Love is connection. Love is gratitude. Love is passion. Love is audacity. These qualities define tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis’ second album with the glorious Red Lily Quintet: For Mahalia, With Love. Whereas Lewis used his transformative talents to illuminate renaissance man George Washington Carver in a whole new way on Jesup Wagon, the groundbreaking 2021 masterpiece that swept most major jazz polls, the saxophonist does the same for the pioneering gospel-music force of nature Mahalia Jackson. But this time it’s personal, because Lewis lived her music growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., playing there in churches as a youth and being nurtured by his grandmother, who had received Mahalia’s singing like a bolt from above.

Much more than a tribute, this remarkable album is a conversation with Mahalia Jackson in which the bandleader spins melodies out of her voice that are lifted further by the incredible power and empathy of the Red Lily Quintet: William Parker on double bass, Chad Taylor on drums, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, and Chris Hoffman on cello.

The music of Mahalia Jackson needs no explanation or exposition here beyond saying it riveted millions of Americans starting in the 1940s in a way not achieved by anyone before her. Lewis makes a critical point in his liner-notes accompanying this release: “It is important to be seen rather than liked or disliked because a presence moves past subjectivity.” This is the key to the music on For Mahalia, With Love: Lewis did not make it to be adored or receive accolades, but as an exchange. “It’s really a three-way conversation between Mahalia, my grandmother and me,” Lewis says.

The album consists of nine gospel songs made famous by Jackson plus another indelible tune written by Lewis: “Sparrow,” “Swing Low,” “Go Down Moses,” “Wade in the Water,” “Calvary,” “Deep River,” “Elijah Rock,” “Were You There” and “Precious Lord.” The challenge was to turn these songs into jazz, the 21st century variety. And that’s where not only Lewis’ sensibilities come in, but the band’s as well.

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LABEL: TAO Forms

ALBUM: For Mahalia, With Love

RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2023

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