Le saxophoniste ténor américain James Brandon Lewis est assurément une des voix majeures du jazz contemporain. Biberonné au post-bop (avec un soupçon de free) et aux grands saxophonistes de ce genre (Coltrane, Ayler, Rollins, lequel n’hésitait pas à dire tout le bien qu’il en pensait), avec des touches de gospel (son père est pasteur) et de blues, il a construit une œuvre originale qui n’hésite pas à aller voir régulièrement vers d’autres horizons (deux splendides albums de punk-jazz avec The Messthetics ou l’hommage à Mahalia Jackson avec son « For Mahalia, With Love »). Le revoici avec son quartet, son projet principal, qui sort un sixième album en six ans. On retrouve toujours à ses côtés les fidèles Aruan Ortiz au piano, Brad Jones à la contrebasse et Chad Taylor à la batterie. Cette stabilité dans le groupe permet une interaction naturelle entre les musiciens, une réactivité instinctive. Pour ce disque, le leader souligne la dimension spirituelle de sa musique avec des titres révélateurs comme « The Sermon » ou « Spirit of the Living God », avec un titre d’album (« Omni ») qui annonce trois compositions, trois attributs divins, que sont « Omnipotent » (un court solo au saxophone qui ouvre l’album), « Omniscient » (un splendide duo sax-contrebasse niché au cœur de l’œuvre) et « Omnipresent » (joué en groupe pour clore l’opus). « Testify », avec sa touche gospel prononcée, est un autre exemple de ce côté mystique. James Brandon Lewis et ses brillants comparses n’hésitent pas à nous emmener également vers des sentiers brûlants, avec une section rythmique d’enfer, avec des compositions-improvisations libertaires (toujours cet équilibre parfaitement maîtrisé entre structure et improvisation) que sont « Fire in My Bones » ou « Line Upon Line ». Voici un nouveau grand disque de James Brandon Lewis. Certains parlent de l’influence d’un John Coltrane et de son « A Love Supreme » ou d’un Archie Shepp pour son côté gospel. On peut y penser, mais, en fait, on est devant une œuvre tellement personnelle, tellement originale que ces comparaisons n’ont pas lieu d’être.

https://jazzmania.be/james-brandon-lewis-quartet-omn/

Il n’est pas nécessaire d’être un fervent religieux pour s’enivrer du Love Supreme du grand Coltrane. De même, le plus grand des mécréants (coucou, vous m’avez reconnu ?) n’est pas obligé de rejeter toute œuvre axée sur la croyance. Ainsi d’OMNI, œuvre intensément spirituelle de James Brandon Lewis, fils de pasteur faut-il le rappeler. Puisons plutôt une nouvelle fois au sein de sa brillante conception du Modecular Systematic Music.

Lewis est à l’heure actuelle le seul saxophoniste de la (presque) jeune génération à pouvoir nous étonner et émouvoir. Et, surtout, son quartet composé du pianiste Aruan Ortiz, du contrebassiste Brad Jones et du batteur Chad Taylor est l’un des plus exaltant-excitant de la jazzosphère.

Le dodécaphonisme d’OMNI n’est en rien un frein au plaisir d’écoute qui est le notre : épure en solo (Ominipotent), dialogues croisés saxophone-piano (Fire in My Bones), Gospel détourné (Testify), saxophone de feu et de braises (Testify à nouveau), suavité du souffle et des mélodies (Oniscient, Omnipresent), autant de diversités et de moments précieux faisant œuvre.

