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YVE EVANS: Reviews & Press

CALIFORNIAN: New jazz festival arrives Sunday in Old Town Temecula
By CAM Miller



Tenor sax man and vocalist Pat Rizzo will be the first addition to the trio and is slated to be featured on three selections. Next up: trumpeter Steve Maddio, whose presence will make it a five piece band and when tenor saxist Rod Koljkolj replaces Rizzo, it will become the Andy Fraga Quintet.

To wrap up the first half of the concert, popular and versatile Southern California jazz vocalist and pianist Yve Evans will move front and center with a book that includes gospel, blues, and pop standards.

"Yve can do it all," Stover said. "That beautiful voice, the way she ties songs together and plays around with the lyric and delivers the package with an acute sense of showmanship go to make her the professional that she is."
Cam Miller - CALIFORNIAN: New jazz festival (Mar 30, 2011)
Yve Evans...She sings Jazz, She sings Blues, She sings Gospel. And she accompanies herself with hard swinging piano backing. Evans is in other words the real deal.
Don Heckman - The International Review of Music (Apr 25, 2010)
Arthur Newman Theatre
Joslyn Senior Center, Palm Desert, California
December 6, 2009

Cabaret 2U Producer Rupert Smith Delivers an Early Christmas Present to the Valley

The legendary Yve Evans, the Coachella Valley’s first lady of piano and jazz, brought her musical magic to the stage of the Arthur Newman Theatre for two performances on December 6 and 7th.




Local Cabaret producer Rupert Smith gift-wrapped the incomparable Yve Evans and local Tenor Chris Sands, and presented the Valley an early Christmas present - a concert of Christmas music performed by two superb performers to the accompaniment of Yve’s Los Angeles-based band. It was a terrific evening for lovers of Christmas music and songs about the Holiday.



Smith wisely finds the best musical directors around (Yve Evans is the musical director for this show) and turns over the musical reins and arranging chores to them. Together they select the order of the songs, and then he dons the hat of the director working with the performers for additional stage business and personal touches the “pros” want to tackle. The format appears to be working very well. His shows have chalked up many Desert Theatre League (DTL) nominations resulting in Desert Stars Award wins for “I Love a Tenor”, “Spirit of America”, “Dangerous Women” (with Yve Evans), and most recently a 2009 DTL Desert Stars Award for “Mother’s Day Cabaret”.


With “Christmas Yve” Rupert Smith, who just loves working with Evans, produced a winner that takes one back in time to Christmas’ past. For me, it meant my childhood of winters spent in snowy, below-zero Chicago. I’m a little older and a great deal wiser (after all I’ve been in sunny California for almost 50 years now), but Christmas is always a very special season for a great many people.

Yve opened the show with an a capella rendition of “Oh, Holy Night” and from there it was pure joy to listen to the twenty-one in between numbers that featured Evans who is a fantastic jazz pianist backed by her band of Bradley Austin Bobo, on Bass, Michael Sims, guitar, and Larry Washington, on drums. Her arrangements of the two Christmas Medleys was worth the price of admission alone, and when she and Sands sang “Silent Night, Holy Night” as the closing number, as an a capella duet, well one could hear a pin drop. Lots of lumps, in lots of throats. It was Great stuff! Keep an eye out for Smith’s next concert in the Spring. You won’t want to miss it.



Palm Springs Guides Theatre & Cinema Critic/Reviewer Jack Lyons is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Writers Guild of America,west and Screen Actors Guild and is interested in all things "show biz." An entertainment journalist, TV, radio and theater reviewer/critic seen locally in the Coachella Valley on channel My13 KPSE-TV on "Desert Entertainment This Week."
Jack Lyons, Critic/Reviewer - Palm Springs Guides, Theatre and Cinema (Dec 6, 2009)
My wife and I just saw you a few hours ago at the Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines.

We were there both days, and it is clear to us that you were the headliner for the the entire festival!

Thank you!!

GREAT SHOW!
John Mata (Aug 30, 2009)
Their special guest, and the hands-down star of the show, was Yve Evans, a two-time winner of the Monterey Jazz Festival's Musician of the Year Award.

She awed the audience with her renditions of classic jazz and blues songs which were originally done on the vaudeville stage by Fanny Bryce, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and others of that ilk.

She did a very appealing "Second Hand Rose", and her versions of great blues songs such as, "Why Give It Away" and "If You Don't, I Know Who Will," were mesmerizing.

