George Evans (Canadian jazz vocalist)

George Louis Henry Evans (born January 23, 1963, Bloomington, Indiana

Bloomington, Indiana

Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....

) is a vocalist active on the Canadian jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

scene. He is a noted recording artist, appears in concerts and clubs, and is heard on television and radio.

Early life

Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, Evans is the child of Dr. Robert Evans (an American) and Professor Lucile Villeneuve Evans (a French-Canadian), both long time faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music is the performing arts college of the University of Cincinnati and is one of the nation's leading music conservatories. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cincinnati sixth nationally among university programs...

(CCM), Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

School of Music (opera department), and McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. This early exposure to music inspired Evans to have a career in music, while his sister, Julie Evans, became an award-winning architect based in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

and later New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Evans attended the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts

School for Creative and Performing Arts

The School for Creative and Performing Arts is a magnet arts school in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and part of the Cincinnati Public Schools...

in musical theater and instrumental music (trombone), and went on to study Musical Theater at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

. Evans made his way to New York City

New York City

, and in the 1980s worked toward a career in theater while also appearing as a vocalist. Evans ultimately chose a multi-disciplinary career as a vocalist, broadcaster, producer and archivist.

Professional life

First surfacing as a soloist in the late-'80s in the cabarets of New York City at venues such as Eighty-Eight's and Danny’s Skylight Room, Evans went on to study and perform in the fertile Montreal art and music scene of the '90s. He became a fixture on Montreal radio on CKUT and K103, and for the better part of a decade appeared in clubs and festivals before venturing westward toward Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

and English Canada in 1999.

Working as a musicologist, Evans has been tapped a total of eight times to select and sequence projects for Verve Records

Verve Records

Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...

in the US, including much of The Diva Series, focusing on Verve’s best selling great ladies of song. In 2004 he created Here Come The Boys: a Canadian Crooner Collection for Maximum Jazz and Universal Music Canada. His own discography numbers a current total of eight projects, including Bewitched, his first recording with strings, and Live at the Cellar recorded in the revered Vancouver night club.

Career achievements

Evans was nominated the Canadian National Jazz Awards Vocalist of the Year (2003) and Male Vocalist of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009). He has performed across Canada in festivals including The Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Vancouver International Jazz Festival

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is an annual summer event in Vancouver, Canada.The festival grew out of a local jazz scene that centred around Vancouver Co-op Radio , a community radio station, in the early 1980s...

, The Montreal International Jazz Festival and The Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival

Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival

The Toronto Jazz Festival is a jazz event in Toronto and takes place in June and July. Unlike the Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival, most of the events are indoors and located throughout the downtown core. Formerly known as the DuMaurier Jazz Festival until the ban on tobacco advertising by the federal...

. Evans has also appeared at top Canadian jazz clubs such as The Top o’ the Senator and The Montréal Bistro in Toronto, The Cellar in Vancouver, and Upstairs in Montréal. Evans continues to be active south of the border, appearing in New York City

New York City

clubs and cabarets such as The Metropolitan Room and the Laurie Beechman Theater. In 2008 Evans was nominated together with award-winning vocalist Mary Foster Conklin for a MAC Award in the category of best jazz duo or group. As a writer, Evans' column "Vocalizing In Jazz" was a regular feature of Planet Jazz Magazine, and in 2009 he produced a series entitled "The Jazz Standard" for Jazz.fm in Toronto. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada.

Artist discography

Live At The Cellar (MSW-G029) - 2008
One At A Time: the Ballad Collection 1996-2006 (MSW-D101) - 2007
Bewitched (MSW-G028) - 2006
Movie Songs (MAX-16352) - 2004
Here Come The Boys: a Canadian Crooner Collection (MAX-15602) - 2004
Eyes For You (MSW-G026) - 2002
From Moment To Moment (MSW-G025) - 2001
I'm All Smiles (MSW-G024) - 1999
Moodswing (MSW-G023) - 1997

Production discography

Alex Pangman - Live in Montreal (Real Gone Gal) liner notes - 2005
Here Come The Boys: a Canadian Crooner Collection (MAX-15602) producer - 2004
Diva Series - Anita O'Day (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Ella Fitzgerald (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Astrud Gilberto (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Billie Holiday (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Dinah Washington (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Sarah Vaughan (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Diva Series - Carmen McRae (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2003
Buddy Greco - Talkin' Verve (Verve) selection and sequencing - 2001

CD reviews

External links

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