James Brandon Lewis - Apple Cores (2025)

Following his acclaimed 2024 collaboration with the Messthetics on the unrestrained The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, James Brandon Lewis's groove-heavy new studio album, Apple Cores, takes its name from a 1960s column by Amiri Baraka in DownBeat magazine. In one 1964 installment, for example, Baraka critiqued jazz club owners for their conservative booking policies. "They don't know anything," he wrote, describing them as "hip bartenders" who responded mostly to "the sound of the falling coin." He argued that "a new audience [was] just waiting for somewhere to go" and championed bold young innovators like Don Cherry, Albert Ayler and "a very strong beautiful tenor player from Little Rock, Pharoah Sanders."

Deeply inspired by the boundary-pushing creativity of Don Cherry, Apple Cores channels Cherry's restless nomadic spirit alongside Baraka's critique of the jazz establishment. Since his rise as an explosive yet nuanced tenor saxophone titan in the mid-2010s, Lewis has created records that draw inspiration from figures including George Washington Carver (Jesup Wagon), intricate molecular biology (Molecular) and his formative upbringing in Buffalo (Days of FreeMan). He has cited the fervent intensity of Ayler, the profound literary depth of Toni Morrison and the vibrant cultural traditions of the Black church as key influences.

Much like the players Baraka championed, Lewis channels restless energy and creative daring. Recorded entirely in two improvised sessions with longtime collaborators Chad Taylor (drums) and Josh Werner (bass), Apple Cores showcases the trio's skill at synthesizing years of collaboration into electrifying compositions. Taylor's drumming moves seamlessly between eruptive, polyrhythmic bursts and subtle, mbira-like textures, infusing the tracks with both vitality and atmosphere. Werner's approach to the bass is equally versatile, blending deep, resonant grooves with moments of melodic clarity that serve as counterpoint to Lewis's expansive saxophone lines.

"Five Spots to Caravan" nods to The Five Spot, the New York City jazz club where Don Cherry debuted with Ornette Coleman in 1959, and the Caravan of Dreams arts center in Cherry's hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. Taylor's frantic snare snaps give the track an urgent momentum, while his shifts between hard-swinging rhythms and delicate accents highlight his dynamic range as a drummer. Werner underpins the track with driving, rhythmic bass lines that provide both grounding and forward motion.

Werner's playing anchors much of Apple Cores, with bass notes opening the album's tracks, including standouts like "D.C. Got Pocket" and "Remember Brooklyn & Moki." On the former, his fluid, groove-heavy lines evoke the pulse of classic funk while maintaining the improvisational edge of modern jazz. On the latter, Werner's bass sets a contemplative tone, creating a mid-tempo foundation for Lewis's exploratory, searching phrases.

Lewis's playing on Apple Cores is as commanding as ever, with each of the album's three boom-bap propelled title tracks ("Apple Core #1," "Apple Core #2" and "Apple Core #3") showcasing his ability to weave soulful narratives. His phrases balance raw intensity with lyrical grace, echoing Cherry's adventurous spirit while crafting a sound unmistakably his own. These narratives, of course, are absent language, but within the lines are sharpened sonic critiques as insightful and powerful as a Baraka argument, and as free as a Cherry piece.

TRACKLIST

1. James Brandon Lewis - Apple Cores #1
2. James Brandon Lewis - Prince Eugene
3. James Brandon Lewis - Five Spots to Caravan
4. James Brandon Lewis - Of Mind and Feeling
5. James Brandon Lewis - Apple Cores #2
6. James Brandon Lewis - Remember Brooklyn & Moki
7. James Brandon Lewis - Broken Shadows
8. James Brandon Lewis - D.C. Got Pocket
9. James Brandon Lewis - Apple Cores #3
10. James Brandon Lewis - Don't Forget Jayne
11. James Brandon Lewis - Exactly, Our Music