Si Crescent était l’antichambre de Love Supreme, il en est peut-être de même d’OMNI. A suivre…

https://www.jazzin.fr/james-brandon-lewis-omni//

Und wieder hat James Brandon Lewis ein neues Album vorgelegt. Die immerhin schon zwölfte Veröffentlichung seit 2000 und die fünfte Produktion in gleicher Besetzung: Mit dem kubanischen Pianisten Aruan Ortiz, dem Bassisten Brad Jones und dem Schlagzeuger Chad Taylor.
„Omni“ beinhaltet neun Kompositionen, die alle von Brandon Lewis stammen. Wie schon in der Vergangenheit bläst der Tenorsaxophonist zum Sturm. Aber vieles klingt geordneter, durchdachter, als auf den Vorgängern. Es geht ihm um Selbstreflexion. „Mit zunehmenden Alter habe ich andere Wege gefunden, mich auszudrücken“, sagt er in den Liner Notes des Album, „als noch in meinen 20ern und 30ern.“ Es ist, als würde er eine Phase der Selbstbesinnung durchmachen. Ihm geht es darum, Subjektivität und Objektivität in Einklang zu bringen. Da kommt im Einzelnen Spiritualität zum Ausdruck. Weniger ein leidenschaftliches Entäußern am Instrument, als ein differenziertes Abwägen zwischen kraftvoller Improvisation und gedanklicher Vergegenwärtigung. Es kommt etwas Analytisches ins Spiel, wenn der Sohn eines Baptistenpredigers danach fragt, wer er ist und welche Rolle der Glaube in seinem Leben bzw. seinem Musizieren einnimmt.
Damit scheint er sich noch mehr als bisher John Coltrane zu nähern, dessen Erbe er schon eine Weile inhaltlich am deutlichsten weiterführt. Brandon Lewis bleibt der Fackelträger am Instrument, ein Prediger am Tenorsaxophon, ebenso radikal in der Improvisation, wie klar strukturiert im Aufbau seiner Musik.

https://kultkomplott.de/Permalink/Artikel/4075/#article_anchor_4075

Tutti gli anni Novara Jazz porta qualche concerto in una chiesa del centro storico della città e spesso anche fuori città, sulla scorta dell’analoga iniziativa londinese denominata Church of Sound. È capitato però che tra gli organizzatori del festival e la diocesi siano sorti piccoli contrasti, riguardanti il fatto che il jazz non sia considerato musica sacra e di conseguenza addirittura inadatto ad una chiesa, a un duomo o ad una basilica. Mi piacerebbe vedere cosa penserebbe un prevosto, di fronte al nuovo disco di James Brandon Lewis, uscito per Intakt Records ed intitolato Omni, che vede la consueta formazione con Aruán Ortiz al piano, Brad Jones al contrabbasso, Chad Taylor alla batteria e ovviamente James Brandon Lewis al sax. Omni è la radice latina di tre attributi fondamentali del Dio cristiano, ovvero «Onnisciente», «Onnipotente» e «Onnipresente»: infatti Brandon Lewis non fa mistero sul fatto che il disco sia un percorso profondamente spirituale e che sia anche la continuazione ideale di Transfiguration del 2024 (ne abbiamo parlato qui).

“‘Omni’ riprende esattamente da dove ‘Transfiguration’ si era interrotta” spiega infatti il compositore e prosegue precisando di come ci sia “Un livello di introspezione che mi fa porre domande su chi sono. Spogliare gli strati può essere doloroso, ma voglio farlo, voglio commentare la mia spiritualità“. Non ci sarebbe bisogno di aggiungere altro, a parte qualche nota tecnica magari ricordando che, con questa formazione, Lewis ha elaborato il concetto di Musica Sistematica Molecolare, che ruota attorno a scale di 6 o 7 note, ma che poi, con il già citato Transfiguration, Lewis inizia a usare un sistema a 12 toni, (oltre alle scale a sei e sette note). Ciò allude e omaggia uno dei capiscuola della musica moderna come Arnold Schoenberg, ma non è certo la citazione colta il cuore della musica di Lewis, ciò che conta è solo la sua ricerca che esplora costantemente lo spirito e lo spirituale. Val la pena di ricordare che James Brandon Lewis è figlio di un pastore battista e che la ricerca musicale è per lui un mezzo e non un fine, e che il fine è la ricerca delle forze spirituali, che agiscono nell’essere umano. Eh sì, esiste nel jazz, come in tante altre forme musicali, questo insopprimibile desiderio di “andare oltre”, di usare la materia musicale per farci giungere, dopo aver attraversato oceani in tempesta, qualche baia sicura, qualche landa di pace se non proprio di beatitudine. Ci sono ancora artisti che non hanno abdicato a “l’art pour l’art” ce ne sono nella musica e nelle altre arti e, frequentando il jazz da un bel po’ di anni, devo riconoscere di averne incontrati (per fortuna) parecchi.

