Berberis x media 'Red Jewel'
Loropetalum chinense - purple-leaved cultivars
Phormium tenax Purpureum Group etc.

Thanks bboy! I do have loropetalum chinese and love it! I didn't even think of phormium as a shrub choice but it may be a good option for one of the spots I'm thinking about. I'm not a big fun of berberis though...
Are there any other shrubs with bronze or red leaves that are evergreen?? It seems that it's much easier to find lime green evergreens than dark red...

Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl', Daphne x houttenia, Coprosma 'Roy's Red' or 'Chocolate Soldier', various hebes, Pittosporum tenuifolium 'County Park Dwarf'. And while not exactly shrubs, there are a number of perennials that offer this foliage color and are evergreen - various heucheras, Euphorbia 'Blackbird' and E. amygdaloides 'Purpurea', for example.

The barberry is spiny but when established and full looks almost luscious with its glossy leaves. The purple does not extend evenly throughout all the leaves. I think the only one that gives anything of the appearance of a purple smoke bush and various other all-purple deciduous shrubs is the loropetalum. Unfortunately, like various others listed here (Coprosma, Pittosporum...) it is not fully hardy.

The daphne (spelled houtteana) I have found interesting when seen occasionally here but have also noticed the comment (originating in Britain) that is

Subject to virus and now rare

--Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (2002, David & Charles)

I have Leucothoe 'Scarletta' in the garden. Lots of colour all year but especially in the spring with new growth which is red.

How about Psuedowintera colorata?
Not sure where you will find it though.
I'm trying some cuttings from mine.

Thanks for the suggestions! Keep them coming! :)
I'm going to consider the barberry, rhododendron, Daphne, Pittosporum, and the Leucothoe.

Judy, you're right, I couldn't find Pseudowintera colorata sold online anywhere... I did find some pictures - it's one cool plant!

The effect I'm trying to achieve is indeed an evergreen smoke tree.

If it's a good purple one (multiple introductions are on the market) you've gotten as close as you're going to get already with the loropetalum.

You can't have it! It doesn't exist (yet, anyway)! We would all love the effects of an evergreen smoke bush and in an instant gratification society, Mother Nature doesn't give a darn. You can't bribe her, she just doesn't care what you want.

What's so wrong with a smoke bush anyway. Deciduous trees add another form of beauty to the landscape. The frame and texture of bare branches is refreshing.

nwnatural, nothing wrong with a smoke bush. In fact, I like them so much that I have three different ones!

I agree that bare branches add interesting structure to the winter landscape. When I design my garden it's all about balance. I try to achieve a balance of different leaf textures and colors, and a balance between evergreen and deciduous plants. Right now I'm just trying to solve the evergreen part to my garden puzzle :)

Deciduous shrubs lack meat. Especially in plantings here in this soft climate broad-leaved evergreen shrubs can and should be used to make up the bulk of plantings, so that yearround structure is achieved.

Ah ha!
Here is one to consider:
Ternstroemia, and apparently there is a bronze cultivar.
Mine is just green with some very slight coloration, I got it at Colvos Creek last year.

And if the evergreen part is more important than the bronze/red color, you can consider Drimys lanceolata and Daphnephyllum for their red petioles, Drimys winteri for the blue green leaves, Osmanthus decorus for very dark green foliage.

or you could spray paint an acuba.

Here is a link that might be useful: ternstroemia

Thanks for the suggestions! Spray painting is my favorite option, LOL!

Have you considered trying one of the viburnums? These are shrub/trees for four seasons! Some are semi-evergreen. Some have fragrant flowers. Some turn red/purple in the fall. Some produce edible berries for birds to eat in the winter. A few bloom in the winter!!! Enjoy the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: FineGardening.com Versatile shrubs

ok, while you said, "for any light", there are a bunch of evergreen plants that bronze/purple in the winter in sun. would those work?

mahonias, cryptomerias, sunshine blue blueberry. etc, etc.

i guess, you are thinking of non greens NOW. meaning, you want a non green backdrop to your green plants?

There's also Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens'. Again, not like a purple smokebush or purple barberry in appearance, but it does have purple leaves.