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[ TAO 13 ]


James Brandon Lewis: tenor saxophone, arrangements
Kirk Knuffke: cornet
William Parker: bass
Chad Taylor: drums
Chris Hoffman: cello


'For Mahalia, With Love' is the highly anticipated new album by award-winning tenor saxophonist-composer James Brandon Lewis & his Red Lily Quintet, following on their groundbreaking and poll-sweeping 'Jesup Wagon'. This powerful work reimagines songs made famous by the gospel icon who galvanized a nation with her voice.

Whereas Lewis used his transformative talents to newly illuminate renaissance man George Washington Carver on Jesup Wagon, the saxophonist does the same here for gospel-music force of nature Mahalia Jackson. And this time it’s personal, because Lewis lived her music growing up, nurtured by a grandmother who had received Mahalia’s singing like a bolt from above. Much more than a tribute, this work is “really a three-way conversation between Mahalia, my grandmother and me.”

The challenge was to turn these songs into jazz, the 21st century variety. What James and the band [ William Parker-bass, Chad Taylor-drums, Kirk Knuffke-cornet, Chris Hoffman-cello ] conjure with this music is miraculous.

[ * The CD & LP first editions of 'For Mahalia, With Love' also exclusively include the contemporaneous suite, 'These Are Soulful Days', JBL’s first composition for strings; performed with the Lutosławski Quartet in its world premiere at Jazztopad Festival in Wrocław, Poland. ]

James Brandon Lewis Acclaimed Saxophonist & Composer who the New York Times described as “
A Jazz Saxophonist in his 30's,Raw Toned But Measured, Doesn't sound
steeped in current jazz academy values There's an Independence about him."

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