James Brandon Lewis Trio Announce New Album Apple Cores, Share New Song: Listen

Jazz musician James Brandon Lewis is releasing a new album that he improvised with drummer and mbira player Chad Taylor and bassist and guitarist Josh Werner. The James Brandon Lewis Trio’s Apple Cores is out February 7 (via Anti-). The first taste of the album is the new song “Five Spots to Caravan.” Hear the track below.

Lewis, Taylor, and Werner recorded their album over two improvisatory sessions. “If you don’t spend time with your band, you’re not going to really trust that moment,” Lewis reflected. “I think we’ve spent enough time together to where we can do that. I’ve been playing Chad for, like, 10 years, so that’s like water right there, and me and Josh have been playing together since 2018.”

For the new album, the musicians were inspired by Amiri Baraka and Don Cherry. “Five Spots to Caravan,” in particular, “is a multi-layered reference to Don Cherry’s creative arc and travels as a musician,” according to a press release.

James Brandon Lewis was a principal player on five 2024 albums: Transfiguration, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, Gifts, Infinite Love Infinite Tears, and A New Day.

Read about The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis’ “The Time Is the Place” in “26 Contenders for the 2024 Song of the Summer.”

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores

Apple Cores:

01 Apple Cores #1
02 Prince Eugene
03 Five Spots to Caravan
04 Of Mind and Feeling
05 Apple Cores #2
06 Remember Brooklyn & Moki
07 Broken Shadows
08 D.C. Got Pockets
09 Apple Cores #3
10 Don’t Forget Jayne
11 Exactly, Our Music