Steve Lehman Octet

"Superb…immediately gripping…perfectly ultramodern."—New York Times

Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman’s riveting CD Travail, Transformation and Flow with his octet was one of the most acclaimed jazz releases of 2010, high on many critics' best-of-the-year lists. The forward-thinking composer and his octet created a brilliant balance of heady concepts with nimble improvisation, showcasing both subtlety and the bright sparks issued by his ready-for-anything players

Lehman and his talented ensemble create encompassing passages of music that are freewheeling, funky, and artfully fractured with shaded shards of sound. All Music Guide's reviewer called the recording, "music that is astonishing, far beyond convention" and continued, "Lehman constantly reveals layer after layer of fresh and inventive progressive sounds.… Highly recommended, especially as a prime example of new, innovative music."

The Steve Lehman Octet is:

Steve Lehman -- Alto Saxophone
Jonathan Finlayson -- Trumpet
Mark Shim -- Tenor Saxophone
Jacob Garchik -- Trombone
Chris Dingman -- Vibraphone
Jose Davila -- Tuba
Drew Gress -- Bass
Cody Brown -- Drums


Described as “one of the transforming figures of early 21st century jazz,” by The Guardian (UK) and as “a quietly dazzling saxophonist,” by The New York Times, Steve Lehman (b. New York City, 1978) is a composer, performer, educator, and scholar who works across a broad spectrum of experimental musical idioms. Lehman’s pieces for large orchestra and chamber ensembles have been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), So Percussion, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, the JACK Quartet, and the Talea Ensemble. His recent recording, Travail, Transformation & Flow (Pi 2009), was chosen as the #1 Jazz Album of the year by The New York Times.

An alto saxophonist, Lehman has performed and recorded nationally and internationally with his own ensembles and with those led by Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, Oliver Lake, Jason Moran, Meshell Ndegeocello, and High Priest of Anti-Pop Consortium. His recent electro-acoustic music has focused on the development of computer-driven models for improvisation, based in the Max/MSP programming environment. Lehman’s work has been favorably reviewed in Artforum, Downbeat Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Wire, and on National Public Radio, the BBC, and SWR.

As a Fulbright scholar in France during the 2002-2003 academic year, Lehman began researching the reception of African-American experimental composers working in France during the 1970s. His article in the journal Critical Studies in Improvisation, “I Love You with an Asterisk: African-American Experimental Composers and the French Jazz Press, 1970-1980,” is based on his Fulbright research. More recently, Lehman has published writings and presented lectures on a wide range of topics, including jazz pedagogy, rhythm cognition, and European notions of American experimentalism. His current scholarship, including a contribution to Arcana VI (Hips Road/Tzadik) and his recent doctoral dissertation, examines the overlapping histories of spectral music and jazz improvisation.

Lehman received his B.A. (2000) and M.A. in Composition (2002) from Wesleyan University where he studied under Anthony Braxton, Jay Hoggard, and Alvin Lucier, while concurrently working with Jackie McLean at the Hartt School of Music. He received his doctorate with distinction in Music Composition from Columbia University (2012), where his principal teachers included Tristan Murail and George Lewis.

Lehman has taught undergraduate courses at Wesleyan University, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, New School University, and Columbia University, and has presented lectures at Amherst College, UC Berkeley, The Berklee School of Music, The Banff Centre, The Royal Academy of Music in London, and IRCAM in Paris, where he was a 2011 researcher-in-residence.
- See more at: http://www.stevelehman.com/bio#sthash.dLC9QEoB.dpuf