Eric Lewis or "ELEW" as he goes by is a master pianist with a jazz and classical background. He and his band played two sets at Bush Hall last night and, well, they blew me away [hat top to Oren Michels for the heads-up]. I've never been to a gig quite like this. All instrumental, ELEW and company re-interpret modern pop and rock tunes with their own virtuosic spin to it. This is no soft jazz cover band doing banal renditions of standards. They had an energy and virtuosity that rocked the hall. He calls it rockjazz. I think my fave was their rendition of The Knife's Heartbeats.
And woe betide the piano that draws ELEW for an assignment. As Paul Carr of the Guardian puts it: "You
see, Lewis doesn't just play the piano. Rather he owns - pwns - it.
Reaching inside the lid, he pulls and pounds at the strings, creating a
magic eye pictures of sound - walls of noise that suddenly snap into
focus...." all while contorting his face as if he's possessed. It's no wonder that he's scoring horror movies.
Neither words nor pictures can describe ELEW's performance. Video comes closest though even that is a poor substtitute. If you get the chance, see him live. You won't regret it.
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