Her poignant and beautiful version of "He's My Man" sent chills down one's spine and her rendition of "Make Someone Happy" was truly terrific.
Karen Wright - Virginia City News (Jun 11, 2009)
Bob Florence
May 20, 1932 - May 15, 2008
Bob Florence (Jul 14, 2007)
I am happy to report that Yves performance of "I'm Glad There Is You" will be featured on every flight of both Continental Airlines on "The World Of Jazz" & Copa Airlines on "The Jazz Beat" to everywhere that they fly 24/7 throughout the months of May and June.
(Mar 13, 2008)

Yve Evans Dixieland Monterey’s Musician-of-the-Year 2008


Yve Evans is far more than a consummate pianist and vocalist. She’s a many-faceted jewel--philanthropist, philosopher, healer, friend to everyone and soon-to-be ordained minister! But until you’ve talked with her quietly for an hour or so, you have only a general idea of who she really is--what she’s like in real life, what energizes her music and what animates her. We all know Yve as a superb singer and pianist, at home with the blues, gospel and jazz. She’s been on the Dixieland Monterey stage many times, and always packs the house. Her love for people permeates her music. It’s her way of giving to others. She says, “I’m always living in the hope that the lives I’ve touched have been edified”. She touches people through her music.
Doug Pinkham - (Mar 7, 2008)

YVE EVANS GETS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.


DTL will present its 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award to jazz diva Yve Evans, who also will entertain attendees.

"It is with great humility that Desert Theatre League presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to Yve Evans," said DTL President Arnie Kleban. "Yve has performed since she was three years old, and is very popular in the Valley. She exemplifies what it means to be a consummate performer. She also supports and encourages others, and gives back to this great community by donating her time and services when asked.
- Desert Theatre League (Dec 9, 2007)
YVE EVANS This incredibly sassy, soulful lady brings her commanding presence to the stage, making audiences sit up straight. A wink, a smile, a suggestive gesture, and you’re hooked. That’s even before she raises the microphone to her lips and belts out her powerful jazzy blues tunes. Spellbinding
Ed Munson - Palm Springs Entertainer (Aug 27, 2006)

Dixieland Monterey expands way beyond the music born in New Orleans.

Yve Evans is a captivating artist who turns everything she sings into a vehicle for soulful _expression. Equally commanding performing jazz, blues and gospel, Evans is also an accomplished pianist with a bright, ringing keyboard touch. Her five CD’s are all live recordings, a wise move as she is a crowd-pleasing performer who radiates energy. Her band features players who know when to step forward for a solo and when to get out of her way.
Andrew Gilbert - Monterey County Weekly...A&E section (Mar 2, 2006)
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Yve in Toronto

What a pleasure it was to meet this charming performer, great sense of humor, a fine pianist and vocalist. Califorina based, YVE EVANS was performing in Traders Bar & Grill, Sheraton Centre Hotel at this year's Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival.
Accompanying her for the occasion were prominent local musicians, ARCHIE ALLEYNE (drums) RON JOHNSTON (bass) and MICHAEL STUART (sax). To be quite honest you would have thought this group had worked together for ages, Yve was delighted.
Chatting to, ARCHIE ALLEYNE during the interval, he said what a pleasuer it was to work with such a talented lady. Coming from Archie who has worked with just about everybody in his long career, that is a compliment. There is no doubt about it, YVE EVANS has a way with a song, her very own interpretation. Yve has performed with some of the best in the business. In 2005 alone yve will have performed in at least 9 major jazz festivals across North America, not to forget numerous club gigs. By the standing applause she recieved here in TradersBar & Grille, I'm sure she would be eagerly welcomed back.
Doug Willison - TORONTO JAZZ (Jun 26, 2005)
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On the Radio in Brazil

I'm journalist, host of a radio show, author and professor. I write articles and essays for many Brazilian cultural publications. I wrote since last December 2 books ( about Jean-Paul Sartre, a French Philosopher.)

I am currently completing a book on the art of vocal jazz.
I'm happy to inform your CD, The Many Faces of Yve Evans has been very well received by our listeners. By phone they selected their favorite tracks: "Moondance", "What a difference a day makes" ( Your intrerpretation is magistral. Dinah Washington, one of my favorite Divas, in "the sky", listening your interpretation will be overjoyed, of course!), "Night and day" ( a lovely bossa nova flavor! ), "Wade in the water", "Im glad there's you" ( bossa nova flavor again ) and "Love for sale".

Well, what can I say about you except that you were blessed with a beautiful voice and you are an original stylist?

A fine jazz pianist you are a superb jazz vocalist too, a talent to the delight of audiences all over the world.

In short: a true Jazz Diva!
João da Penha (Sep 23, 2005)
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A Musical Storm by Yve Evans

Indeed, in an instrumental rendition of Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'," [Yve Evans] countered the syncopated rhythm with straight-eighths in an appealing manner. Later, in a handsome reading of "I Can't Get Started," she contrasted [Ricky Woodard's] smooth lines with a jagged accompaniment and when Woodard applied the jagged edge on the ballad "Lover Man," Evans provided the soothing contrast.
A. James Liska - Los Angeles Times (Jul 7, 1998)
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When Yve Evans opens her mouth, the blues just naturally come tumbling out.

Everything Evans tells through song is written on her face. She's there, in the moment, living it, and when she opens her mouth, the blues just naturally come tumbling out in a voice that was made just for the purpose.
Don Maslowski - The Desert Sun (Feb 17, 2005)
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Yve Evans is an expressive, sometimes very humorous singer/pianist.


