James Brandon Lewis & Lutoslawski Quartet - These Are Soulful Days [RSD 2026]

Tenor saxophonist-composer James Brandon Lewis has been on a seemingly boundless artistic ascent since even before his 2021 album Jesup Wagon broke through. This stirring and potent work was composed by Lewis during his initial development of ideas for the second Red Lily Quintet project, for Mahalia, With Love, a deeply evocative jazz homage to Mahalia Jackson. A pair of the themes brought to life on for Mahalia.. are woven into ..Soulful Days, and it is a wonder to hear their resonance in such a thoroughly different context.

These Are Soulful Days is James Brandon Lewis' first long-form composition for string quartet & tenor saxophone. Performed by Lewis and the Lutoslawski Quartet (Roksana Kwaśnikowska-1st violin; Marcin Markowicz-2nd violin; Artur Rozmysłowicz-viola; Maciej Młodawski-cello), it was commissioned by Poland's National Forum of Music for the Jazztopad Festival in Wrocław.  

Lewis writes: "These Are Soulful Days is built from, and inspired by, the fabric of a quilted history of African-American music from its folk traditions of blues, spirituals, and jazz. It embodies the sentiment of a joyful past, a determined present, and a resilient future."