James Brandon Lewis

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James Brandon Lewis (born August 13, 1983 in Buffalo ) is an American jazz musician ( tenor saxophone , also flute , composition ).

Live and act

Lewis has been influenced by gospel music from childhood ; he took music lessons from Carol McLaughlin and at the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts . After graduating, he continued his studies at Howard University , with whose jazz ensemble he made his first recordings from 2003 to 2006. There he had the opportunity to play with jazz musicians such as Geri Allen , Benny Golson , Wallace Roney and Bill Pierce . He toured Japan with the jazz ensemble and performed at the Kennedy Center as accompanist for John Legend , kd lang and Vanessa Lynn Williams .

After graduating from Howard University in 2006, Lewis first moved to Colorado and worked in the local gospel music scene. a. with Albertina Walker . He then studied at CalArts in California, where he took lessons from Charlie Haden , Wadada Leo Smith , Vinny Golia and Alphonso Johnson .

After earning his Master of Fine Arts in 2010, Lewis presented a self-published first album ( Moments ); In 2011 his first album was created on a major label ( Divine Travels ), which he recorded with William Parker , Gerald Cleaver and the reciter Thomas Sayers Ellis. On the following album Days of FreeMan he mainly presented his own compositions. In 2016 he performed in New York with William Parker's Extended Breathe Ensemble. He has lived in New York City since 2012. In 2018 he worked in a trio with Luke Stewart (bass) and Warren Trae Crudup III (drums), which he expanded into a quintet with trumpeter Jaimie Branch and guitarist Anthony Pirog for his critically acclaimed album An Unruly Manifesto (2019) . He has also worked with Dave Douglas , Joshua Redman , Hank Roberts , Tony Malaby , Matthew Shipp , Marilyn Crispell , Charles Gayle , Karl Berger , Eri Yamamoto and Alan Braufman .

In the field of jazz , Lewis was involved in 12 recording sessions between 2003 and 2019. At the Down Beat Critics Poll 2020 he was the winner in the category "Tenor Saxophone (Rising Star)".

Discographic notes

  • Divine Travels (Okeh, 2014)
  • Days of FreeMan (Okeh, 2015), with Jamaaladeen Tacuma , Rudy Royston
  • No Filter (BNS Records, 2016), with Luke Stewart , Warren G. "Trae" Crudup III
  • James Brandon Lewis and Chad Taylor : Radiant Imprints (Off Records, 2018)
  • An UnRuly Manifesto (Relative Pitch, 2019), with Jaimie Branch, Luke Stewart, Anthony Pirog, Warren Tray Crudup III
  • James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor: Live at Willisau (Intakt, 2020)
  • Molecular (2020), with Chad Taylor, Aruan Ortiz, Bradley Jones

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Parker In Order to Survive Extended Breathe Ensemble
  2. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed August 14, 2020)
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, James Brandon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Buffalo