James Brandon Lewis Trio

Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, born in Buffalo, New York, in 1983, is not so easy to categorize, either aesthetically or stylistically. His tone on the tenor saxophone has internalized the cry of American free jazz, while at the same time his playing possesses the spirituality of gospel music, with which Lewis also grew up as a youth, and the eloquent art of phrasing that is only known from the old forefathers of jazz. He succeeds in the experiment of transcending the far-reaching history of U.S. jazz and bringing it into harmony with the modernity of improvised music. With his new trio, featuring a cello (Chris Hoffman) and drums (Max Jaffe), Lewis goes one step further, combining off-the-cuff the intellectuality of the jazz avant-garde with the flow of hip-hop, the earthiness of funk and the raw expressiveness of punk rock. The goal is to constantly create new aggregate states in the free play of improvisational forces and to let the energy flow freely and unhindered in between.