As on his debut release, Portrait, Hope and Despair showcases Evans' considerable compositional capabilities. "I'm definitely trying to play more of my own music. I wanted to have a complete range of songs and feelings," he says. "Everything here is something about my life. They're all originals except for the last one (the beautiful "NjiLule", a traditional Albanian folksong arranged for quintet by the trumpeter).
Recorded November 17 & 18, 2014 in Brooklyn, New York.