Born in Melbourne sometime last century, Evan started his musical journey on drums, then played both trumpet and piano before finally specialising on piano. Best known for his arranging skills, he has written charts for some of the biggest names in Australian jazz - Don Burrows, James Morrison, John Morrison, Dale Barlow, Ian Cooper, Emma Pask, Marlene Richards, Monica Trapaga, Susan Gai Dowling. He is composer and arranger for the modern jazz big band “Evan Lohning Jazz Orchestra”, an ongoing project, influenced by the writing of Duke Ellington, Thad Jones and Gil Evans, and featuring some of Sydney’s best jazz performers.

For this evening’s concert, Evan is accompanied by Australian jazz legend John Pochee on drums, and young lion Noel Mason on the bass. The great Susan Gai Dowling will join Evan in a duo bracket of rare gems and seldom-heard classics.

here's an ABC recording of the big band sound, with a photo of a surfer: youtube.com/watch?v=O_OXLAFnyPk

and his mySpace page, with some great recordings: myspace.com/evanlohningjazzorchestra/music