Saxophonist
Steve Lehman is a forward-thinking musician with broad musical knowledge he most often applies to his avant-garde and modern creative jazz. Following his early study with
Anthony Braxton in the late '90s, he gained attention issuing albums like 2001's free-influenced Structural Fire with trumpeter
Roy Campbell, Jr., 2008's trio date
Interface, and 2017's hip-hop-informed
Selebeyone. He has also collaborated on adventurous projects with
Vijay Iyer,
Rudresh Mahanthappa,
Bennie Maupin, and others.
Born in New York City,
Lehman studied saxophone in high school and eventually earned his B.A. in composition in 2000 and his M.A. in composition from Wesleyan University in 2002. From 2002-2003,
Lehman studied in France as a Fulbright Scholar, researching how African-American experimental composers were received in France in the '70s. While in college,
Lehman studied with multi-reed player
Anthony Braxton and saxophonist
Jackie McLean at the Hartt School of Music. As a performing artist, he has worked with a bevy of similarly inclined musicians, including pianist
Dave Burrell, bassist
Mark Dresser, pianist
Vijay Iyer, saxophonist
Oliver Lake, and others. In 2001,
Lehman released his debut album as a leader, Structural Fire. He then followed up with several experimental and avant-garde-inclined albums, including 2005's
Demian as Posthuman, 2007's
Manifold, 2008's
Interface, and 2009's Travail, Transformation and Flow.
In 2010,
Lehman collaborated with saxophonist
Rudresh Mahanthappa on
Dual Identity and returned the following year with Kaleidoscope & Collage, featuring two extended pieces performed with bassist/composer Stephen Crump. He released the trio album Dialect Fluorescent in 2012, followed two years later by the octet date
Mise en Abîme. In 2017, he delivered the expansive, hip-hop-influenced
Selebeyone, featuring contributions from
Antipop Consortium's
HPrizm. Two years later, he expanded his trio with bassist
Matt Brewer and drummer
Damion Reid for the album The People I Love, with pianist
Craig Taborn as a co-billed guest. ~ Matt Collar