His sixteenth album, today New York City’s James Brandon Lewis Trio releases Apple Cores, a record that further cements Lewis as one of the most provocative and prolific musical voices of his generation. It follows his breakthrough with Downbeat Magazine’s Album of the Year Jesup Wagon (2021), a dreamlike mosaic of gospel, folk-blues and catcalling brass bands inspired by inventor George Washington Carver, and Eye Of I (2023), his joyous and exploratory debut for ANTI-.
Lewis continues to challenge his peers and the listener on Apple Cores to keep jazz’s long and storied history close to our hearts and minds. By doing this, we can keep the innovations of our forebears alive, enriching our present-day experiences along the way. Listen to the album in full HERE.
Apple Cores takes its name and intention from the column that poet and jazz theorist Amiri Baraka wrote for DownBeat in the 1960s. 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.”
Recently named their Rising Star as both Artist of the Year and Composer of the Year, Downbeat declared: “James Brandon Lewis does not take the easy road. Having forged a singular sound on the tenor saxophone, he could simply devise settings that showcase his brawny tone. Instead, he has rooted his recent music in extramusical research.”
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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