Although not famous nationally yet, Yve Evans is an expressive, sometimes very humorous singer/pianist who has earned a small following playing around her adopted home of Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s. A native of EL Paso, TX, Evans was exposed to classical, gospel and pre-rock pop as a child and studied classical piano for 12 years while growing up. It wasn't until late adolescence that she seriously got into jazz and R&B. Evans has cited Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, June Christie and Ethel Waters as some of her main influences, and she has also expressed great admiration for such R&B favorites as Ruth Brown, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle. In fact, both gospel and the soul music of the 1960s and 1970s have had an impact on her full-bodied style of jazz singing. One of Evans' strong points has been her wild sense of humor--in fact, she can be downright goofy at times. But as much clowning as Evans has done on stage and in the studio, she can also be a very moving, sensitive and poignant interpreter of lyrics. Though primarily a vocalist, Evans is also an appealing, melodic pianist and has named Bill Evans, Dorothy Donegan, Erroll Garner and George Shearing as influences. CDs that Evans has on the Note-Worthy label include For Jaz C Me (1990), In A Sentimental Mood (1994) and the gospel-oriented The Gospel According To...Yve (1995).
Alex Henderson - All Music Guide (Aug 12, 1997)
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Wide range, very appealing voice and jazz phrsing.

Yve put on a show full of humor, funny verbal comments and rewarding music. Her wide range, very appealing voice and jazz phrsing on standards was enjoyable to hear, as was her piano style, which pays tribute at times to Erroll Garner and the masters of bop and funky jazz.
Scott Yanow - L.A. Jazz Scene (Jan 26, 2005)
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"I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face"

— This is one of my favorite ballads, not only because of the music - but also due to the exquisite and subtle lyric. One of America’s greatest, but under recognized, jazz vocalists, Yve Evans, inspired my approach to this melody, laying back behind the time in accord with the lyric’s meaning. Thanks, Yve.
Harry Pickens (Mar 18, 2005)

Yves incomparable skills had taken us on a soaring musical flight that refused to be pigonholed into any "sound-alike"


Once you hear this incredible singer I doubt you'll ever forget her or that first-time thrill of experiencing one of her performances.

"She sounds like Mable Mercer" was my first delighted response, but before Yve got up from the piano her incomparable skills had taken us on a soaring musical flight that refused to be pigonholed into any "sound-alike"
From the quiet sophisticated Mable Mercer intonations, we were taken on a journey through rollicking vocal renditions that could have made Pearl Bailey herself jealous, from pop tunes, to blues and gospel - all with the indomitable Yve Evans' unique styling.
Anita Clay Kornfeld - The Desert Entertainer (Nov 20, 2003)
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Spell-binding

Yve Evans, a wholesomely flirty little ball of a woman with eyes that can convey either humor or sex directly to the back row of the audience with an honest immediacy. She sang a spell-binding "Squeeze Me" before she turned to address those seated behind her in the library's rotunda, or "the cheap seats" as she called them, and joked, "You have a broader view of things," before breathing new life into "Got The World On A String."
MICHAEL BURGESS - Village News — July 22, (Jul 22, 2007)

The Gospel According To Yve.

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A warm, R&B-influenced jazz singer/pianist with an impressive range and a great sense of humor, the L.A.-based Yve Evans hasn?t yet gotten the commercial break she deserves but continues to put out highly enjoyable CDs. Gospel and the Afro American church experience has clearly had a strong impact on her musically, and she celebrates that inspiration with her first gospel-oriented release The Gospel According To Yve. From ?Wade In The Water? and ?Sweet By And By? to ?This Little Light Of Mine? and ?Have A Little Talk With Jesus,? Evans shows a lot of enthusiasm and gives the impression that this was a CD she had been anxious to record for some time. Though primarily a gospel album, The Gospel According To Yve isn?t without jazz elements any more than Evans? ?secular? jazz releases are without gospel influence.

Hopefully, a sizable label will sign Evans at some point. (Available from www.yveevans.com or 1-800-BUY-MY-CD).

Reprinted with the permission of Myrna Daniels and L.A. Jazz Scene , the largest jazz publication in Southern California.
Alex Henderson - All That Jazz (Nov 2, 1997)

No Applause Necessary, Just `Throw' Energy

Jazz: Singer-pianist Yve Evans says the audience provides some of the `divine' power that she puts into her music.
Yve Evans possesses one of the most energetic voices on the West Coast today. She can awaken even the most overplayed jazz or pop standard with a supple tone and a clever sense of phrasing. Although her voice can be a veritable playground of swings and slides, she works without catchy verbal gimmicks or wild dynamic explosions. She simply relies on the strength of her voice.
BILL KOHLHAASE - Los Angeles Times.....Orange County Edition (Dec 19, 1996)
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Music is in Her Blood

...Genuine jazz performance shows a dedication to the tradition and an understanding of its' timeless reprtoire.
Burnetta Hayes......1991 - Project One -- Washington DC (Wednesday, Oct 26)
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"Baffo!.....Really swingin'"
Chuck Niles 1991 - KKJZ Radio (Jul 20, 1997)
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"She knocks me out"
Bubba Jackson 1995 - K L O N Radio (Nov 11, 1997)