George Evans (1915–93)
Bandleader, arranger, singer and tenor saxophone player George Evans was born in North London. He initially played the ukulele-banjo before moving on to saxophone aged 14.
Evans’ first paid job as a musician was in Sonny Winter’s band in Southend aged 16. He joined Al Lever’s band before playing tenor saxophone and writing arrangements for Freddie Bretherton’s band. When Bretherton joined Syd Lipton’s Band in 1935, Evans went with him as saxophonist, arranger and occasional singer.
During World War II Evans was a member of the Welsh Guards band as well as appearing with various civilian bands.
His own band Saxes ’n’ Sevens had three altos, four tenor saxes and a four-piece rhythm section – versions of the line-up included saxophonist Peter King and George Shearing on piano. His brother Leslie directed recordings of a band including Evans credited as the George Evans Orchestra.
After recuperation from tuberculosis in 1947 Evans returned as a singer with Geraldo and wrote for various bands. He formed a new band which toured until the early 1950s when he secured a residency at the Oxford Galleries in Newcastle upon Tyne until 1957, when he retired as leader.
Evans returned to performing after a long absence in 1980 when he started playing with local bands and school orchestras founding the George Evans Young People’s Swing Band.
Biography by John Rosie
Jimmy Staples remembers
In a short article, Jimmy Staples recounts playing with George Evans’ band with Don Rendell and how Evans was ahead of his time.
George Evans: Interview 2
Image Details
| Interview date | 1st January 0001 |
|---|---|
| Interview source | Jazz Professional |
| Image source credit | Swingle |
| Image source URL | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wi... |
| Reference number | |
| Forename | George |
| Surname | Evans |
| Quantity | 2 |
Interview Transcription
Jimmy Staples remembers...
In the old George Evans band, Don Rendell and I sat together for a time. Don used to keep time by stamping his feet on the legs of my baritone stand. This was fine, as long as I played the machine on a sling.
Playing on the stand was another matter. After a few days of putting up with this I had to complain to Don who, to give him his due, graciously apologised.
We had some interesting times in the band—musically, if not financially.
George had the unusual combination of ten saxes, five trumpets, four rhythm and vocalist. I was on tenth sax (presumably because there wasn’t an eleventh sax). We mustered up five altos and five tenors, or three sopranos, two altos, three tenors, baritone and bass saxes. Our piece de resistance was a monster clarinet section, comprising six clarinets, two alto clarinets, and two bass clarinets. George’s arrangements were way ahead of his time, and I always feel that his subsequent disbanding, due to illness, robbed the world of a most interesting addition to the music scene—one that would have made the grade.
One player in the band who really knocked us all out was altoist Charlie Chapman, now a famous teacher and virtuoso. I’ll always remember an arrangement of “Apple Honey”, that featured a written break for Charlie. The band stopped for several bars, and Charles triple-tongued at break-neck tempo-and never faltered or slowed down once. Jimmy Staples
