By AL HUNTER JR.
A grass-covered piano in Central Park. A piano
tucked inside the shell of a NASCAR race car. A piano of ice
at the Sundance Film Festival.
In Eric Lewis' self-described "army of one," these
provocative-looking instruments are his weapons of choice. To
distinguish himself from others. To make jazz entertaining for those
outside its small fan base. To keep him gigging.
He'll perform tomorrow with his quintet at the Painted
Bride Art Center.
As far as we know, he'll use a conventional piano.
You can blame, in part, a U2 concert for Lewis' decision to
be different. "I saw the theatrical display they had," he said in a
phone interview from his New York City
apartment.
"It dawned on me that part of the reason that it's
difficult to become extremely successful in jazz, relative to other music, is
that the presentation of jazz is usually one that's a little comparatively
boring."
Yes, Lewis went there.
The gifted 32-year-old pianist from Camden, winner of the
1999 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition,
who toured with Cassandra Wilson, Wynton Marsalis and
Elvin Jones, and played with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, said out loud
what some jazz fans only say under their breath.
It's part of Lewis' growth. As a young jazz player, he
worked hard, sacrificed and received much acclaim. He had become a jazz elitist
who played with the best and demanded the best in himself.
But then he realized his dedication to the music wasn't
reciprocated by those in the jazz music business. Despite his abundant talent,
he was offered no "class A gigs," no major record contracts.
"As I saw that... my heart broke. And my loyalties
broke, too. And my elitism. I had to ask myself, if
the war I was fighting has been contaminated because I got betrayed over my
loyalties and steadfastness, hanging in there, paying my dues. Hoping for their
approval," Lewis said.
"I spent my time doing that, [then] they decided to
abscond with my reward and treat me as if I'm some 'other side' dude... So I
left the scenario. I'm back to an army of one."
He left behind the romantic, art-for-art's-sake thinking, the being a hermit, a loyalist, a martyr - concepts that
fueled him through his 20s. But he hasn't lost his prodigious talent.
Marsalis and reviewers sing his praises. His most recent CD,
"Hopscotch," shows Lewis shaping space and sound, with bursts of
chords and rapid-fire notes on "Cherokee," then achingly pulling back
on the spiritual "Blessed Assurance."
His approach to music: Put yourself in a position where what
you do will be either 100 percent right or 100 percent wrong. Know yourself and
your instrument.
"Then when you play, you have to put yourself in a
state of mind that everything you do is a matter of life or death," he
said. "Connect your spinal chord with your fight-or-flee mechanism."
Lewis continues to find "every possible edge to
distinguish myself in the marketplace." He'll be featured in an episode of
UPN's "Girlfriends," is an extra in an
upcoming Robert De Niro movie, "The Good
Shepherd," will play the national anthem at tonight's New York Knicks/New Jersey Nets NBA game at Madison Square Garden in
New York.
Not everything works.
"Hopscotch" came packaged with a DVD. The video
features Lewis and his trio performing in a club while tacky dancers
slow-dance or pretend they're into the music. "It was whack," Lewis
admitted.
But the music was superb.
Eric Lewis Bio:
http://www.jazzcapital.net/artists/eric_lewis.php
2/24/06
Source: philly.com
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