Label: Intakt Records, 2026
Personnel - James Brandon Lewis: tenor saxophone; Aruán Ortiz: piano; Brad Jones: bass; Chad Taylor: drums.
Raw expression, empathic interaction, and spiritual ascension are what you’ll find on Omni, the sixth album by sensational saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis with his working quartet. Described as “a sermon without words” by Kevin Le Gendre in the liner notes, the album picks up where Transfiguration (2024) left off, featuring vibrant themes and soulful improvised discourses that lift us heavenward with the force of unshakable faith and a profound search for self.
Lewis opens the album in solo mode with “Omnipotent”, followed by the feverish “The Sermon”, a surge of energy where the impressive rhythm section—Brad Jones anchoring everything with bass pedal points, Chad Taylor rock-solid on the kit, and Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz applying understated harmonic coloration—creates the perfect foundation for Lewis’ impassioned language, often channeling the spiritual intensity of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
“Fire In My Bones” unfolds within an avant-garde framework, feeling playful, contrapuntal, percussive, and urgent, while “Testify” continues the album’s spiritual and emotional thread—recalling Archie Shepp—with a dash of American roots music in the mix. It’s a powerful modal piece whose incisive foundation leads to a bluesy cadence held together by Jones’ magnificent bass sound. Taylor’s martial snare work gives further impetus to the thoughtful improvisations of Lewis and Ortiz.
“Call to Worship” may be restrained in pace, but never in candor or puissance. Bowed bass, agile mallet work on toms and cymbals, and modal grandeur shape this spiritual awakening, where the musicians’ individual qualities perfectly serve the atmosphere with devotion and gravitas. “Spirit of the Living God” settles into a free-spirited dance driven by groove and polyrhythmic flow, contrasting with the beautiful, expressive saxophone-bass dialogue of “Omniscient”.
Riding the natural interplay between structure and improvisation, the James Brandon Lewis Quartet excels once again, proving itself an indomitable force in today’s spiritual contemporary jazz. The hand of the Creator seems to dwell within this music, and Lewis remains a remarkable vessel for its transmission.
Favorite Tracks:
02 - The Sermon ► 03 - Fire in My Bones ► 04 - Testify ► 06 - Call to Worship