The change of season brings forth new art with a connection to the capital city.
By: Megan Sullivan
Trenton native Orrin Evans grew up in a home where music constantly filled the air. His mother, a classical singer, surrounded Orrin with everything from the melodies of Puccini to the swinging rhythms of "Count" Basie and Duke Ellington.
Now an internationally recognized pianist and composer, the Philadelphia-based musician will return to his roots for a performance at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion March 24 as part of Spring Forward weekend.
Mr. Evans studied at Philadelphia’s Settlement School of Music under Charles Pettaway, and during his career has played piano for saxophonist Bobby Watson’s band, the Charlie Mingus Band and rap artist Mos Def. Other artists he has toured with include Pharoah Sanders, Wallace Roney, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart and Common.
Aside from touring and recording, Mr. Evans is a music teacher at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, where he runs three jazz ensembles, and has returned to Settlement Music School to teach piano and theory lessons and an advanced jazz ensemble.
"Orrin is a growing presence in jazz," says Trenton resident Daniel Aubrey, a Spring Forward organizer and professionally produced playwright. "And he was born in Trenton. His father, Don Evans, was a well-known and loved playwright living in Trenton and teaching at The College of New Jersey."
His father’s achievements include the establishment of the Players’ Company, New Jersey’s first African-American theater group, in Trenton in 1975. In addition to his professorship in the African-American Studies Department at TCNJ, from 1972 until his death in 2003, Mr. Evans taught courses at Rutgers University. He also worked as artistic director at the Karamu House in Cleveland in the ’80s, the oldest black theater company in the nation. After his father’s death at age 65, Orrin dedicated a new album, Easy Now (2005), to his memory.
"I reached out to Orrin and asked if he’d like to come to Trenton to do something dedicated to his dad," says Mr. Aubrey, a friend of Don’s. "He had been working on new pieces for his dad and incorporated readings (of Don’s work) to salute somebody we really loved. Don was a great guy and he was very important to a lot of people in this area."
Accompanying Mr. Evans on piano will be Ralph Bowen on saxophone and Mike Boone on bass. Todd Evans (Don’s oldest son), Rachel Marianno (Don’s daughter) and Kenny McClain will be reading either a piece written for Don or a selection from one of his plays.
"Before I started writing, and early on, Don was supportive of me," Mr. Aubrey recalls. "We really just want to keep that spirit going hearing and seeing each other and encourage each other to work. That’s all we want."
The Trenton Artists Workshop Association will present the fourth annual Spring Forward weekend at Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion March 24 and Artworks March 25. The project, developed in cooperation with the producing organization Co-Works, is designed to highlight new art and to bring artists together to create new work and opportunities. Not only does the name refer to the changing season and a time for rejuvenation, but the idea that the new art presented springs forth from this area.
In addition to Mr. Evans’ performance March 24, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, Howard G.B. Clark ’21 Professor at Princeton University and chairman of the University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, will give a reading.
"I asked Paul Muldoon to create new works, and respond to the idea of, how does the area shape your vision or affect your art?" Mr. Aubrey says.
The March 25 program at Artworks will center on an exhibition of new work by artist Mel Leipzig, a founding member of TAWA. Mr. Leipzig will give a gallery tour, and visitors can watch as he works on a new painting. "Mel Leipzig is very in tune with his community and loves to paint people of this region," Mr. Aubrey says. "The Artworks exhibit deals completely with Mercer County Community College and employees there."
A play reading of a new work by Mr. Aubrey also is scheduled that day. "I’m doing something from a work by a stellar regional writer," says Mr. Aubrey, who teaches English at Bucks County Community College and communications at Mercer County Community College. "Pablo Medina lived in Trenton and Mercer County for a number of years and now he’s in Las Vegas teaching." Professional actors will read parts of Mr. Aubrey’s new work, based on Mr. Medina’s book, Exiled Memories, about growing up in Cuba and coming to the U.S.
Building a community of artists who come together and encourage one another to work is important, Mr. Aubrey says, which is the goal of Spring Forward. Whether artists are having a chain of successes or a dry spell, they can forge a support system, connect and learn from one another.
"Success in the arts is not so much getting your name plastered around, all those external things," he says. "It’s a life of exploration and practicing, developing, learning and growing."
Spring Forward will take place at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Cadwalader Park, Trenton, March 24, and at Artworks, 19 Everett Alley at Stockton Street, Trenton, March 25. March 24: public reception, 12:30 p.m.; reading by writers from U.S. 1 Poets and Ragged Sky Press, 1 p.m.; reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, 2 p.m.; concert by pianist Orrin Evans, 3:30 p.m. March 25: Mel Leipzig’s exhibit Portrait of a College and artist’s reception, 1 p.m.; kickoff of TAWA’s new arts project for summer 2008; grant writing workshop hosted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; play reading of a work by Daniel Aubrey; gallery tour by Mr. Leipzig. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call (609) 213-2918.