The forward-pushing saxophonist James Brandon Lewis also has a penchant for looking back as we learned with his 2021 poll sweeping Jesup Wagon, which honored the work of George Washington Carver. Admitting that his Red Lily Quintet has a mission statement of sorts to honor history and science, Lewis now follows up with his beloved love letter, For Mahalia, With Love, ostensibly to the gospel force Mahalia Jackson, but also to his grandmother, who introduced him to gospel music and the powerful voice of Jackson. In so doing Lewis cements his reputation as one of the most important saxophonists of these times.
Lewis doesn’t merely offer a tribute here; he takes Jackson’s music as inspiration, recalling the days when he used to sit with his grandmother and listen while later playing in the churches around Buffalo, NY, where he grew up. He says, “It’s really a three-way conversation between Mahalia, my grandmother and me.” He could just as easily have added – “and my bandmates” as with just these two albums, The Red Lily Quintet has stamped themselves as one of the most powerful and tightly knit units in the music, featuring cornetist Kirk Knuffke, cellist Chris Hoffman, drummer Chad Taylor, and living legend double bassist William Parker.
In the liners, Lewis pens a letter to Jackson, with this excerpt especially poignant – “…your voice was earthquake that shook my grandmother’s generation.” Considering such, the ambitious challenge was to transform Jackson’s songs into jazz, but Lewis doesn’t shirk and instead interprets Jackson’s most familiar ones – “Sparrow,” “Swing Low,” “Go Down Moses,” “Wade in the Water,” “Calvary,” “Deep River,” “Elijah Rock,” “Were You There,” and “Precious Lord’ in 72 generous minutes.
We should note that Archie Shepp and Jason Moran delivered a terrific gospel duo album, 2021’s Let My People Go that also featured some of this material but rarely have we heard gospel music transformed to jazz with a full combo, that brilliantly plays unison lines, plays contrapuntally, and improvises so imaginatively. Consider too that there is no chordal instrument in the mix. Lewis and Knuffke speak the same language whether soloing or blending with each other while the bass-drum tandem keeps the momentum churning.
Yet, it’s not just rhythm; the full, robust tones from Parker and Hoffman, is a unique sound in itself (i.e., “Calvary” and “Deep River”) As you’d expect, these are not straightforward adaptations of the melody. Those strains will weave in and out, dissembled, reconstructed, refracted, and resummoned in glorious ways as heard most vividly in “Swing Low,” “Go Down Moses,” and “Wade in the Water.” Listen to the tapestry woven by Lewis and Knuffke on “Deep River” before each breaks into their respective solos with the support of this talented rhythm section. Pure energy, passion, and joy ring throughout, as “Elijah Rock” is one more case in point that shows that James Brandon Lewis can make a tribute album sound as original as possible.
Note also that early pressings of the CD and LPs will include an additional suite of music, as Lewis performs with strings, the Lutoslawski Quartet, recorded at the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland in November 2021. As yet another example of looking back while moving forward, the linkage between the two pieces is summed up in Lewis’ notes –“…inspired by, the fabric of a quilted history of African-American music, from its folk traditions of blues, spirituals and jazz.” It’s a stirring mix of blues, classical, and avant-jazz and would be an outstanding album in itself if issued separately.
