Richard Evans (musician)

Richard Lee Cowan Evans (born December 30, 1932 in Birmingham (Alabama) ; † October 5, 2014 in Natick ) was an American jazz bassist who, among other things, worked as a composer, arranger, producer and orchestra leader in the Rhythm & Blues - and soul-jazz scene in Chicago's 1960s and 70s.

Live and act

Evans played briefly with Sun Ra in the mid-1950s , heard on the albums The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra and Arkestra (1955) and Jazz by Sun Ra (1956). After positions with Maynard Ferguson , Eddie Chamblee and Ernie Wilkins (1957), he was a session musician with Argo Records from 1959 and worked on recordings a. a. by Osborne Smith , Milt Buckner , Don Goldie , Buddy Rich ( Playtime , 1960), Dodo Marmarosa ( Dodo's Back ! , 1961) and Eldee YoungWith. He also worked with Eddie Higgins , Bill Henderson and Paul Winter during this period . In 1959 he recorded his debut album Richard's Almanac for Argo , with Jack Wilson (piano) and Robert Barry (drums).

In the 1960s and early 70s, Evans was mainly active as a producer and arranger for the label renamed from Argo to Cadet Records ; he worked u. a. with Kenny Burrell ( Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas , 1966), Groove Holmes , Harold Land ( The Peace-Maker , 1968), Ramsey Lewis , Marlena Shaw ("Woman of the Ghetto" and "Liberation Conversation"), Ray Bryant , Stan Getz ( What The World Needs Now , 1967), Jack McDuff , Frank D'Rone , Woody Herman and His Orchestra ( Light My Fire , 1968) and Dorothy Ashby ("The Moving Finger"). During this time he also led the formation The Soulful Strings , with which he recorded several albums. During the 1970s and 1980s, he served as accompanist and arranger for Jimmy McGriff , Sonny Stitt , Oscar Brown, Jr. , Shirley Scott , James Moody , Natalie Cole , Peabo Bryson , Eddie Harris and Ahmad Jamal . Evans taught at Berklee College of Music in Boston for over twenty years . In the field of jazz he was involved in around 120 recording sessions as a musician, arranger or orchestra conductor between 1955 and 2015, including a. with Kimiko Kasai , Diane Schuur and in 1993 with Yasuko Agawa .

Home Cookin ' (Argo, 1960), with Jack Wilson, James Slaughter
Groovin 'with The Soulful Strings (Cadet, 1967), u. a. with Bunky Green , Phil Upchurch
The Soulful Strings Play Gamble-Huff (Cadet, 1970)
Dealing with Hard Times ( Atlantic Records , 1972), et al. a. with Bob Crowder , Phil Upchurch , Odell Brown , Paul Serrano , Billy Wooten
Richard Evans (Horizon Records & Tapes, 1979)

personal data
SURNAME	Evans, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Evans, Richard Lee Cowan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American musician, arranger, composer and producer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 30, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH	Birmingham, Alabama
DATE OF DEATH	5th October 2014
Place of death	Natick