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James Brandon Lewis

Visionary composer and tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis’s bravest, yet most palpable artistic feat, Days Of FreeMan, opens with a poignant and profound introductory monologue from a maternal sage. She says, “The best thing of living is living who you are. You can’t be somebody else; you gotta be what God gave you to be and who you are. You look in the mirror and see yourself and say ‘I’m James Brandon Lewis.”’Next, bass and drums congeal around the sapphire melodic motif of “Brother 1976,” recalling one of those jazzy jewel-like hooks from a 1990s Native Tongue hip-hop jam. The effect is like 1990s hip-hop’s fascination with jazz being spit back by a prodigious jazz innovator. Welcome to Days Of FreeMan.

James Brandon Lewis is one of the modern titans of the tenor. He’s received accolades from mainstream cultural tastemakers such as Ebony Magazine who hailed him as one of “7 Young Players to Watch,” and earned the respect of a diverse cross section of esteemed artists. James has shared stages with such icons as Benny Golson, Geri Allen, Wallace Roney, Grammy® Award-winning singer Dorinda Clark Cole, and the late “Queen of Gospel Music,” Albertina Walker. In bold contrast, James has also worked with such intrepid artists as Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson, William Parker, Gerald Cleaver, Charles Gayle, Ed Shuller, Kirk Knuffke, Jason Hwang , Marilyn Crispell, Ken Filiano, Cooper Moore, Darius Jones, Eri Yamamoto, Federico Ughi, Kenny Wessel, Marvin “Bugalu” Smith, and Sabir Mateen. In addition, he has collaborated with the dance company CircuitDebris under the direction of Mersiha Mesihovic. James attended Howard University and holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Currently, James resides in New York City where he actively gigs as a sideman and leads his own ensembles. In NYC, he is a co-founder of “Heroes Are Gang Leaders” with poet Thomas Sayers Ellis—a collective of poets and musicians—and he is a member of the collective “Dark Matter,” a conceptual musical collaboration exploring that which is invisible but is detected by it’s gravitational effects. Outside NYC, James is an active national and international touring artist with a highly respected profile. Some career highlights are playing such esteemed festivals as Winter Jazz Festival /Sony Okeh records Showcase with William Parker and Gerald Cleaver; The Eric Dolphy Festival with an ensemble featuring Grachan Moncur III, Richard Davis, Andrew Cyrille, Angelica Sanchez , Ted Daniel , and Alfred Patterson; and Princeton University as part of Fred Ho’s “Journey to the West,” an interdisciplinary dance and music project.

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Album Review

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day

Read "A New Day" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Quello che colpisce maggiormente all'ascolto del nuovo lavoro del pianista Giovanni Guidi col suo trio (per l'occasione espanso a quartetto in quattro dei sette brani con l'ingresso del sassofonista James Brandon Lewis) è l'estrema rarefazione della sua musica, evidente già dal primo brano “Canto de ocells," una canzone tradizionale catalana, ma spinta ancora di più nei cinque brani originali firmati dal pianista (inclusa una improvvisazione collettiva accreditata ai quattro musicisti, posizionata giusto al centro dell'album). Questo è un ...

Album Review

Dave Douglas: Gifts

Read "Gifts" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


L'origine della musica come dono. Così dice Dave Douglas, presentando il suo ultimo lavoro in quartetto, cercando di immaginare il rapporto tra artista e fruitore come scambio limpido e disinteressato. È un dono che il trombettista fa anche a Billy Strayhorn, mitico compositore, collaboratore aureo di Duke Ellington dei periodi più creativi. Come altre volte, infatti, Douglas individua una figura-chiave per la propria formazione e la omaggia ina maniera del tutto personale. Come già per Mary Lou Williams, ...

