James Brandon Lewis has announced a new album, Calling Antonin, credited to his group the Red Lily Quintet, and shared its first single, "Dilemma Of Hearts." The tenor saxophonist is probably still best known to some listeners for his work in the Messthetics, the jazz-rock trio he shares with Fugazi's rhythm section, but Calling Antonin is a reminder that his output reaches well beyond that one group.
The new record follows closely on the heels of Omni, the spiritually charged album Lewis released with his quartet just two months earlier. Turning around a second full-length credited to a different ensemble so soon after Omni fits the pattern of Lewis's catalog: rather than working through a single band across a slow release cycle, he moves between several distinct groups, sometimes with their release windows overlapping.
"Dilemma Of Hearts" is streaming now as the first taste of Calling Antonin, giving an early listen to how the Red Lily Quintet's version of Lewis's writing differs from the sound he built with his quartet on Omni just weeks earlier.
The new album continues to build out Lewis's profile within contemporary jazz, where he has built a reputation as one of the more restlessly prolific saxophonists working today, moving between projects rather than settling into any single one. Fans can track Calling Antonin and other upcoming releases on the release calendar.
The facts
- New album Calling Antonin announced, credited to the Red Lily Quintet
- Single 'Dilemma Of Hearts' shared with the announcement
- Comes two months after Lewis's quartet released Omni
- Lewis also plays in the jazz-rock trio the Messthetics, with Fugazi's rhythm section
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