James Brandon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet: For Mahalia, With Love
TAO Forms

A pivotal statement from tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, For Mahalia, With Love honours gospel legend Mahalia Jackson by reimagining songs associated with the singer. As a young man growing up in Buffalo, Lewis was first exposed to her music through his grandmother (for him, the project is “really a three-way conversation between Mahalia, my grandmother, and me”). That makes the release as deeply personal as his lauded 2021 set Jesup Wagon, on which the saxophonist fashioned an illuminating portrait of George Washington Carver. Both releases feature the Red Lily Quintet, Lewis on tenor and William Parker double bass, Chad Taylor drums, Kirk Knuffke cornet, and Chris Hoffman cello.

What makes the new release extra special is that the Mahalia content is augmented by a large-scale second work, These Are Soulful Days, a long-form composition performed by Lewis and the Lutoslawski Quartet. It's only included with the first edition pressings of the double-CD and double-LP formats, as a second disc in the former case and as a download card with the latter. It's a shame it's being presented as something of a bonus as it's as worthy of attention as the other material; taken together, the two parts also present an even more compelling argument for Lewis's talents and range.

Introducing the set with “Sparrow,” his full-throated, vibrato-rich tenor enters with authority, Knuffke's cornet uniting with it and not for the only time calling to mind earlier days when Albert and Donald Ayler did the same. Up next, “Swing Low” instantly arrests when the tenor begins the rendering unaccompanied, his cadenza soulful and not a little gospel-tinged. Entering soon after, Parker and Taylor create a roiling firestorm of activity that the others fervently wail against. These reimaginings of gospel songs are constantly riveting, whether the quintet's breathing fire or lamenting soulfully. There's thrust and bounce aplenty, with Lewis as much a force of nature as Jackson herself and Knuffke with him at every moment. Parker, Taylor, and Hoffman are ever-attentive to whatever direction the music takes and respond with bluesy swing, funky vamps, or unconstrained free flurries. As powerful a soloist as Lewis is, he's matched by partners who rise terrifically to the occasion. Knuffke's bluster proves as commanding as the leader's, and the others are similarly engaged.

Structural scaffolding is noticeably in place in each of the nine tracks, but the five move through all armed with an explorative sensibility and ever ready to embrace shifts in tone and style. Witness, for example, how seamlessly “Elijah Rock” transitions from an Ayler-esque lament into a full-scale romp. In this context, a mournful dirge is as likely to emerge as a New Orleans-styled throwdown, and at one moment a passage might evoke “Lonely Woman” and at another Coltrane at his most intense. The vast emotional terrain Jackson encompassed in her singing finds a new voice in these audacious refractions by Lewis.

His humility come through in remarks to the audience before These Are Soulful Days starts—how fitting that the six-part work's lyrical opening is titled “Prologue—Humility.” The live performance was captured at the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland on November 20, 2021. Despite the quasi-classical instrumentation involved, the material is designed as a “quilted history of African-American music from its folk traditions of blues, spirituals, and jazz” (Lewis's words). A few themes from the quintet disc re-emerge in These Are Soulful Days, which testifies powerfully to his gifts as a composer and saxophonist. He leads the quartet beautifully through the folk and blues sections of the second movement, the wail of the third, and the chants of the epilogue. Key to the work's success are the strong themes sprinkled throughout, the elegiac one bookending the fourth movement a good example. Lewis is a forceful presence, naturally, but the quartet is too, and mention must be made of how well the string players handle the wild free section near the end of movement two. A nice extra is Lewis's blues-drenched solo encore, “Take Me to the Water.”

October 2023