instagram Pics:
![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)
