Thursday, 11/14/2024
at 8:00 PM


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Down to fundamentals - The Music of Mahalia Jackson

“For Mahalia, With Love” is an album that focuses on the essentials. Naturally, any interpretation of the music of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson must also express the interpreter's relationship with Christianity, as well as Jackson's role as a cultural protagonist of the church. For tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who grew up in the church and whose grandmother experienced Mahalia Jackson's message firsthand, gospel music is a cornerstone. [nbsp]Lewis not only delivers the classic melodies that every Jackson fan would love to hear, but he also incorporates aspects of her phrasing and embellishment into his own playing.

However, Lewis approaches these themes differently than the original compositions he developed for the Red Lily Quintet's debut album Jesup Wagon from 2021. On this record, the unique instrumentation brings to life a particularly sharp array of new melodies. The music of Mahalia Jackson was not only intended for Sundays; generations have used her messages as a guide for daily life choices. Lewis treats them with the intimate familiarity of someone who has grown up in this tradition, but he also approaches them as a jazz musician who knows that abstraction and reinterpretation are the essence of his art. Thus, these gospel melodies are not presented with pretentious reverence but as raw material for rigorous improvisations and creative rearrangements that balance their potential for spiritual intensity with their convenience as a springboard for spontaneous creations in a way that may remind old jazz heads of Charles Mingus.

Doors open at 7:30 PM

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