Tarbaby (Orrin Evans, Eric Revis, Nasheet Waits)

Arts + Literature welcomes Tarbaby (Orrin Evans, Nasheet Waits, and Eric Revis) on Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 7:00pm. Advance tickets are $25.00 general admission, or $20.00 for students (with ID) and ALL members. Tickets at the door are $30.00 for everyone. Advance tickets (highly recommended!) can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets.

The three members of Tarbaby, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Nasheet Waits, share a long history together, dating back to well before the formation of the trio. They share core beliefs about acknowledging the over-arching tradition of the music while being true to one’s own story; they’re an ensemble of serious intentions and riotous humor, fervid spirit and fierce intellect, passion and purpose. All of that melds and collides in their provocative and risk-welcoming sound.

Their most recent album, You Think This America, recorded strictly in the piano trio format without additional featured musicians, was acclaimed as the Best Jazz Album of 2024 by The New York Times.

Orrin Evans

During his kaleidoscopic quarter-century as a professional jazz musician, pianist Orrin Evans has become the model of a fiercely independent artist who pushes the envelope in all directions. Evans upholds that reputation on his 20th album, Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions), on which he helms a multi-generational A-list quartet through an eight-piece program that exemplifies state-of-the-art modern jazz. From first note to last, the members, convening as a unit for the first time, display the cohesion and creative confidence of old friends, mirroring the leader’s predisposition for finding beauty in the heat of the moment.

Although he’s never had the support of a major label, Evans has ascended to top-of-the-pyramid stature on his instrument, as affirmed by a #1-ranking as “Rising Star Pianist” in the 2018 DownBeat Critics Poll. Grammy nominations for the Smoke Sessions albums The Intangible Between and Presence, by Evans’ raucous, risk-friendly Captain Black... Read More

Eric Revis

Grammy Award-winning bassist and composer Eric Revis has firmly established himself as an important voice in jazz. Branford Marsalis states, “Eric’s sound is the sound of doom; big, thick, percussive.” Scores of musicians across various disciplines agree. Revis has performed and recorded with Betty Carter, Peter Brötzmann, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Jason Moran, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Coleman, Ralph Peterson, Lionel Hampton, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Cyrille, and Tarbaby, the experimental trio he tri-leads with Orrin Evans and Nasheet Waits, as well as with Options, also with Waits, and the legendary Bennie Maupin.

Revis has recorded eight brilliant albums as a leader including 2004’s Tales of the Stuttering Mime and 2009’s Laughter’s Necklace of Tears both of which reveal his impressive range as a musician and composer. These were followed by five back-to-back releases on the Lisbon-based label Clean Feed: Parallax (2012 with Ken Vandermark, Jason Moran, and Nasheet... Read More

Nasheet Waits

Nasheet Waits drummer/music educator, is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits. Over the course of his career, Freddie Waits played with such legendary artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, and countless others.

Nasheet’s college education began at Morehouse in Atlanta, GA, where he majored in Psychology and History. Deciding that music would be his main focus, he continued his college studies in New York at Long Island University, where he graduated with honours, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Music. While attending Long Island University, Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist, Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation upon which Waits added influences from his father, as well as mentor Max Roach. It was Max that first gave Nasheet’s formidable talent international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the... Read More

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Update: Our galleries will have limited hours on Saturday, June 14, 2025: 12:00pm to 2:30pm. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

CALENDAR

Tarbaby (Orrin Evans, Eric Revis, Nasheet Waits)

Orrin Evans

Eric Revis

Nasheet Waits

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Sign Up For Our Newsletter