Collection: James Brandon Lewis
Born 13 August 1983 in Buffalo, New York, James Brandon Lewis is an American tenor saxophonist and composer described by The Guardian as "one of the fiercest sounds in jazz today".
Lewis has released over fifteen albums, working extensively with his quartet featuring pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor, and also leading the Red Lily Quintet. His 2021 album Jesup Wagon, a dreamlike mosaic of gospel, folk-blues, and catcalling brass bands inspired by inventor George Washington Carver, was selected as Album of the Year by DownBeat critics and JazzTimes. Eye of I appeared in 2023 as his joyous and exploratory debut for ANTI- Records, followed by The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis in 2024, a collaboration with experimental jazz punk trio the Messthetics.
His latest album Apple Cores (2025) was recorded with Chad Taylor on drums and mbira and Josh Werner on bass and guitar as a collective compositional process over two intense, entirely improvised sessions, informed by the rhythms and textures of hip-hop and funk whilst remaining rooted in jazz. Taking its name and intention from the column that Amiri Baraka wrote for DownBeat in the 1960s, the album pays tribute to trumpeter Don Cherry with each song title designed as a cryptogram making subtle references to Cherry's life and music.
