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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZLEWIS, George [AACM](b 14 July 1952, Chicago IL) Trombonist, composer. Took up trombone at age nine, later studied philosophy at Yale, attended AACM school in Chicago, had theory lessons from Richard Abrams and became a virtuoso. The George Lewis Solo Trombone Record '76 on Sackville included overdubbed 'Piece For Three Trombones Simultaneously'; quartet Chicago Slow Dance '77 on Lovely Music is a single composition played by a quartet including synthesizer. Sextet Shadowgraph '77 (aka Monads) included Roscoe Mitchell and Abrams; Jila '78 (aka The Imaginary Suite) is a duet with reedman Douglas Ewart, who plays on most of these; Homage To Charlie Parker '79 is a remarkable album, a quartet with electronics; all these are on Black Saint. Also From Saxophone And Trombone '81 and Hook, Drift And Shuffle '83 on Incus with Evan Parker; as a sideman on Arista with Anthony Braxton, Muse with Barry Altschul, Moers with Mitchell. He played on Heiner Stadler's excellent A Tribute To Monk And Bird '78 with Thad Jones and others. He also made a distinguished contribution to John Zorn's two sets News For Lulu '87 on hat Art, a trio with Zorn and guitarist Bill Frisell, and More News For Lulu, recorded live '89. Lewis does not regard himself as a jazz musician; like Pierre Boulez he has composed music using electronic equipment that responds to the musicians. AACM alumnus Ewart (b 13 September 1945, Kingston, Jamaica) has stayed in touch with ancient sounds; his debut solo album was the beautiful Bamboo Meditations At Banff '93 on Arawak, played on his own wooden flutes. George E. Lewis has also had a distinguished academic career; he is Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music and Director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. His long-awaited book about the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (see entry for AACM) is A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (U. of Chicago Press, 2008). |