The star of the evening divided into two parts will be James Brandon Lewis – a saxophonist, in whose playing you can hear a whole cosmos of sounds consisting of both forward-looking phrases and those referring to the tradition of great masters. Before the intermission, the audience of Jazztopad Festival will hear him in a duo with New York pianist Alexis Marcelo. The second part of the concert will feature premiere compositions combining the raw sound of Lewis’s saxophone with the string instruments of the Lutosławski Quartet.

Lewis’s music follows the line drawn by saxophonists such as Sonny Rollins, David S. Ware and J.D. Allen. You can also hear the legacy of John Coltrane in his recordings. However Lewis draws inspiration not only from music, and his latest albums (such as this year’s Jesup Wagon dedicated to the scientist and inventor George Washington Carver) can be called concept projects. Raw sound as well as thoughtful and clear phrases make communing with Lewis’s music an almost spiritual experience.

In Wrocław we will hear him in two projects. In the first part of the concert, he will play with the New York pianist Alexis Marcelo, with whom he collaborates in various line-ups. In recent months, duo performances have prevailed, but Marcelo has also co-founded a saxophonist quartet with Brandon Lopez and special guest Nasheet Waits. In the second part of the evening, the Lutosławski Quartet will perform, specializing in the classical repertoire of the 20th century and contemporary music. The acclaimed Polish group has repeatedly shown that premieres prepared by jazz artists (including Vijay Iyer, Vincent Courtois and Benoît Delbecq) are an opportunity for them to cross borders. What direction Lewis will choose will be revealed on the penultimate day of the 18th Jazztopad Festival.