The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

Unexpected meeting between the Washington, D.C.-based punk-rock trio The Messthetics (featuring the former Fugazi bassist and drummer) and free-jazz tenor James Brandon Lewis. A jazz-punk jam that promises some turbulence.

James Brandon Lewis, named Rising Star tenor saxophonist in DownBeat magazine's annual critics poll in 2020 and endorsed by Sonny Rollins, is the author of six albums, including the recent An UnRuly Manifesto. He draws inspiration from Ornette Coleman’s flights, evokes spiritual jazz, and from time to time marks his compositions with hip-hop beats.

Born in 1983 in Buffalo, NY, James Brandon Lewis studied at Howard University and earned his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. A saxophonist and composer, he has earned praise from The New York Times, NPR, the ASCAP Foundation, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Sonny Rollins remarked of him: “A young, promising instrumentalist with the potential to do great things after listening to the elders.” Jazz Magazine named him the rising-star tenor saxophonist in DownBeat Magazine’s 2020 critics’ poll. James Brandon Lewis has released several albums acclaimed by critics, leads numerous ensembles, and is the co-founder of the poetry-and-music ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders.

His deep curiosity and the excitement he feels during discoveries are essential facets of his personality and the qualities that guide his artistry. Over the past five years, he has become a prominent figure in jazz and improvised music, a voracious listener who rejects stylistic hierarchies, explores new ideas, and embraces new motivations with every project.

Inspired by molecular biology, James Brandon Lewis has developed a special system for creating music that surprises with his quartet, comprising drummer Chad Taylor, pianist Aruán Ortiz, and bassist Brad Jones. He has embraced the idea of a “systematic molecular music” in shaping the quartet’s debut album. “I’ve written it all, but if I feel the music is still free, it’s because the lines dictate the harmonic information. With this group, the music will fly off the page.” The James Brandon Lewis Quartet sets off with exuberant playing and rhythmic intensity and thematic beauty rooted in the jazz tradition.

The meeting between The Messthetics — a trio formed by Fugazi’s post-punk rhythm section and guitarist Anthony Pirog — and James Brandon Lewis, named DownBeat’s 2025 tenor saxophonist of the year, could only be incandescent. Buoyed by a live energy, the quartet unfolds an organic sound where the power of post-hardcore meets the flights of free jazz and the Great Black Music. Between abrasive riffs, hypnotic grooves, spiritual lyricism, and explosive collective detonations, this free music calls forth both the legacies of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler and Washington’s post-hardcore scene.

After a new album released in spring 2026 on the Impulse! label, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis perform at New Morning on October 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM.