Pianist Eric Lewis, formerly of Jazz at Lincoln Center and now with an upcoming solo album/DVD, hasn’t given up jazz for car racing yet, but from the looks of things, it may not be too far in the future.
…So that might be an exaggeration, but nonetheless, Lewis is set to perform the national anthem at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series at Sonoma, Calif.’s Infineon Raceway on Sunday. Just about anyone can catch Lewis’ piano performance, as the race will be broadcast at 12:30 PST on Fox. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster or at www.infineonraceway.com.
A New Jersey native, Lewis has played for former president Bill Clinton at the 1996 Democratic National Convention, toured with Wynton Marsalis and LCJO, won the Thelonious Monk International Piano competition, released a solo album and scored the PBS movie A Trumpet at the Wall of Jericho – all at only 32 years old.
Lewis recently added another solo album to his laundry list of accomplishments, this one entitled Hopscotch and released on Fortress. A CD/DVD set, Hopscotch features Lewis backed by bassist Paul Beaudry and drummer Ralph Penland. The tracklist is a mix of originals and standards, which are included on both the DVD and CD. The DVD contains 13 video performances of the songs, the TV show “Eric Lewis Live from the Club at Blue Palm (as seen on BET Jazz), an interview with Lewis, interviews with bandmates and a video of Marsalis discussing Lewis and his music. The CD, in addition to the 13 tracks, also includes a bonus track.
Related Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes