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Chris Lewis

Chris Lewis is a multi award winning saxophonist, composer, educator, and bandleader. Known for his bold artistic voice and dynamic leadership, Lewis simultaneously leads his own quartet while maintaining an active schedule as a sideman. He is highly sought after by masters of the music, as well as his contemporaries.

Lewis is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and has performed with artists including Herbie Hancock, Michael Bublé, Eric Reed, Terell Stafford, and Jeff “Tain” Watts, contemporaries Julius Rodriguez and Sean Mason, and premier ensembles such as the Maria Schneider Orchestra, John Beasley’s MONK’estra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, the Count Basie Orchestra, and The Gil Evans Project.  At the age of 28, Lewis can be heard on over 30 recordings.  He can be seen in television series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Godfather of Harlem, and The Gilded Age, as well as a prominent feature in Levi’s Vintage Fall campaign. 

A dedicated educator, Lewis teaches students of all ages. Offering his expertise in saxophone, improvisation, and ensemble performance, he continues to help shape the future of jazz both on and off the bandstand.  He’s served as a guest artist, clinician, and adjudicator for a host of jazz festivals and competitions, and maintains a private studio of students worldwide.


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Album Review

Carlos Henriquez: Monk Con Clave

Read "Monk Con Clave" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Carlos Henriquez has long understood that rhythm tells stories long before words arrive. On Monk Con Clave, he takes Thelonious Monk's angular brilliance and brings it back to the streets, dance halls, and other crowded spaces across New York's Afro-Caribbean neighbourhoods. The result is not merely a tribute album but a living dialogue between Monk's genius and Henriquez's Nuyorican identity. Leading his self-named big band, Henriquez has assembled a remarkable multigenerational ensemble featuring musicians from the Jazz at ...

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Album Review

Ben Wolfe: Any Time After Now

Read "Any Time After Now" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


In this recording by bassist, composer and bandleader Ben Wolfe, titled Any Time After Now, there is a quiet assurance, with nothing straining for effect or feeling manufactured. Recorded in a single studio day alongside vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Sullivan Fortner, tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis and drummer Aaron Kimmel, the album spans ten tracks of original Wolfe compositions and exhibits a natural cohesion that reflects musicians deeply attuned to one another. The opener, “Any Time After Now," swings ...

2

Album Review

Kieran Brown: Loving You

Read "Loving You" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Youthful, conservatoire-trained vocalist upstart Kieran Brown brags in the opening song from her debut recording, Loving You: I've got a song that longs to be played Raise up my flag, begin my parade Then watch the world over start comin' up clover That's how it's gonna be, watch me You're gonna hear, you're gonna hear from me. Jackie Ward originally sang André Previn and Dory Previn's, “You're Gonna Hear From Me" in the ...

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Album Review

Caelan Cardello: Chapter One

Read "Chapter One" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Caelan Cardello's debut release, Chapter One, marks the emergence of a pianist and composer with a clear sense of purpose. Supporting Cardello on this journey are bassist Jonathon Muir-Cotton, drummer Domo Branch, and guest tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis; they draw deeply from the well of jazz tradition while shaping a distinctly modern voice. Cardello's program combines eight originals with select pieces from Cole Porter, Harold Mabern, and Cedar Walton, establishing a strong foundation in both heritage and innovation. ...

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Album Review

Chris Oatts: Personalities

Read "Personalities" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Saxophonist Chris Oatts is a graduate of the jazz program at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance and the nephew of revered saxophonist—and faculty member of Temple University—Dick Oatts. This reviewer heard Chris Oatts at Chris' Jazz Café (similarity in the names purely coincidental) in September, 2021, with his quintet featuring one of his teachers and mentors, Terell Stafford, on trumpet. In that set, Oatts stayed within the bebop/hard bop traditions and showed exceptional sophistication, inventiveness, and resilience ...

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Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Any Time After Now

Resident Arts Records
2026

buy

Monk Con Clave

Self Produced
2026

buy

Chapter One

Jazz Bird Records
2025

buy

Zito's Jump!

Self Produced
2025

buy

Loving You

Cellar Music Group
2025

buy

Compton's Finest

Savant Records
2023

buy

Ready 'N Able

From: Zito's Jump!
By Chris Lewis

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