Elew

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Review:

This is the sixty fifth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

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ELEW, was born Eric Lewis, and had carved out an impressive career as a modern jazz pianist, working with such greats as Wynton Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Jon Hendricks and Roy Hargrove.

Feeling that he was not fully expressing himself playing in what was already a well-established style, he reinvented himself as ELEW, a pianist with a more open style and a repertoire that included rock tunes.

ELEW, who does not sit on a piano bench when he plays, has had success in his newer musical identity without losing his ability to create fresh improvisations.

On this LiveStream from May 13, 2020, he plays a wide- ranging set of music that includes Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay,” his original “Inspiring,” a bit of stride piano, using rhythmic ideas from inside the piano as the basis for one piece, a John Coltrane song, “Georgia On My Mind,” and other adventurous explorations.

-Scott Yanow