Detailing the fascinating career of Joe Evans, Follow Your Heart
chronicles the nearly thirty years that he spent immersed in one of the
most exciting times in African American music history. An alto
saxophonist who between 1939 and 1965 performed with some of America's
greatest musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Charlie
Parker, Jay McShann, Andy Kirk, Billie Holiday, Bill "Bojangles"
Robinson, Lionel Hampton, and Ivory Joe Hunter, Evans warmly recounts
his wide range of experience in the music industry. Readers follow Evans
from Pensacola, Florida, where he first learned to play, to such exotic
destinations as Tel Aviv and Paris, which he visited while on tour with
Lionel Hampton. Evans also comments on popular New York City venues used
for shaping and producing black music, such as the Apollo Theater, the
Savoy, Minton's Playhouse, and the Rhythm Club.
Revealing Evans as a master storyteller, Follow Your Heart describes
his stints as a music executive, entrepreneur, and musician. Evans
provides rich descriptions of jazz, swing, and rhythm and blues culture
by highlighting his experiences promoting tracks to radio deejays under
Ray Charles's Tangerine label and later writing, arranging, and
producing hits for the Manhattans and the Pretenders. Leading numerous
musical ventures that included a publishing company and several
labels--Cee Jay Records (with Jack Rags), Revival, and Carnival
Records--Evans remained active in the music industry even after he
stopped performing regularly. As one of the few who enjoyed success as
both performer and entrepreneur, he offers invaluable insight into race
relations within the industry, the development of African American music
and society from the 1920s to 1970s, and the music scene of the era.
