Jazz Articles about Steve Lehman

Steve Lehman: Dialect Fluorescent

by Troy Collins
April 4, 2012

Currently a doctoral candidate in Music Composition at Columbia University, alto saxophonist Steve Lehman's previous releases for Pi Recordings include Travail, Transformation and Flow (2009), On Meaning (2007) and Demian as Post-Human (2005). On these cerebral endeavors, the former Fulbright scholar and Wesleyan graduate engaged his penchant for fusing vintage hard bop-style melodies with post-M-Base rhythmic structures--modernist affairs that deftly balanced nostalgic reverie with futuristic innovation.Compared to the high-minded conceptualism of Lehman's previous albums (the most recent explored ...

Steve Lehman Octet: Travail, Transformation, and Flow

by Troy Collins
June 9, 2009

On Travail, Transformation, and Flow saxophonist Steve Lehman continues down the creative path blazed on his previous release, On Meaning (Pi Recordings, 2007). In addition to updating the earlier session's rhythmic energy with even more audaciously contemporary beats, he presents the first jazz-oriented exploration of the musical concept known as spectral harmony.

In spectral harmony, prominent overtones are organized, with the help of computer analysis, according to frequency relationships rather than intervals, yielding striking new harmonies. Lehman advances ...

Steve Lehman: Travail, Transformation, and Flow

by Mark F. Turner
June 8, 2009

Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman is well known for conceptual and cutting edge works including Manifold (Clean Feed Records, 2007) and On Meaning (Pi Recordings, 2008), as well as his involvement in seminal groups like the cooperative Fieldwork with pianist Vijay Iyer and drummer TyShawn Sorey. With past recordings consisting of smaller ensembles, the bandleader/composer literally multiplies his ideas on this release via a highly charged octet, fitted with rhythm section, dual saxophones, trombone, trumpet, tuba and vibraphone. ...

Steve Lehman: Travail, Transformation, and Flow & Kuntu

by Kurt Gottschalk
June 6, 2009

Steve Lehman Travail, Transformation, and Flow Pi Recordings 2009 Michel Edelin Trio Kuntu Rogue Art 2009 There's much about Steve Lehman's Travail, Transformation, and Flow that the packaging won't tell you. It's an interesting statement, in fact, on how the music is being projected into the world that the rather heady origins of this ...

Take Five With Steve Lehman

by AAJ Staff
May 18, 2009

Meet Steve Lehman: Named a Rising Star on the alto saxophone in 2006, 2007, and 2008 by the Down Beat Magazine International Critics Poll, Steve Lehman is a saxophonist and composer whose work resides on the frontier of contemporary music. He has been recognized as one of today's truly original creative voices by The Wire, The New York Times, and Down Beat Magazine, as well as by National Public Radio and the BBC. A former student of both ...

Steve Lehman: Manifold

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 6, 2009

Un ottimo repertorio, quattro musicisti di grande sensibilità e intelligenza, una torrida serata portoghese e un'etichetta che raramente sbaglia un colpo. Che altro chiedere a un disco jazz? Registrato dal vivo durante il festival lusitano di Coimbra, Manifold è l'ennesima prova della maturità raggiunta da quel piccolo grande talento di Steve Lehman. Un lavoro asciutto e per certi versi meno stratificato rispetto alle precedenti prove licenziate per la Pi con Vijay Iyer (ad esempio Demian as Posthuman, che in qualche ...

Steve Lehman Quartet: Manifold

by Stuart Broomer
June 3, 2008

In just a few years, Steve Lehman has established a remarkable track record as a saxophonist, bandleader and composer. This quartet recording is drawn from performances recorded in 2007 in Coimbra, a small city in central Portugal. Contemporaneous with the quintet recording On Meaning (Pi, 2007), Manifold is a slightly looser ensemble, with more emphasis on free interaction than the group textures of the quintet. It's a consistently brilliant band, from the subtle, offside pointillism of trumpeter ...