Professor of Music
Critical Studies/Experimental Practices Area
Department of Music
University of California, San Diego
George Lewis, improvisor-trombonist, composer and computer/installation artist, studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with Dean Hey. The recipient of a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship in 2002, a Cal Arts/Alpert Award in the Arts in 1999, and numerous fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lewis has explored electronic and computer music, computer-based multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated forms. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, Lewis's work as composer, improvisor, performer and interpreter is documented on more than 120 recordings. His oral history is archived in Yale University’s collection of “Major Figures in American Music,” and his published articles on music, experimental video, visual art, and cultural studies have appeared in numerous scholarly journals and edited volumes. His forthcoming book, "Power Stronger Than Itself: The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians" will be published by the University of Chicago Press. In Fall 2004, Lewis has become the Edwin H. Case Professor of Music at Columbia University, New York.
In the last several years, Lewis has presented works and lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, the IRCAM Summer Academy (France), the Studio voor Elektro-Instrumentale Muziek (STEIM), De Ijsbreker, the Centro Multimedia/ Centro National de las Artes (Mexico City), the Groningen JazzMarathon and the BIM-Huis (Netherlands), the Children’s Art Museum and Park and P3 Art and Environment (Japan), Metronom (Barcelona), the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music (Poland), Akademie Schloss Solitude (Stuttgart), the Beijing International Jazz Festival (China), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), the National Library of Canada and the Western Front (Canada), the Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), the Total Music Meeting and the Berlin Jazz Festival (Berlin), Columbia University, the Bang on a Can Marathon at Alice Tully Hall (New York), the Chicago Cultural Center, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the National Black Arts Festival (Atlanta), the San Jose Museum of Art, Spruce Street Forum (San Diego), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Center for New Music and Audio Technology (Berkeley),California Institute of the Arts (California), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/iEAR Studios, the New England Conservatory Improvisation Festival, Saint Louis University, and
Lewis has worked closely with contemporary musicians from around the world, such as Anthony Braxton, Anthony Davis, Bertram Turetzky, Count Basie, David Behrman, David Murray, Derek Bailey, Douglas Ewart, Evan Parker, Fred Anderson, Frederic Rzewski, Gil Evans, Han Bennink, Irene Schweizer, J.D. Parran, James Newton, Joel Ryan, Joelle Leandre, Leroy Jenkins, Michel Portal, Misha Mengelberg, Miya Masaoka, Muhal Richard Abrams, Richard Teitelbaum, Roscoe Mitchell, Sam Rivers, Steve Lacy, Wadada Leo Smith and John Zorn. He has served as music curator for the Kitchen in New York, as Darius Milhaud Professor in Composition at Mills College, as lecturer in computer music at Simon Fraser University's Contemporary Arts Summer Institute, and as Visiting Artist/Lecturer in Art and Technology at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Lewis, George, “Gittin’ to know y’all: Von improvisierter Musik, vom Treffen der Kulturen und von der ‘racial imagination.’” In Knauer. Wolfram, ed. Jazz und Gesellschaft: Sozialgeschichtliche Aspekte des Jazz. Hofheim: Wolke-Verlag (2002).
Lewis, George, "Experimental Music in Black and White: The AACM in New York, 1970-1985. Current Musicology, Nos. 71-73, Spring 2001-Spring 2002 (forthcoming).
Lewis, George, “Discours virtuel” (in French). Champs Culturel 11, June 2000.
Lewis, George, “Too Many Notes: Computers, complexity and culture in Voyager.” Leonardo Music Journal 10, 2000. Reprinted in Everett, Anna, and John T. Caldwell, eds. 2003. New Media: Theories and Practices of Intertextuality. New York and London: Routledge.
Lewis, George, “Stan Douglas: Hors-champs, toujours et pour toujours.” In Jenny Lion, ed. 2000. Magnetic North: Experimental Video. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Lewis, George, "Purposive Patterning: Jeff Donaldson, Muhal Richard Abrams and the Multidominance of Consciousness." Lenox Avenue, vol. 5, 1999.
Lewis, George, “Interacting with latter-day musical automata.” Contemporary Music Review, Volume 18, Part 3, 1999, pp.99-112.
Lewis, George, ”Teaching Improvised Music: An Ethnographic Memoir.” In Arcana: Musicians on music. John Zorn, ed. 2000. New York: Granary Books.
Lewis, George, ”The old people speak of sound: Personality, empathy, community.” In INSITE 97: Private time in public spaces. Sally Yard, ed. 1998. San Diego: Installation Gallery.
Lewis, George, "Singing Omar’s Song: A (re)construction of Great Black Music." Lenox Avenue, vol. 4, 1998.
Lewis, George, "Improvised Music After 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives." Black Music Research Journal, vol. 16, No.1, Spring 1996
Lewis, George, "Singing the alternative interactivity blues." Front, Vol. 7, No. 2, November/December 1995, pp. 18-22. Reprinted in Grantmakers in the Arts, Vol. 8, No, 1, Spring 1997.
