* En anglais uniquement
Elgin Evans, born
Elga Edmonds, was notable as the first permanent drummer in
Muddy Waters' band. Born in 1909, he played the washboard as a rural blues musician, in settings where drums were unavailable or inappropriate, but by the 1940s he had moved to Chicago and was a busy drummer on that city's burgeoning postwar blues scene. Fate took a hand at the end of the 1940s, as
Muddy Waters had set about organizing a permanent band. The one he led had used
Baby Face Leroy on drums, but in early 1950
Muddy replaced
Leroy with
Evans in his performing band. It took some time for
Evans to make it onto a
Muddy Waters record, however, as
Leonard Chess, who ran the label bearing his name for which
Muddy recorded, apparently had little faith at the time in
Evans' sound.
Muddy's records from around this time featured other players (including
Chess himself on one session, for which he replaced
Evans to get the bass-drum sound he was looking for). Ironically for a member of
Muddy's band,
Evans' earliest
Chess recordings were with
Jimmy Rogers, and it wasn't until 1953 that he was actually credited with playing on one of
Muddy's sessions. He was subsequently a part of
Little Walter's band, while
Fred Below and, later,
Francis Clay ultimately replaced him in
Muddy's group from 1954 onward.
Evans ceased recording work at the end of the 1950s, and his whereabouts since are unknown. ~ Bruce Eder