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Album Review

Dave Douglas: Gifts

Read "Gifts" reviewed by John Sharpe


Trumpeter Dave Douglas' talents as an improviser, composer and organizer are well known by now. In some ways the challenge for him is to find novel settings in which his abilities can be appreciated. If that is indeed an issue, then he has aced the test on Gifts, with a quartet that often sounds like a much larger ensemble, thanks to Rafiq Bhatia's widescreen guitar FX, man-of-the-moment tenor saxophone star James Brandon Lewis and drummer Ian Chang. ...

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Album Review

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day

Read "A New Day" reviewed by Mark Corroto


There is some positive momentum surrounding Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi, especially with the trio he established with American bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo. Guidi's trio produced two excellent releases for ECM, City Of Broken Dreams (2013) and This Is The Day (2015). Their brand of music--let's call it the Bill Evans trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, reconstructed to fit within Manfred Eicher's vision--prefers a stark sound but with its emotion displayed on their sleeves.

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Album Review

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day

Read "A New Day" reviewed by Chris May


There are in effect two albums on this disc by Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi's trio, and whether a listener would prefer to have just one of them will be a matter of personal taste. The duality stems from the presence of guest tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis on four of the seven tracks. Guidi's trio--completed by American double bassist Thomas Morgan and Brazilian drummer João Lobo--debuted in 2013 with City Of Broken Dreams, following up in 2015 ...

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In Pictures

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis Electrify the Bowery Ballroom

Read "The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis Electrify the Bowery Ballroom" reviewed by Dave Kaufman


The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis played the Bowery Ballroom in jny: New York City in May (2024). This performance stands out as one of the most memorable live music experiences I've had this year. JBL is one of the great saxophonists and artists in contemporary jazz and was recently featured in the Jazz Raconteur series. The Messthetics are an instrumental trio consisting of avant-garde guitarist Anthony Pirog and former legendary DC punk band Fugazi members bassist Joe Lally and ...

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Album Review

The Messthetics: The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis

Read "The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis" reviewed by Chris May


There are few examples of ranking jazz saxophonists collaborating with rock bands, and even fewer that are as successful as this one featuring tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and the instrumental trio The Messthetics. One notable precedent is the partnership of Ethiopian tenor saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya with Dutch punk band The Ex, which exploded into life in concert and on record periodically between 2006 and 2012. In the mid-1950s, Mekurya, who wore a lion's mane headdress when appearing in Addis ...

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Event

James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor Launch 2018 Season In Beacon, NY

James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor Launch 2018 Season In Beacon, NY

Source: James Keepnews

“James Brandon Lewis, a jazz saxophonist in his 30s, raw-toned but measured, doesn't sound steeped in current jazz-academy values and isn't really coming from a free-improvising perspective. There's an independence about him.” —The New York Times “With an insatiable appetite for music on the fringe, drummer Chad Taylor has been an active participant in the creative music environments of both Chicago and New York. Not confined to any particular style, Taylor threads an array of astounding patterns and cadences.” —All ...

“James Brandon Lewis, A Jazz Saxophonist In His 30s, Raw-Toned But Measured, Doesn’t Sound Steeped In Current Jazz-Academy Values And Isn’t Really Coming From A Free-Improvising Perspective. There’s An Independence About Him, And On “Days Of FreeMan” (Okeh), He Makes It Sound Natural To Play Roaming, Experimental Funk, With Only The Electric Bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma And The Drummer Rudy Royston, And Without Much Sonic Enhancement. The Record Sounds A Little Reminiscent Of What James Blood Ulmer And Ornette Coleman Were Doing In The Late ’70s And Early ’80s — On Records That Included Mr. Tacuma — But It’s Not Clearly Evoking A Particular Past. Maybe It’s An Improvised Take On Early ’90s Hip-Hop, As Mr. Lewis Has Suggested, But It Sounds Less Clinical Than That. It Sounds Like Three Melodic Improvisers Going For It." —The New York Times

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Laugh Ash

Pyroclastic Records
2024

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Gifts

Greenleaf Music
2024

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The Messthetics And...

Impulse! Records
2024

buy

A New Day

ECM Records
2024

buy

Transfiguration

Intakt Records
2024

buy

Eye of I

Anti-
2023

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