Karl Evangelista

Signal to Noise magazine hails Evangelista as "one of the most original instrumentalists and composers of his generation," and as the creative force behind boundary-breaking group Grex, Evangelista's music has been called an "otherworldly experience" (Eugene Weekly), "a near-seamless blend of modern jazz, contemporary structuralist composition, indie rock, and blues rock" (Tiny Mix Tapes).

Evangelista has explored new realms in sound and intercultural collaboration across a vast spectrum of academic and professional situations. He has worked in a wide variety of ensembles with or under the direction of, among others, Achyutan (Marvin Patillo), Bruce Ackley, Scott Amendola, Tatsu Aoki, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), India Cooke, Nava Dunkelman, Fred Frith, Eddie Gale, Jordan Glenn, Ben Goldberg, Phillip Greenlief, Alexander Hawkins, Jon Jang, Darren Johnston, Lewis Jordan, Oliver Lake, Lenora Lee, Myra Melford, Hafez Modirzadeh, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Bill Noertker, James Norton, Larry Ochs, Zeena Parkins, John-Carlos Perea, Dan Plonsey, Gino Robair, Rent Romus, Daniel Schmidt, Marcus Shelby, Aram Shelton, David Slusser, Damon Smith, Karen Stackpole, Melody Takata, Marshall Trammell, Eli Wallace, Wayne Wallace, Trevor Watts, and AIR co-founder Francis Wong, and has performed in new arrangements of works by Luciano Chessa, Christian Jendreiko, Polly Moller, Moe! Staiano, AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams, and Art Ensemble of Chicago co-founder Roscoe Mitchell. Evangelista has presented work at the Guelph Jazz Festival, the United States of Asian America Festival, Myra Melford's New Frequencies Festival, the Switchboard Festival, the Sonic Circuits Festival, and the Outsound New Music Summit, and he was awarded a 2011 Zellerbach Grant for Taglish, a suite centered on Filipino-American culture; an album of the composition was successfully funded via Kickstarter and released in 2012.

Evangelista holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley (Summa Cum Laude, '06) and an MFA in Improvised Music from Mills College ('09). He has lectured at UC Berkeley and directed guitar ensembles at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and San Francisco Waldorf High School. Karl is also a licensed instructor in the popular Kinderguitar method.

PRESS

"Karl Evangelista's guitar squawks and sizzles like a Fred Frith and Sonny Sharrock death match." - The Stranger (Dave Segal)

"a highly personal body of work combining jazz, Filipino folk melodies, American pop forms and 20th century experimentalism." - SF Gate (Andrew Gilbert)

"Evangelista's rampaging guitar solos on "Husk" are straight out of Zappa's '80s playbook... lethal guitar licks packing plenty of thunder." - Sea of Tranquility, Review of Grex's Electric Ghost Parade (Pete Pardo)

"Coming from a free-jazz, improvisational background, creating spontaneous art was Evangelista's general methodology with Grex... The resulting songs are dynamic and at times quirky and jubilant, like something Bay Area avant-pop band Deerhoof might play." - East Bay Express (Aaron Carnes)

"Evangelista wields a swell grouchy guitar tone, Scampavia's pipes are sweet, and when they freak out, they freak out good." The Vinyl District, Review of Grex's Electric Ghost Parade (Joseph Neff)

"[Though] Grex never stand in one musical place too long... the one true constant is Karl A.D. Evangelista's quite stunning guitar work that itself can take on many 'faces'. An excellent release." Echoes and Dust, Review of Grex's Electric Ghost Parade (Ljubinko Zivkovic)

"...a screaming, guitar-fueled cover of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. It's true to the spirit of the original in that it's highly improvised. Yet Karl Evangelista's guitar, Rei Scampavia's keys and guest Dan Clucas' cornet channel much more angst in the face of trying to connect with some type of higher power, compared to Coltrane's fervent reverence. In a very hubristic, punk-inspired way, it's a twisted masterpiece." - New York Music Daily, Review of Grex's A Love Supreme (Alan Young)

"Evangelista's work on guitar [is] fascinating, moving from melodic and "in" to the most "out" and producing a surprising variety of effects and subtle nuances." - Doobeedoobeedoo (Dahwoud Kringle)

"[Karl evoked] similar sizzling experiments by such innovators as Ornette Coleman and the late Ronald Shannon Jackson... Evangelista saw no need to spurn melody, and his efforts were stronger and more engaging for having overcome this particular phobia." - San Francisco Classical Voice, Review of SFFCM Music Day (Jeff Kaliss)

""Filipino-American guitarist Karl Evangelista constructs off-kilter musical structures that shift gears when you least expect it." - The Arts Fuse (J.R. Carroll)

"Evangelista is quite a versatile guitarist... fast-paced and virtuosic" - Cat Synth (Amanda Chaudhary)