: ' .. .:.... . ' ' ______________ : ________ : ' \ / .. .:. .. \ / : : \ /_________ \ / . .. ... .. . : .\ / /___ /\ \ / ______________ ___ _. : \ / / \ / \ \/ / \ \ \ \ \ . ...:..\ / _______/ \/ \ ___/__ / / / / / : /\ / / \ \/ \ / / / . sH! ' / \/ / / / \ / / . ... .:.... .. . :/ _______/ / / / _______/__ ___ __ .\ / / / / / / / / / / / \ / / / / / / / / / / / . . \ /\______/ / / / / \___ / / : \/ ____ \ / / / / / : \ / \ /\____/\ / / : : ________\/ \ / \ / / : ' \ / \/ \ /\ / : . ..:.. . \ / \/ \ / \ / \ / . ' : \/ F A N G \ / : ' ____ \ / . . .. .. .:.. . \ / presents \ / . . \/ \/ : : . ..:.. , : Artist......: James Brandon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet : Album.......: Jesup Wagon : : Label.......: TAO Forms .. .:.. . Genre.......: Jazz : Catnr.......: TAO05 . ' Source......: CD , ; Rip.date....: 2021-09-11 Str.date....: 2021-05-07 Quality.....: 261kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo . :.. .:. Url.........: http://jblewis.com ' ' , ________ ________ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / # title time \ / \/ \/ 1. Jesup Wagon 6:22 2. Lowlands of Sorrow 7:03 3. Arachis 8:30 4. Fallen Flowers 6:48 5. Experiment Station 8:37 6. Seer 4:01 7. Chemurgy 9:52 ______ \ / ________ Runtime 51:13 ,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 101.11______ :\/ ', \ / , \ / ' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /. : Release Notes: \/ , \/ , ' ' ,: TAO Forms is rather stoked to present this astonishing new work :, : from the fertile creative mind of tenor saxophonistûcomposer : :' James Brandon Lewis. Performed by the Red Lily Quintet, an ': ,: exceptional & singular inter-generational ensemble, this album :, : speaks to the forever-evolving continuum of the jazz tradition. : :' ': ,: Voted Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist in the 2020 DownBeat :, : Magazine International CriticÆs Poll, James Brandon Lewis : :' supercharges his remarkable evolution with Jesup Wagon, a ': ,: brilliant and evocative appreciation of the life and legacy of :, : turn-of-the-19th century African-American : :' musician-painter-writer-scientist George Washington Carver. ': ,: [Sustainable agriculture was a key component of Carver's :, : prescient thoughts into action; his Jesup Wagon was a key part : :' of that]. This album consists of seven pieces that create a ': ,: portrait of stunning clarity and depth. :, : : :' There is so much special about this recording, JamesÆ 9th, ': ,: starting with [on the way in] the lavish artwork, including a :, : reproduction on the cover of CarverÆs own tantalizing drawing of : :' the Jesup Agricultural Wagon, which is shown in a photograph on ': ,: the back cover, rendering a dialogue of representation and :, : abstraction that Lewis models in the music. And while liner : :' notes are generally more relied upon than celebrated, Jesup ': ,: WagonÆs are delivered by the great UCLA American historian Robin :, : D.G. Kelley, who in 2009 released the definitive Thelonious Monk : :' biography 'Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American ': ,: Original'. His notes, printed lovingly on an ochre background, :, : contain much historical detail about Carver, particularly as : :' they relate to the tunes. The fact that Kelley was willing to ': ,: write them tells you something about the power of the music on :, : the album, which Kelley calls ôa revelation.ö : :' ': ,: If ôrevelationö is a word commonly used to describe master :, : saxophonists like John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders : :' and Dewey Redman, then it fits easily in the horn of James ': ,: Brandon Lewis, who is a keen student of those and many other :, : elders. But while boundless energy characterizes his playing, it : :' is also grounded by a deep sense of narrative, which is why he ': ,: is attracted to histories, like CarverÆs, or to theories like :, : his own Molecular Systematic Music, used on his superb previous : :' 2020 Intakt album, 'Molecular', or to artistic genres such as ': ,: surrealism, modeled by Lewis on the stunning 'An UnRuly :, : Manifesto' from 2019. : :' ': ,: Helping James get it all out on Jesup Wagon is the Red Lily :, : Quintet, anchored by the tectonic rhythm section of bassist : :' William Parker