JAMES BRANDON LEWIS SHARES “PRINCE EUGENE”
FROM UPCOMING ALBUM ‘APPLE CORES’
OUT FEBRUARY 7
NYC ALBUM RELEASE SHOW AT PUBLIC RECORDS ON MARCH 6
EUROPE & UK TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
“James Brandon Lewis has one of the fiercest sounds in modern jazz. Hard-blowing and full of declarative melodies, he has released more than 10 records as a bandleader since his 2010 debut.” - The Guardian
“New York's hottest free and spiritual jazz reedsman” - The Wire
“No single recording could capture the breadth of James Brandon Lewis’ recent output. He can be funky and avant-garde at once, or lyrical and pugnacious; his catalog includes intellectually probing concept albums and exuberant jazz-punk throwdowns. What unites these divergent strains is Lewis’ unfailing curiosity and reverence: a sense that there is equal beauty to be found in a simple folk melody or a dissonant squall, as long as you’re willing to give both your close attention.” - Hearing Things
His sixteenth album, James Brandon Lewis Trio’s ‘Apple Cores’ further cements Lewis as one of the provocative and prolific musical voices of his generation. Coming out on February 7, ‘Apple Cores’ follows his breakthrough record ‘Jesup Wagon’ (2021) - named JazzTimes’ Album of the Year and a dreamlike mosaic of gospel, folk-blues, and catcalling brass bands inspired by inventor George Washington Carver, ‘Eye Of I’ (2023), his joyous and exploratory debut for ANTI-, and ‘The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis’ (2024), a collaboration with experimental jazz punk trio the Messthetics which features former members of Fugazi.
Informed by the rhythms and textures of hip-hop and funk while remaining rooted in jazz, ‘Apple Cores’ was recorded with Lewis’s longtime collaborators Chad Taylor (drums/mbira) and Josh Werner (bass/guitar). The recording was a collective compositional process that happened over the course of two intense, entirely improvised sessions.
Today from ‘Apple Cores,’ the trio shares “Prince Eugene,” a hazy ballad that combines a dub-reggae bassline and drums with a Zimbabwean mbira as Lewis’ saxophone sings and guides us through the tune’s heavy yet minimal groove. Listen to it below.
Listen to “Prince Eugene”: https://youtu.be/ArGU4K1vHEw
The album takes its name and intention from the column that poet and jazz theorist Amiri Baraka wrote for DownBeat in the 1960s. “I was first exposed to Amiri Baraka at Howard University [also Baraka’s alma mater],” says Lewis. “Blues People [Baraka’s groundbreaking 1963 study of Black American music], was required reading. I’m always in constant dialogue with his work.”
In addition to Baraka, the influence of another jazz giant looms mightily over Apple Cores: trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, Don Cherry. In a testament to Cherry’s influence over the music that the trio is playing, Lewis designed each song title as a cryptogram of sorts, making subtle references to Cherry’s life and music.
“The record itself is a nod to Amiri but mainly a nod to Don Cherry, using Amiri as a branch to really get the conversation going,” Lewis explains. “It’s not a tribute in the sense that we’re playing Don Cherry compositions, but that the music is commenting on his musical curiosity.”
Next month Lewis embarks on a European tour alongside The Messthetics with shows in Dublin and throughout the UK. A hometown album release show has also been announced in Brooklyn, NY at Public Records on March 6 and following that show his trio returns to Europe in April and May with dates in Austria, Spain the Netherlands and more to celebrate the release of ‘Apple Cores’. All upcoming dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES
February 7 – Dublin, Ireland @ Grand Social
February 8 – Belfast, United Kingdom @ The Black Box
February 10 - Glasgow, United Kingdom @ Nice N Sleazy
February 11 – Manchester, United Kingdom @ Yes
February 12 – Birmingham, United Kingdom @ The Hare And Hounds
February 13 – Nottingham, United Kingdom @ Boat Club
February 14 – Bristol, United Kingdom @ The Lantern
February 15 – Lewes, United Kingdom @ Lewes Con Club
February 16 – London, United Kingdom @ 100 Club
March 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
March 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records
March 7 – Chicago, IL @ Constellation
April 26 – Paris, France @ Maison de la Radio Studio 104
April 27 – Cologne, Germany @ Stadtgarten
April 28 – Brno, Czech Republic @ Cabare des Peches
April 29 – Vienna, Austria @ Porgy & Bess
April 30 – San Sebastian, Spain @ Victoria Eugenia Club
May 2 – Barcelona, Spain @ El Molino
May 3 – London, UK @ Vortex
May 7 – Tilburg, Netherlands @ Paradox
May 8 – Liege, Belgium @ Jazz A Liege Festival
Pre-Order ‘Apple Cores’
1. Apple Cores #1
2. Prince Eugene
3. Five Spots to Caravan
4. Of Mind and Feeling
5. Apple Cores #2
6. Remember Brooklyn & Moki
7. Broken Shadows
8. D.C. Got Pockets
9. Apple Cores #3
10. Don’t Forget Jayne
11. Exactly, Our Music
https://jblewis.com/
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