Page Six – Obama-approved pianist ELEW puts on private show at Art Basel

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Famed pianist ELEW, a favorite of President Barack Obama, played an ultra-exclusive concert for a few lucky invited guests in Miami.

The jazz pianist, whose real name is Eric Lewis, put on a high-energy performance in the $16 million penthouse at 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach on Tuesday night.

Guests such as Sonic Youth rocker Kim Gordon and novelist Christopher Bollen were treated to a passionate private performance that included jazz versions of “Mr. Brightside,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Ain’t Nobody.”

ELEW’s energetic style of “rock jazz” has helped him amass big-name fans including Leo DiCaprio, Donna Karan and Hugh Jackman, plus he has performed at the White House for the Obamas.

Surrounded by works by artist Daniel Mazzone, he told the crowd, “I came here to get down, I came here to party. I invite you to vibe with me, I feel all the artworks around me. Get into it. Celebrate life … I will give you my blood, that’s how I feel about performing, but I don’t want the blood to come too soon.”

ELEW AND TO THE REPUBLIC Album Out Now!

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ELEW AND TO THE REPUBLIC
Released September 9, 2016

Sometimes it takes an outsider to show the current pecking order what is amiss. There are revelations to be heard by those who distance themselves from their native tongue to find a place for themselves. A return can then be revelatory to both the outsider and the republic, as it stands….

Available at all major online retailers

NPR – Jazz Night in America

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February 11, 2016 by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON • Eric Lewis’ career has circulated both in and out of what he calls “the jazz republic.” Performing under his given name in the 1990s, Lewis was a powerful up-and-coming pianist who toured in the bands of Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones. As his career progressed — or failed to, from a business perspective — he found that a lot of contemporary rock music also spoke to him deeply. So, performing under the name ELEW, he devised a new theatrical, high-energy method of solo piano he called rockjazz, and his cover songs took him to TED Conferences, national tours, America’s Got Talent, celebrity gatherings and the White House. But he never left the late-night straight-ahead jam sessions: In fact, he’s just recorded And To The Republic, a return to the jazz trio format featuring some major players.Jazz Night In America follows ELEW to the studio, and to Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola within Jazz at Lincoln Center, where his burning band includes Reginald Veal on bass and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums.

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