and drummer Chad Taylor, and rounded out by ': ,: cornetist Kirk Knuffke and cellist Chris Hoffman. Parker, who :, : James says ôhas looked out for me ever since I arrived in New : :' York City,ö is a genius of the stand-up bass who performed with ': ,: grand-master Cecil Taylor for 11 years straight. He is also a :, : renaissance man in his own right. Chad Taylor, ôone of the most : :' melodic drummers IÆve ever played with,ö James says, is a ': ,: Chicagoan who has gifted to New York some of the energy and :, : drama the windy city is known for. Kirk Knuffke is one of New : :' YorkÆs rare cornet players, using that instrumentÆs impish tone ': ,: to explosive effect on dozens of records by New York jazz :, : heavies. Chris Hoffman made his bones playing Henry ThreadgillÆs : :' demanding music in a few of the great alto saxophonistÆs bands, ': ,: and has worked with artists as diverse as Yoko Ono, Marc Ribot :, : and Marianne Faithful. : :' ': ,: James grew up in Buffalo, which he calls a ôgroove townö of :, : ôhard workersö like Grover Washington Jr., Charles Gayle, Rick : :' James, and Ani DiFranco, among them. Starting out on clarinet ': ,: when he was 9, James moved to alto sax at 12 then tenor at 15. :, : He attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he : :' studied jazz fundamentals, then enrolled at Cal Arts in ': ,: Southern California, working with greats like Wadada Leo Smith, :, : Charlie Haden, and Joe LaBarbara. Notching his MFA there, he did : :' a residency at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and ': ,: Creative Music where he worked with trumpeter Dave Douglas, :, : pianist Angelica Sanchez and saxophonist Tony Malaby, among : :' others. It was in Banff where he dove into the world of free ': ,: jazz, continuing in that vein at an Atlantic Center for the Arts :, : residency led by iconic New York City pianist Matthew Shipp. : :' ': ,: Shipp and a few others lured him to New York City in 2012, where :, : he quickly fell in with the cutting-edge artists, including : :' drummer Gerald Cleaver and William Parker, that populate the ': ,: jazz scene there. His second album, 'Divine Travels', released :, : in 2014, featured the latter two musicians. Two albums he made : :' in duets with Chad Taylor û 'Radiant Imprints' (2018) and 'Live ': ,: in Willisau' (2020) û demonstrated that James had no hesitation :, : dancing on the same wild turf that John Coltrane entered with : :' his latter-day records featuring Rashied Ali on drums, although ': ,: James says the inspiration was more Dewey Redman and Ed :, : BlackwellÆs duet, 'Red and Black in Willisau', recorded live in : :' 1980. ôChad and I bonded over that one,ö James says. Either ': ,: way, itÆs heady company. :, : : :' Lewis also has an affinity for the spoken word, demonstrated on ': ,: Jesup Wagon by a few timely placed short recitations. ôMusic is :, : enough. But the older I get itÆs important for me to have the : :' listener hear my speaking voice,ö he says. ôMakes it more ': ,: organic. I like to tell a story with an album.ö :, : : :' Poetry is just one of LewisÆ many obsessions, which also ': ,: include painting, hip-hop and philosophy. ôAll of the people I :, : admire have that kind of depth,ö Lewis says. ôWilliam Parker, : :' Oliver Lake, Yusef Lateef, all these amazing artists. George ': ,: Washington Carver was a musician, a painter, a prolific writer, :, : in addition to what most people know about him. Having a broad : :' range just makes the cast iron skillet more seasoned.ö ': ,: :, : And now, in this fraught era, James soon delivers Jesup Wagon, : :' essentially a collection of tone poems û or, as Duke Ellington ': ,: might have called them, ôtone parallelsö û Duke being the :, : instigator of this type of programmatic jazz. Poetry in music is : :' what we get in this new masterpiece from James Brandon Lewis, ': ,: who may well be crowned a master himself in the not-too-far :, : future. : :' ': : ' '.. ..' .. . :........... . . . . ............: . . ______________ ______________ \ / \ / \ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ / \ / \ / \ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ / \ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ / \ / \ / \/ ____ ____ \/ \ / F A N G \ / \/ 2 0 2 1 \/