James Brandon Lewis (August 13, 1983 in Buffalo, New York) [1] is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. [2]
Lewis graduated from Howard University in 2006, after which he focused on gospel music. In 2012, he relocated to New York City and switched to jazz, releasing his first album Divine Travels in 2014. [1] This album was followed by nine more albums, including Jesup Wagon, which was selected as Album of the Year by DownBeat critics in 2022. [3] He was pursuing a PhD in Creativity at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia prior to its abrupt closure in 2024. [4]
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Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a roughly five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
Chad Smith is an American musician who has been the drummer of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1988, and became the band's longest-serving drummer. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Smith is also the drummer of the hard rock supergroup Chickenfoot, formed in 2008, and of the all-instrumental outfit Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, formed in 2007. He worked with the Chicks on Taking the Long Way, an album that won five Grammy Awards in 2007.
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson, was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer who was best known for performing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Joseph Francis Lally is an American bassist, vocalist and record label owner, best known for his work with Fugazi.
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hired George Wein to organize the first festival and bring jazz to Rhode Island.
Leroy Jenkins was an American composer and violinist/violist.
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is an album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released in March 1958 through Prestige Records. It was recorded at two sessions on May 11 and October 26, 1956 that produced four albums — this one, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. These four albums are considered to be among the best performances in the whole hard bop subgenre. The album was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder in 2005 for Prestige Records. This album includes dialogue snippets taken from the original master reel. As the title suggests, it also emphasizes Miles Davis' concentrated medium-register ballad playing.
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is an album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released in July or August 1961 through Prestige Records. The recording was made at two sessions on May 11 and October 26, 1956 that produced four albums: Steamin, Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet, Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is an album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released c. January 1960 through Prestige Records. It was recorded in two sessions on May 11 and October 26, 1956, that produced four albums: this one, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is a studio album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released in July 1957 through Prestige Records. The recording sessions were at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1956. As the musicians had to pay for the studio time, their recordings are practically live. Two sessions on 11 May and 26 October 1956 resulted in four albums — this one, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.
Robert "Bootsie" Barnes was an American jazz tenor saxophonist from Philadelphia.
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He has also written two operas and more than 80 film and television scores. Blanchard has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Original Score for BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods, both directed by Spike Lee, a frequent collaborator.
Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He is part of the NEA Jazz Masters awards class of 2023.
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown is a New York-based saxophonist and recording artist recognized for his work as a soloist in the genres of jazz and pop music. He was a member of the multi Grammy winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) and has toured with popular music icon Taylor Swift. Known for his virtuosic skill, speed and intricate lines as a jazz improviser, he is also an educator and is on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory as a visiting artist for The Roots, Jazz and American Music program.
Alan Michael Braufman ; born May 22, 1951, in Brooklyn, New York, United States), is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer.
Alex Goodman is a Canadian jazz guitarist.
Chad Taylor is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. Taylor leads both the Chad Taylor Trio with Brian Settles and Neil Podgurski and Circle Down with Angelica Sanchez and Chris Lightcap. He is a founding member of the Chicago Underground along with Jeff Parker and Rob Mazurek. In 2024, he was selected to lead the University of Pittsburgh's Jazz Studies Program while holding the university's William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies.
Christopher Hoffman is an American cellist, composer, sound technician and filmmaker. He leads the Christopher Hoffman Quartet, MULTIFARIAM and experimental rock band Company Of Selves. Hoffman plays with saxophonists James Brandon Lewis and Michael Blake and is a longtime member of Henry Threadgill's Zooid. In his review of Hoffman's 2021 album Asp Nimbus, New York Times jazz critic Giovanni Russenello wrote, "The cellist Christopher Hoffman's unruly, unorthodox quartet moves around with its limbs loose, but its body held together".
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis is a collaborative studio album by American jazz fusion group the Messthetics and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, released on March 15, 2024, through Impulse! Records. It has received positive reviews from critics.