Gregory Lewis: Organ Monk, The Breathe Suite

Hammond B3 organist Gregory Lewis has expanded his original idea of taking the music of Thelonious Monk and pureeing it in through the B3 filter, and know uses the bebopping pioneer as more of an inspirational starting point, as exemplified by this latest album. This time around, he produces a six movement “Breathe Suite” that is focused on the past tragic occurrences between law enforcement and black male Americans. With a core team of himself with Jeremy Clemons/dr and Ron Jackson/g, he does a kinetic and rapid fire “Trayvon” and pulsating “Aiyana’s Jones Song” while a two part “Ausar and the Race Soldiers ends with the trio, but starts with an inclusion of Reggie Woods/ts, Riley Mullins/tp and Ron Jackson/g who provide fiery and intense solos. Nasheet Waits/ts and Marc Ribot get bluesy and dark when they come in on a moody “Chronicles of Michael Brown” and screeching guitars o “Eric Garner.” I’m not sure how the music into fits the political statements; this is about the 4th or 5th album to address these issues musically, which means there is a chord that is being struck somewhere.

www.greglewismusic.com

Leave a Reply