Omni incomincia col brano che dà il titolo all’album e si apre col suono armonioso e profondo, pacato e meditativo del sax di Brandon Lewis, un brano breve ed intenso seguito dalla vitalità di The Sermon, affidato per metà ancora al sax di Lewis e per metà allo straordinario pianoforte di Aruán Ortiz. I brani si susseguono, ma questo è un lavoro che va letto certamente nella sua interezza, come dice nella nota di copertina Kevin Le Gendre, un sermone senza parole. La ricerca della spiritualità però, non è un sentiero a fondovalle immerso nella pace, ma un percorso irto di inciampi, di contraddizioni, di riflessioni, anche di retromarce. È un’aspirazione che per essere saziata, ammesso che sia possibile riuscirci, richiede impegno e dedizione, anche sconcerto, dubbio e sofferenza e esige la presenza di un sacro fuoco.

Come quello contenuto in Fire in my bones, uno spirito raccontato altrettanto bene in Tesfity, quasi un blues o nel tormentato Call to workship, o ancor di più in Line Upon Line, una sorta di “whooping”, in cui la “salmodia” della Black Church, quasi completamente free, sembra arringare l’ascoltatore-fedele, ed anticipa la vitalità deflagrante di Spirit of the living God. I brani in cui l’immaterialità dello spirito sembra essersi pacificato nella nostra anima secondo un immaginario musicale, sono proprio i tre pezzi che definiscono le attribuzioni di Dio: dopo Omnipotent in apertura, ecco a metà album Omniscient (sax e contrabbasso di Chad Taylor) e, alla fine dell’album Omnipresent col suo crescendo dolcemente mosso e quasi ascetico.

No, non siamo decisamente nel territorio della musica fine a se stessa: l’elemento fortemente religioso, sebbene apparentemente mitigato da intense sonorità jazz, non è un elemento trascurabile o surrettizio, anzi queste composizioni sono profondamente religiose e, tornando all’argomentazione iniziale di queste note, potrebbero e, in un certo senso dovrebbero, essere eseguite anche in luoghi deputati al culto. Occorre però essere molto duttili ed anticonformisti (termine ormai caduto purtroppo in disuso), per comprendere che la spiritualità abbisogna di nuove forme di trasmissione del suo complesso contenuto. Un disco coerente con tutto il percorso musicale di James Brandon Lewis, musicisti che non hanno derogato ad una...

James Brandon Lewis is now one of the top composers, bandleaders and tenor saxophonists of the world jazz scene, so each new album drop is going to garner load of attention. That certainly applies for his Quartet, which boasts pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor backing Lewis. Well, the James Brandon Lewis Quartet just dropped their latest and it continues the astonishing development of Lewis as an advanced composer. Omni (Intakt Records) is the sixth release by his Quartet, and a new release for the third year in a row.

The rapid-fire succession of new material isn’t diluting the quality; it merely means the music is evolving at a fast pace. What started out as six- or seven- tone system has grown to twelve tones and beyond.

After the short plaintive saxophone salutation of “Omnipotent,” the bands leaps right into the current state of Lewis’ ‘Molecular Systematic Music’ concept. “The Sermon” takes modern jazz to its limits, resembling the urgent, nervous “Riot” by Miles Davis’ second great quintet. But listen to that Jones/Taylor rhythm section and you’ll find a completely different, muscular fragmented approach that just sends the song into a wide orbit. That’s plenty enough to prompt Lewis to rain down a vibrant downpour of notes.

