Jesup Wagon

For this suite inspired by the life and legacy of polymath agriculturalist George Washington Carver, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis assembles a quintet with cornetist Kirk Knuffke, cellist Chris Hoffman, bassist William Parker, and drummer Chad Taylor. The texture is raw and sinewy, with earthy grooves and big, declamatory melodic themes that find Lewis sounding like his forebear David S. Ware (a close colleague of Parker’s for decades). But the writing can be intimate and chamber-like, with tenor, cello, and cornet interweaving sensitively on pieces like “Fallen Flowers” and “Experiment Station.” Parker plays guembri, the bass-like West African instrument, on “Lowlands of Sorrow” and “Chemurgy,” introducing a low, sandpapery timbre in the mix. Taylor’s mbira on the shortest piece, “Seer,” further varies the palette. The cover art is Carver’s actual drawing of his ultimately impractical prototype Jesup Wagon (funded by a Morris Jesup), intended as a rolling laboratory that would spread word of new innovations to farmers on-site. As Robin D. G. Kelley puts it in a booklet essay, Carver “made art out of botanical science, listening to voices while collating data.” He was also a capable musician. In finding deep connection with the subject, Lewis emerges with something beautiful and prescient of his own.

Since releasing his auspicious Divine Travels in 2014, tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader James Brandon Lewis has consistently explored new jazz pathways while remaining fiercely protective of its storied tradition.

James Brandon Lewis, a highly expressive young saxophonist, explores the meaning of George Washington Carver through a fresh quintet, earthy and free at once.