Reuben Lewis

“Soft passages that were a scarcely identifiable part of the band’s texture. Squeezed and oddly burbling lip manipulations, sounding strangely fleshy, were punctuated by the mechanics of the valves being operated, and sometimes left far below as a pure trumpet tone rose in unforced but soaring and somewhat operatic arcs.”                   – John Clare, Limelight

Reuben Lewis’s practice is both singular and eclectic. Since relocating to Melbourne from Berlin he has emerged as an influential voice in the new jazz, free improv and avant multidisciplinary communities of Australia. As an active performer, composer and bandleader, he has refined a unique electro-acoustic language, devised through trumpet with extended techniques and preparations alongside live analogue processing with pedals and amplifiers, that is as much at home in a beer-stained nightclub or contemporary theatre space as it is on a hilltop in Malaysia surrounded by dancers and bull-trance shamans. Reuben considers improvisation to be at the core of his artistic practice, both as a vehicle for meaningful collaboration that transcends stylistic or disciplinary boundaries as well as a fundamental philosophy behind making new work.

Reuben has performed across Australia and internationally including, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. In 2017, he performed an 8-hour durational sleep concert with his co-led ensemble, The Phonetic Orchestra at the Serralves Festival in Portugal. Other notable collaborations include performances with the ensemble ACME, which premiered his multidisciplinary work ‘i know that i know’ at the 2017 Melbourne Festival, as well a European tour in 2013 with international experimental jazz group, SVELIA.

His latest album of composed work, titled ‘Abstract Playgrounds’, was released in 2018 through the Australian independent label, Earshift Music. The album features his psychedelic jazz collective I Hold the Lion’s Paw and has been described by Andy Hamilton in The Wire: Adventures in Modern Music as “a beguiling stew of afro-beat, jazz-rock-inflected postbop, and electro-acoustic noise – and on a deeper level, one of the richest, most insightful examinations of Miles Davis’s early 1970s work that I know.” 

He has featured on and/or composed for several critically acclaimed releases as diverse as ‘Self Aware of Myself’ by the contemporary jazz orchestra UNFIX, ‘Space Klezmer’ by the chaos infused large ensemble YID!, ‘Cold Radish Coma’ and ‘Elevate’ by internationally renowned Melbourne nu-soul outfit, 30/70 and ‘Half Mile Harvest’ by Motown blues outfit The Teskey Brothers, which was recognised as the highest selling independent Australian record in 20 years by APRA|AMCOS in 2017.

Reuben’s long-standing association with the internationally acclaimed dancer, director, choreographer and visual artist, Tony Yap has seen him regularly premiere new collaborative works across Australia and Southeast Asia, such as ‘I am Ding Chai’ at the 2017 AsiaTOPA festival, ‘The Medusa Ultimatum’ at the 2018 Lorne Sculpture Biennale, as well as ‘Stillness’, ‘A Gaze’, ‘Xavier’s Call’, ‘Xavier’s Present’ and ‘Sisyphus Synthesis’ at the 2015 and 2016 MAP Melaka festivals. Other acclaimed cross-disciplinary collaborative projects include ‘Inflorescence’ with visual artist Dianne Fogwell, premiered at the 2015 You Are Here festival, ‘Waterfalls Plunge into The Abyss’, written in 2016 by Bambang N Karim and premiered in Java, Indonesia, as well as ‘Memoir for Rivers and The Dictator’ by Lilian Steiner, commissioned as part of the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award and premiered as a 50 minute work at Dance Massive 2019.

Various associated projects have received funding for creative development, touring and new works by distinguished Australian funding bodies, including the Australia Council & Creative Victoria.

Reuben was nominated for a Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2018 and was a participant in The Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive in both 2015 and 2016 as well as the inaugural MAP Delhi residency in 2015 with the Tony Yap Dance Company. I Hold the Lion’s Paw was selected for the inaugural Lebowski’s Development Residency in 2016 and has also maintained a monthly residency at iconic Melbourne venue, The Brunswick Green for three years and counting. IHTLP was also nominated for ‘Best Australian Jazz Ensemble of the year’ in the 2018 Australian Jazz Bell Awards. In 2015, The Phonetic Orchestra participated in a collaborative residency with Norwegian new-music collective The Kitchen Orchestra in Stavanger, Norway as well as attended the 2017 Sonascopia Creative Residency in Porto, Portugal.