Doc Evans

Paul Wesley "Doc" Evans (born July 20, 1907 in Spring Valley , Minnesota , † January 10, 1977 in Minneapolis ) was an American jazz trumpeter (cornet) of Dixieland Jazz .

Evans was the son of a Methodist minister who died when he was only two years old, took piano lessons as a child and began playing drums and saxophone in high school. At Carleton College in Northfield (Minnesota), where he studied for a teacher's exam in English (BA 1929), he occasionally switched to the cornet as a member of a dance band. From the late 1920s he played his new main instrument professionally in dance and dixieland bands around Minneapolis, such as that of Norvy Mulligan. Even in the time of the Depression he remained true to music, especially the Dixieland style, perfected his technique (his main role models were Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong ) and took over his own band in the beginning of the revival in 1940 (in "Mitch's" in Mendota). He turned down some lucrative offers to play in swing orchestras ( Claude Thornhill , Ray McKinley ) or to leave his native Midwest. In 1947 he published his first own records on Disc Records and moved to Chicago , where he played in Jazz Limited (founded in 1947 by clarinetist Bill Reinhardt) and other clubs. National tours and numerous recordings (including for the Joco and Dublin labels) made him known.

In 1952 he returned to Minneapolis, where he temporarily had his own TV show ("This is Dixieland"). He toured the Midwest regularly in the 1950s, gave well-attended concerts at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis ("Doc Evans Dixieland Concerts," with Frank Gillis , some on the Soma label) and released a number of records for Audiophile Records. In 1958 he had his own "The Rampart Street Club" in Mendota, which existed until 1961 and where he regularly played with his own band. Until the 1970s, Evans was a fixture in the Minneapolis jazz scene and performed regularly at festivals such as the "Bix Beiderbecke Festival". A high point of his career was being invited to perform at Louis Armstrong's 70th birthday concert in Los Angeles in 1970 . In the 1960s he also began to be interested in classical music (cello) and directed his own orchestra in his home town of Bloomingdale. In the 1970s he also taught jazz history and was active in the union.

For Evans, “Dixieland Jazz” was a lively, evolving music and the historical “pioneers” were by no means sacrosanct. In his bands he attached great importance to ensemble playing and collective improvisation.

Since 1999 there has been an annual "Doc Evans Jazz Festival" in Minnesota. In the meantime, many of his more than forty records have been reissued on CD (e.g. by Jazzology).

Selection discography

• 1947 - Original Dixieland Jass Band Classics and New Orleans Rhythm Kings Classics , with Dixieland Five , with Eddie Hubble (trombone), Ed Sullivan (piano), George Wettling (drums) and Tony Parenti (clarinet) (Disc Records)

Web links

• Doc Evans web pages, with biographies of Mark Flaherty and Bert Whyatt , with discography [1]