Lewis continues to flirt with avant-gardism, applying accelerando to “Fire In My Bones,” bringing the melody at the bursting point when maximum velocity is reached, then slows down to a lazy pace, the sax sounding almost pre-bop; it’s as if ‘fast’ represents jazz at the frontier and ‘slow’ being jazz back in its tradition.

“Testify” is testifyin’ the blues here, starting out with a wail and settling into a sax procession that simulates a blues shouter, not a saxophone. Ortiz maintains the mood with a barrelhouse piano.

The spirituality of John Coltrane is never far from Lewis and he delivers an authoritative sermon in the Church of Trane during the “Call To Worship” that’s bound to chase all the demons away. Jones afterwards offers soothing counterpoints on his turn. “Spirit of the Living God” is another testimonial and here, Taylor’s circular rhythm seems completely at odds with the other three performers who are playing at a much slower place. They created an illusion because the timekeeping is actually on point and over time the synchronicity gradually becomes more evident.

The closing “Omnipresent” is powerful and subdued at once. Lewis extends his notes so they leave large footprints as Taylor orchestrates a quiet turbulence behind him.

James Brandon Lewis continues to push his artistry forward when it appears it’s reached the limit. There’s no limit to what Lewis can conceive and put into action, however, and Omni is yet another major achievement for him and his Quartet.

Omni is available now, via Bandcamp.

https://somethingelsereviews.com/2026/06/26/james-brandon-lewis-quartet-omni-2026-june-26//

James Brandon Lewis is on a remarkable run. Deface the Currency (Impulse!, 2026), his second collaborative album with the Messthetics, placed him at the cutting edge of the fiery fusion of punk and jazz. While that record proved he could invoke the power and fury of 60s Detroit band MC5's rock-and-roll testimonial Are You Ready to TESTIFY! (Sanctuary Records, 2007), on Omni, he is invoking a different kind of testimonial, one grounded in his upbringing as the son of a minister. Lewis and his long-running quartet, pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor expand on Lewis' "Molecular Systematic Music" and construct a sonic temple where they deliver a twelve-tone gospel from the pulpit.

Lewis has carefully structured the album around the three omnis of God. "Omnipotent" opens the album, much as the choir would open the service. This beautiful, minute-long solo piece reminds the congregation to take comfort in the fact that God is all-powerful while also preparing them for the message to come.

"The Sermon" starts quietly, with Ortiz, Jones, and Taylor starting things off before Lewis and his saxophone take the pulpit. However, as the message progresses, it begins to pick up energy, using a similar timing and cadence to that of a minister. Like the prophet Jeremiah, on "Fire in My Bones," Lewis has an uncontrollable fire burning inside him; he must let it out, or else be consumed by the pain it causes when he keeps it in. On this particular song, the band's skillful, almost telepathic interplay conveys this feeling perfectly.

This intense energy perfectly sets the stage for the next critical part of the liturgy. "Testify" is the sound of the congregation sharing a communal experience, bonding with one another as they stand to speak their unique experiences with the divine aloud. The concept of bonding plays a crucial role in Lewis' "Molecular Systematic Music." Within this musical framework, Lewis believes that musicians can break down music into tones, or "atoms." By bonding these tones into different musical molecules, you begin to form the unique DNA strand of the music being created, just as the individual members (atoms) of the congregation bond together to create the DNA of their own church. Similarly, the quartet can continuously reshape the music by combining the molecules in different ways, giving them the freedom to create something different each time they play.

Immediately following is the second omni, "Omniscient." The all-knowing God is in the church, listening to the testimonials, and the track is fittingly beautiful and serene. It acts as a salve on the fiery hot burn of our sins, a cooling grace for both the weight of our burdens and the heat of the holy fire.

