James Brandon Lewis is on a remarkable run.
Deface the Currency (2026), his second collaborative album with the Messthetics, placed him at the cutting edge of the fiery fusion of punk and jazz. While that record proved he could invoke the power and fury of ’60s Detroit band MC5’s rock-and-roll testimonial Are You Ready to TESTIFY! (2007), on Omni, he is invoking a different kind of testimonial, one grounded in his upbringing as the son of a minister. Lewis and his long-running quartet, pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor expand on Lewis’ “Molecular Systematic Music” and construct a sonic temple where they deliver a twelve-tone gospel from the pulpit.
Lewis has carefully structured the album around…

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