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James Brandon Lewis For info and costs please contact Alberto Lofoco
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.
• projects as a leader/co-leader •James Brandon Lewis & Chad Taylor "Radiant Imprints"James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax Chad Taylor - drums and mbira James Brandon Lewis Trio James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax Luke Stewart - electric bass Warren Trae Crudup III - drums The Dead Lecturers "Baby Lonely Iambs" or "Worry-Nation Cycle Liberation" (with a tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat) Thomas Sayers Ellis - spoken word James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax Melanie Dyer - viola or Alexis Marcelo - piano
Founded in 2012 by James Brandon Lewis and Thomas Sayers Ellis, three years before their
larger ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders, The Dead Lecturers is an improvisational exchange
between units of sound and units of language with the goal of stimulating, within the listener,
new ideas of action and non-passive living. Ellis and Lewis have a unique chemistry of
agreeing and disagreeing with one another while delivering a potent, creative messages that
extend the "Black Literary Oral Tradition". James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax Aruán Ortiz - piano and percussion Brad Jones - double bass Chad Taylor - drums James Brandon Lewis "Red Lily Quintet" Kirk Knuffke - cornet James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax Christopher Hoffman - cello Silvia Bolognesi - double bass Chad Taylor - drums Heroes Are Gang Leaders Thomas Sayers Ellis - spoken word James Brandon Lewis - tenor sax with: Randall Horton - spoken word Bonita Penn - spoken word Nettie Chickering - vocalist Melanie Dyer - vocalist and viola Heru Shabaka-Ra - trumpet Devin Brahja Waldman - alto sax & synthesizer Brandon Moses - electric guitar Jenna Camille - vocals, piano and keyboards Luke Stewart - electric bass Warren Trae Crudup III - drums
The passing of Imamu Amiri Baraka in 2014 was a major loss for various facets of Black Radicalism.
In politics, culture, and community, Baraka was a strong figure who was a shining example for so many
to follow in his footsteps. • video •
Video of
James Brandon Lewis on YouTube • discography •
2021 - Jesup Wagon
- Red Lily Quiintet with Kirk Knuffke, Christopger Hoffman, William Parker, Chad Taylor • interviews •
James Brandon Lewis Pushes Genre Boundaries with "Days of Freeman" by Andrew Rodriguez - Jazz Vibes (13-8-2015) • texts •All Elders be Eloquence, or One Way to Pay Dem You Owe - On Recording the track "Sad Dictator"Amiri's Green Chim Chim-knees Growth Tribe James Brandon Lewis Takes Two |
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