"Line Upon Line" also has a dual meaning in the context of Lewis' molecular system. The band builds the song line by line, one molecule at a time, one line at a time, until the song is complete. In the church, a minister builds the sermon line by line, word by word, as it builds towards its message; this mirrors the way God reveals his truth, one line at a time, slowly, so that we can understand the truth. On this track, Taylor's drumming is less about keeping time and more like a kinetic jackhammer, pounding away as the track is constructed around him. Lewis' sax is urgent; his fiery overblowing raises the stakes and more than matches Taylor's intensity as they build their church, their sermon, their song, their message, one line at a time, until completion.

As the notes of "Spirit of the Living God" hit, the congregation stands and sings to close out the service as they file out of the pews; the third omni, "Omnipresent," begins, a fitting reminder that God is everywhere as they exit the church. In actuality, the physical church is just a building; the real church is the congregation, who carry the message forward. The message is not just in them; it is everywhere. On Omni, the music does not merely carry a message; it is the message.

While Omni is a spiritual jazz album, it is not a free jazz fire-breathing manifesto. Lewis' twelve-tone gospel is deeply reflective and beautiful. When it does burn, it does so with a purpose; it is controlled, passionate, but never fire and brimstone. The quartet deftly navigates between both extremes, with a skillful mastery born from their shared years of playing together. Molecular Systematic Music provides them with a framework, a map, a blueprint. Yet it is within this structure that they find the absolute freedom to create, to bind their notes into an infinite number of sonic combinations.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/omni-james-brandon-lewis-quartet-intakt-recordss

UGLY BEAUTY: THE MONTH IN JAZZ — June 2026
James Brandon Lewis Is Here To Testify

James Brandon Lewis gives the impression of being wise beyond his years, but he’s got just as
many questions as anybody else. The son of a minister, he grew up in Buffalo, NY, and attended
Howard University. After graduation in 2006, he moved to Colorado, where he spent several
years as a gospel musician. In 2010, he began attending CalArts, studying with Wadada Leo
Smith, Charlie Haden and others, and releasing an independent album, Moments. After
receiving his MFA, he moved to New York and began working with Matthew Shipp, William
Parker, and Gerald Cleaver, among others. He released Divine Travels in 2014, and hasn’t
stopped moving since.

Lewis’s discography is broad, and scattered across multiple labels, from the major imprint Okeh
to tiny European indies. He changes personnel often, working in all sorts of contexts. But since
2018, one of his strongest creative relationships has been with drummer Chad Taylor.
“I first saw Chad Taylor playing with Cooper-Moore in maybe 2014,” Lewis recalled in a 2021
interview with Troy Collins. “Anyway, we began collaborating after I did arrangements of
Coltrane tunes for a solo saxophone marathon in Philly some time ago, and then decided to use
those arrangements for our duo, which we recorded as our first album Radiant Imprints.”
That album, recorded in January 2017 at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, was released the
following year. In its wake, the two performed in Austria, recording the album Live In Willisau,
which included a version of “Willisee,” a piece from the 1985 Dewey Redman/Ed Blackwell
album Red And Black In Willisau.

“My love for the duo recording Red And Black by Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell, as well
as Chad Taylor’s love for that recording, sparked our own duo and further cemented our
dedication to the depth of exploration of the duo format,” Lewis told Collins. He added, “Chad
has a high level of melodic lines via the drums and it inspires me. Also, his use of mbira adds to
his overall artistry in very dynamic ways. His versatility in knowing many musical genres allows
me to draw from multiple influences within my own experience, giving me ultimate freedom.”
In 2020, Lewis invited Taylor, bassist Brad Jones, and pianist Aruán Ortiz to join him in a new
quartet project. The goal with this band, separate from all his other groups, was to explore a set
of compositional principles Lewis refers to as Molecular Systematic Music. In a 2020 essay, he
explained the theory behind it: that the sum of what a musician has heard in their life is the
DNA of what they will play on their chosen instrument. “MSM offers musicians a way to
discover their own musical DNA by examining their prior musical experiences, yielding a chart in
the form of a ‘molecule’ which may then be used to generate ideas for composition and
improvisation.”

