Steve Lehman (born 1978) is an American composer and

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

in the genres of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

. His compositions have been performed by a number of international performers and orchestras.

Early life and education

Lehman was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in composition from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

and received his Doctor of Musical Arts with distinction in composition from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(under the direction of

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''. Early life and studies Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His fa ...

, George E. Lewis,

Fabien Lévy Fabien Lévy (born 11 December 1968) is a French composer. Biography Lévy was born in Paris, France. After having been a jazz pianist, he studied composition with Gérard Grisey, orchestration with Marc–André Dalbavie and ethnomusicology wi ...

and

Fred Lerdahl Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar and cogn ...

). He also attended classes with

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

for many years at the

University of Hartford Hartt School The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, that offers degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and ...

Career

As a performer, Lehman leads a number of his own ensembles and performs frequently as a sideman with artists like

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chica ...

Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...

, and

Jason Moran Jason Moran may refer to: * Jason Moran (criminal) (1967–2003), Australian mobster * Jason Moran (musician) Jason Moran (born January 21, 1975) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical inst ...

. His recording ''Travail, Transformation & Flow'' (Pi Recordings 2009) was chosen as the #1 Jazz Album of the year by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Lehman’s work has been reviewed in ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'', ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' magazine, ''The New York Times'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', and ''The Wire'',

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

, and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. Lehman was a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

from 2002-2003. Lehman is a professor of Music at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California. This area, with major commercial and industrial parks, straddles State Route 126 and the Santa Clara River. Development projects continue to be built in ...

Awards and honors

* Jazz Album of the Year, ''New York Times,'' 2009, ''Travail, Transformation & Flow'' * Best New Album,

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

Jazz Critics Poll, 2014, ''Mise en Abime'' * Guggenheim Fellowship 2015 * Doris Duke Artist Award 2014

Discography

As leader

* ''Structural Fire'' (CIMP, 2001) * ' (CIMP, 2002) * ''Interface'' (Clean Feed, 2004) * ''Artificial Light'' (Fresh Sound, 2004) * ''Demian as Posthuman'' (Pi, 2005) * ''Manifold'' (Clean Feed, 2007) * ''On Meaning'' (Pi, 2007) * ''Travail, Transformation, and Flow'' (Pi, 2009) * ''Dual Identity'' with

Rudresh Mahanthappa Rudresh Mahanthappa (born May 4, 1971) is a New York-based jazz alto saxophonist and composer. Biography Mahanthappa is the son of Indian emigrants to the U.S. He was born in Trieste, Italy as a result of his father's job in academia, but spent ...

(Clean Feed, 2010) * ''Kaleidoscope & Collage'' with Stephan Crump (Intakt, 2011) * ''Dialect Fluorescent'' (Pi, 2012) * ''Mise en Abime'' (Pi, 2014) * ''Steve Lehman & Sélébéyone'' (Pi, 2016) * ''The People I Love'' with

Craig Taborn Craig Marvin Taborn (; born February 20, 1970) is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was ...

(Pi, 2019) * ''Xenakis and the Valedictorian'' (Pi, 2020)

As sideman

With

* ''Nine Compositions (Hill) 2000'' (CIMP, 2001) * ''12+1tet (Victoriaville) 2007'' (Victo, 2007) * ''Sax Quintet (Middletown) 1998 Part I'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Sax Quintet (Middletown) 1998 Part II'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Tentet (Antwerp) 2000 Part I'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Tentet (Antwerp) 2000 Part II'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Tentet (Wesleyan) 2000 (Part I)'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Tentet (Wesleyan) 2000 (Part II)'' (New Braxton House, 2011) * ''Tentet (Wesleyan) 1999 Part I'' (New Braxton House, 2012) * ''Tentet (Wesleyan) 1999 Part II'' (New Braxton House, 2012) * ''Alumni Orchestra (Wesleyan) 2005'' (New Braxton House, 2012) * ''Echo Echo Mirror House (NYC) 2011'' (New Braxton House, 2012) * ''Tentet (Paris) 2001'' (New Braxton House, 2013) With

Liberty Ellman Liberty Ellman (born July 17, 1971) is a jazz guitarist born in London and raised in the United States, beginning in New York City. In the early 1980s, Ellman's family moved to California. Before leaving New York, he attended City and Country Sch ...

* ''

Ophiuchus Butterfly ''Ophiuchus Butterfly'' is an album by jazz guitarist Liberty Ellman, which was recorded in 2005 and released on Pi Recordings. He leads a sextet with Steve Lehman on alto sax, Mark Shim on tenor sax, Jose Davila on tuba, Stephan Crump on bass an ...

'' (Pi, 2006) * ''Radiate'' (Pi, 2015) * ''Last Desert'' (Pi, 2020) With others *

, '' Far from Over'' (ECM, 2017) *

, '' All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller'' (Blue Note, 2014) *

Kevin Norton Kevin Norton (born January 21, 1956) is an American percussionist and composer active in the New York City jazz and contemporary music scenes. He has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians, including Anthony Braxton, Paul Dunmal ...

, ''Change Dance Troubled Energy'' (Barking Hoop, 2001) *

Matthew Welch Matthew Welch (born 1976) is an American bagpiper and composer. Welch took a bachelor's in music at Simon Fraser University in Canada and then enrolled at Wesleyan University, where he studied under Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier. He has releas ...

, ''Ceol Nua'' (Leo, 2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehman, Steve 1978 births Musicians from New York City American jazz composers American male jazz composers American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Wesleyan University alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Living people Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians Clean Feed Records artists Pi Recordings artists