The trumpeter and bandleader is determined to keep his music spontaneous, whether that means riffing on classic jazz or improvising avant-noise.

Watch our interview with Peter Evans, and three videos of his performance at The Stone in New York City.

Jazz is considered to be one of America’s great cultural achievements, but it often is overlooked in favor of more commercially viable—and accessible—genres.

This underdog status is both a challenge and an inspiration for New York-based trumpeter and bandleader Peter Evans, who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the music he loves the recognition it deserves.

Evans’s sound varies from savage to serene, and whether live or recorded, it definitely gets the listener’s attention. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduate has been tirelessly experimenting with his music since moving to New York in 2003 and has found himself in recent years playing with everything from radical bebop groups to laptop orchestras.

And though his style can be a bit strange, it’s starting to catch on. The classically off-kilter Peter Evans Quartet’s self-titled album was voted one of 2007’s top albums by the experimental music bible, The Wire, and the coming months will see the constantly-gigging Evans bring his wild approach to respected European avant-garde festivals like Moers and The Ring Ring.

Check out three of Peter Evans’s tunes: “King Ludd,” “Dedicated to You” and “For Bill Dixon.”