Over the course of five studio albums and a double live CD, Lewis has used the theories of
Molecular Systematic Music to compose more than 40 pieces, some of which are clearly linked
(there are compositions simply called “Per 1” through “Per 7” on the group’s first four studio
albums) but all of which fit together somehow, forming a single body of work.

“I think that for the quartet specifically, outside of all my other groups, there’s clearly a
language that we’ve built over time,” Lewis told me recently, while on tour with the
Messthetics (guitarist Anthony Pirog and bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty, both ex-
Fugazi). “And I’ve never really shown them. Chad’s seen the molecule, and seen how I’ve been
building the music over the years. But Aruán and Brad, I just kind of like... I still write in Western
notation for the group.”

Lewis explained the molecule to me as a set of 17 six- or seven-note scales. “But it's not modal
music. It’s not even coming from that perspective. Basically, I built a molecule for myself years
ago that draws inferences between molecular biology and music nomenclature. And then
basically [serves] as a structure mapping engine, an analogy or metaphoric concept where you
have two things... and then you keep drawing inferences between the two until they become
one.” He says that even five albums deep, he’s still only scratching the surface of MSM’s
potential, that his system is “built in a very specific, idiosyncratic way, and really most of the
albums only cover maybe one of those, or maybe two or three of those scales. So it’s really... a
life’s work, really, how I’m building on it.”

https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/track/the-sermon

The latest quartet album, Omni, is something of a musical sequel to their 2024 release,
Transfiguration: “I’m now using the other, what you would call in the context of my system the
negative space, which is the other six notes [of a 12-tone scale]. So it’s really catering to this
idea of atonal music, but it’s my own take on it. So it’s not like Schoenberg or nothing like that.
...

Omni (Intakt CD 457) zeigt das JAMES BRANDON LEWIS QUARTET mit Aruán Ortiz am Piano, Brad Jones am Bass und Chad Taylor an Drums mit genug 'Fire in my Bones' für 'The Sermon', für 'Testify' und um viele mitzureißen, den 'Spirit of the living God' zu verehren. Jenen Geist, den alte Bücher, alte Kulte ausmalen als eine unendliche Kugel, deren Mittelpunkt überall und deren Umfang nirgends ist, als 'omnipotent', 'omniscient' und 'omnipresent'. Lewis zeichnet das nach, das Allmächtige allein und demütig mit weichem Pinsel, das Allwissende mit noch zartem Pizzicato. Als Sohn eines Baptistenpredigers und nun selber Prediger mit dem Saxophon, als Zwölfton-Gospeler im pfingstlichen Kreis. "Jazz is the Teacher, Funk is the Preacher" hieß es einst bei James Blood Ulmer, wobei das Quartet mit seinem inspirierten Feuer über Soul Jazz, Blues und Funk hinausflammt. Feurig genug für immer rasanteren, immer schneller wirbelnden Tanz. Wobei 'Testify' downtempo noch gewichtiger swingt, mit markanten Griffen von Ortiz. 'Call to Worship' ruft und ehrt Blitz und Donner, mit sonorem Bogenstrich, feierlich getragenem Tenorsaxsang, summenden Fingern, über den Texten sinnendem Piano. 'Line Upon Line' entbrennt in rhythmisierter, aufschreiender Begeisterung, dem Himmel nicht schnell genug nah genug. Taylor raddampfert stromaufwärts zur Quelle, an Bord kleinlaut bangende Sünder. Lewis und Ortiz entfalten ihr halbes Leben, als wollten sie dem allwissenden Ohr doch noch einige vertrackte Details erläutern, in denen auf Erden der Teufel steckt. Lewis scheut sich nicht, dem Großen Geist ein Ohr abzukauen und auch Taylor redet sein Wörtchen mit, mit Beats. Doch vorerst zählt doch nur die Zärtlichkeit, die man sich wechselseitig erweist, mit einem Rosenkranz des Pianos, klickenden Cymbals, singendem Pizzicato und einer zartbitteren Melodie von Lewis. [BA 134 rbd]