James Brandon Lewis Trio - Apple Cores (2025 Anti- Vinyl LP)

James Brandon Lewis Trio - Apple Cores Vinyl LP - 2025 Anti- Records

• One of contemporary jazz's most vital saxophonists - Lewis continues pushing creative boundaries
• Don Cherry tribute - each track title references the legendary trumpeter's life and music
• Entirely improvised sessions - hip-hop and funk textures meet spontaneous jazz creation

Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis presents his trio's latest statement, eleven tracks captured across two entirely improvised recording sessions at Orange Sound with bassist/guitarist Josh Werner and drummer/mbira player Chad Taylor. Taking its name and conceptual framework from Amiri Baraka's 1960s DownBeat column, the album pays tribute to trumpeter Don Cherry through cryptographic track titles that make subtle references to Cherry's life and music. Augmented by guitarist Guilherme Monteiro on five tracks and percussionist Stephane San Juan on four, the trio's collective compositional process draws from hip-hop and funk rhythms and textures while remaining rooted in jazz improvisation. Released on 7 February 2025 by Anti- Records and pressed at GZ Media, this European pressing captures the spontaneity and collective creativity of two intense studio sessions.

The album's improvisational approach reflects Lewis' commitment to spontaneous creation rather than predetermined compositions, the trio developing material collectively in real time. Werner's dual role on bass and guitar creates timbral variety essential to this approach, his bass providing foundation while his guitar adds harmonic and textural dimensions. Taylor's drums and mbira (African thumb piano) bring polyrhythmic complexity influenced by both jazz traditions and global percussion practices, his playing incorporating the rhythmic feels of hip-hop and funk without abandoning jazz swing. Lewis' tenor saxophone, robust and emotionally direct, leads the explorations while remaining responsive to his collaborators' contributions.

The cryptogram concept adds intellectual dimension to the improvisational process, each track title encoding references to Don Cherry's biography and musical legacy. Cherry's influence on free jazz and world music fusion resonates throughout the album's approach, the trio's willingness to incorporate diverse rhythmic and textural sources echoing Cherry's own eclecticism. The inclusion of Ornette Coleman's "Broken Shadows" further acknowledges the free jazz lineage informing Lewis' work, Coleman and Cherry's collaborations providing historical foundation for contemporary exploration.