George E. Lewis
George E. Lewis | |
|---|---|
George E. Lewis playing at the Moers Festival in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | July 14, 1952 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Experimental, contemporary classical, avant-garde jazz, computer music |
| Occupations | Musician, composer, professor |
| Labels | Sackville, Charly, Black Saint, Soul Note, Avant, Music & Arts, Pi, Incus, Tzadik |
| Website | music |
George Emanuel Lewis (born July 14, 1952) is an American composer, trombonist, and musicologist. He has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, when he joined the organization at the age of 19. His music spans genres including avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical and experimental music.
He is renowned for his work as an improvising trombonist and considered a pioneer of computer music, which he began pursuing in the late 1970s; in the 1980s he created Voyager, an improvising software he has used in interactive performances. Lewis's many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Book Award received for his book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Composition & Historical Musicology at Columbia University.