“The Breathe Suite” & Live Appearances
Upcoming Live Appearances
April 9,16,23 &30 Organ Monk 9:30pm at BB Kings NYC
with Peter Valera Jump Blues Band
April 15 & 29 Organ Monk with Sweet Georgia Brown 10pm at
The 55 Bar NYC
April 6,13,20 &27 Organ Monk with Ray Blue at
The American Legion Post 398
248 W 132ndSt. New York, NY 10027
with Peter Valera Jump Blues Band
April 15 & 29 Organ Monk with Sweet Georgia Brown 10pm at
The 55 Bar NYC
April 6,13,20 &27 Organ Monk with Ray Blue at
The American Legion Post 398
248 W 132ndSt. New York, NY 10027
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 Artist: GREGORY LEWIS ORGAN MONK Title: THE BREATHE SUITELabel: Self Produced Produced by: Gregory Lewis ArtistWebsite: www.greglewismusic.com Release Date: MAY 05, 2017 UPC Code: 888295537964 Track listing: 1. (First Movement ) Chronicles Of Michael Brown 18:52
Nasheet Waits Drums, Marc Ribot Guitar Reggie Woods Tenor Sax, Riley Mullins Trumpet Gregory Lewis Hammond B3 Organ
2.(SecondMovement)Trayvon 3:22
Jeremy ‘BEAN’ Clemons Drums, Ron Jackson Guitar Gregory Lewis Hammond B3 Organ
3. (Third Movement ) Aiyana’s Jones Song 7:28 Jeremy ‘BEAN’ Clemons Drums, Ron Jackson Guitar Gregory Lewis Hammond B3 Organ
4. (Fourth Movement ) Eric Garner 7:19 Nasheet Waits Drums, Marc Ribot Guitar Reggie Woods Tenor Sax, Riley Mullins Trumpet Gregory Lewis Hammond B3 Organ
5. (FifthMovement)Osiris AusarAndTheRaceSoldiers 7:50 Jeremy ‘BEAN’ Clemons Drums, Ron Jackson Guitar Reggie Woods Tenor Sax, Riley Mullins Trumpet
Gregory Lewis Hammond B3 Organ All Compositions by Gregory Lewis
The
30-minute ensemble showcases at the annual Chamber Music America
conference typically run the gamut from string quartets to small jazz
combos to the occasional outlier—a reed quintet (which replaces the ute
and French horn of standard wind quintets with a saxophone and bass
clarinet), a klezmer band, or at the most recent conference, a duo of
trumpet and kora (the 21-string harp-lute played in Mali, Senegal, and
the Gambia). But one of the most unusual groups ever to be presented at
the CMA conference, in 2016, was an organ trio fronted by Greg Lewis
(a.k.a. Organ Monk). A virtuoso on a Hammond B-3 electric organ
accompanied by electric guitar and drums set has been a popular
instrumental combination for soul, jazz, and R&B for more than half a
century, but the material performed by Lewis and his sidemen—a
standard, a Thelonious Monk classic, and some Lewis originals—took the
format to some unexpected places. The music was contrapuntally intricate
yet super funky, and often incredibly loud. Their rendition of “Lulu’s
Back in Town” was joyously raucous and their take on Monk was
appropriately o -kilter. But the new material was what was the most
revelatory.
Each
of Lewis’s pieces was dedicated to an African American who had been
killed during confrontations with police o cers. Of course music, unless
it involves singers and sung words or an interpolated spoken word
narration, is more abstract and introspective than a news report can
ever be. But merely attaching a verbal title to an instrumental
composition anchors it for listeners and has the potential to serve as
an outlet for a deep emotional interface with a topic that can transcend
an immediate reaction to a eeting headline. Think, for example, how a
work like Penderecki’s searing Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
conveys the horrors of atomic warfare in a way that is far more visceral
than reading a history book (even though the title was actually an
after- thought). Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and the
horri c episodes that led to their deaths have been permanently etched
into the general public’s conscience. But Lewis, by a xing their names
to his musical compositions, provides a platform for their stories to
enter our subconscious and for audiences to pay tribute to who these
people were. This music, though at times dirge-like and appropriately
angry, is ultimately resilient and celebratory; it allows us not only to
mourn their deaths but to remember their lives.
“I
can’t protest, because if I protest I go to jail. And if I go to jail, I
can’t feed my ve kids. So what I can do is what I do: I write music.
... I want to get this record to each of the people ... Even if it
brings joy for just a minute to these families, that’s what I can do.”
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Media Contact
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Ph: 845-986-1677 / jim@jazzpromoservices.com
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