Lewis, George. Compositions for Creative Orchestra (with the NOW Orchestra). Spool, 2001
Lewis, George. Endless Shout. Tzadik, 2000.
Lewis, George and Bertram Turetzky. Conversations. Incus, 1999.
Lewis, George, and Miya Masaoka. The Usual Turmoil. Music and Arts, 1998.
Triangulations (Vinny Golia, Bertram Turetzky), Nine Winds, 1997.
Iyer, Vijay: Memorophilia. Asian Improv Records, 1995.
Slideride (Ray Anderson, Craig Harris, G. Lewis, Gary Valente) Hat Hut, 1995
Braxton, Anthony: Concert In Dortmund. hat Art, 1994
Lewis, George, and Anthony Braxton. Donaueschingen (Duo) Hat Hut, 1994.
Voyager, Disk Union, Tokyo, 1993
Lewis, George. Changing With The Times, New World, New York, 1992
Teitelbaum, Richard: Cyberband. Moers Music 03000 CD, 1993
Globe Unity Orchestra: 20th Anniversary. FMP, 1993.
Information Station No. 1 (2000), multi-screen videosonic interactive installation for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, San Diego, Calif. Commissioned by the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ring Shout Ramble (1998), for saxophone quartet, commissioned by the Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Commissioning program, and premiered in October 1998 by the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Spruce Street Forum, San Diego, CA. Performances scheduled across the USA and Europe.
Signifying Riffs (1998), for string quartet and percussion. New York premiere, November 2000, Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians Concert Series.
North Star Boogaloo (1996), for percussionist and computer. Premiered February 1996, Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD. Steven Schick, percussion. Numerous performances internationally.
Collage (1995), for poet and chamber orchestra. Premiered November 1995, Society for Ethical Culture, New York City. Quincy Troupe, poet.
Endless Shout (1994), composition for piano, Premiered March 1994, De Ijsbreker, Amsterdam, Frederic Rzewski, pianist.
Virtual Discourse (1993), composition for infrared-controlled "virtual percussion" and four European-classically-trained percussionists. Premiered October 1993, Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux, France.
MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, 2002
Cal Arts/Alpert Award in the Arts, 1999
San Diego Arts Commission, 1998
Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, 1998
National Endowment for the Arts, Music Fellowship, 1995
Schinto, Jeanne. "Raptured: George Lewis's place in the world of sound." Extensive feature article on George Lewis. Reader (San Diego), April 19, 2001.
Shoemaker, Bill. "Mobility Agenda." Feature article on the music and writings of George Lewis. Jazz Times, October 2001.
Pierrepont, Alexandre. "George Lewis." Feature interview with George Lewis. Improjazz (France), October 2001.
Monaghan, Peter. "A conversation with George Lewis." Open Space, Issue 2, Spring 2000.
Monaghan, Peter. "George Lewis: Musician, composer, thinker." Earshot Jazz Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 9, September 1999.
Palm, Kristin. "Making a Point." Review of interdisciplinary, multi-artist project at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, including an interactive, site-specific interactive videosonic installation by George Lewis. Metropolis (New York), August/September 2001.
Dictionary entry for George Lewis. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (online edition), 2001.
Kernfeld, Barry. 2001. Dictionary entry for George Lewis. New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Basingstoke (UK): Macmillan, pp. 582-583.
Pierrepont, Alexandre. 2001. A jamais, a present: Le champ jazzistique en son temps. L'Homme (France): Revue française d'anthropologie, 158-159, Avril-Septembre 2001, pp. 217-230. Citations of the music and scholarly work of George Lewis.
Garnett, Guy. "The aesthetics of interactive computer music." Computer Music Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring 2001. Discussion of the computer music of George Lewis.
Heble, Ajay. 2000. Landing on the wrong note: Jazz, dissonance and cultural practice. New York: Routledge. Numerous citations of the scholarly work of George Lewis.
Hamilton, Andy. "The art of improvisation and the aesthetics of imperfection." British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol. 40, No. 1, January 2000. Citations of the scholarly work of George Lewis.
Kelley, Robin D.G. "The D.J. moves into a new arena." Historical citation of the computer and electronic music of George Lewis. New York Times, May 28, 2000.
Dictionary entry for George Lewis, International Dictionary of Black Composers, 1999.
Lock, Graham. 1999. Blutopia: Visions of the future and revisions of the past in the work of Sun Ra, Duke Ellington and Anthony Braxton. Durham (NC): Duke University Press. Citations of the scholarly work of George Lewis.
"Major Figures in American Music", collection of oral histories of American composers, housed at Yale University and available to scholars. Oral history by George Lewis, June 1999.
Geisel, Sieglinde. "Ein Biotop musikalischen Denkens." Review of the UCSD Music Department, featuring the work of George Lewis and the Critical Studies/Experimental Practices area of the department. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland) Tribune, September 6, 1999.
Winkler, Todd. 1998. Composing Interactive Music: Techniques and ideas using Max. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press. Citations of the computer music work of George Lewis.