Wesley (Wes) Lewis

Wesley (Wes) Lewis is a saxophonist, composer, and multi-disciplinary PhD student based in New Haven, CT. He studied under multiple Grammy award winning musicians including Wayne Escoffery, Abraham Burton, and George Caldwell. After completing his undergraduate education at the University of Rochester, Wes moved to New Haven to pursue further musical opportunities alongside a PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (Yale CBB) at Yale. At Yale, he is a member of the Yale Jazz All-Stars and a principal member of the Yale Jazz Ensemble. In 2023, Wes performed Charles Mingus' behemoth composition, Epitaph, alongside the Grammy winning Mingus Big Band, under the direction of Kuumba Frank Lacy. Other cornerstones of Wes' musical achievement include performances at Dizzy's (Jazz at Lincoln Center) alongside tenor saxophone giant George Coleman as well as Nasheet Waits, improvised sound baths commissioned by NXTHVN, and a 2024 Jazz Homecoming Tour co-led by his brother, Derek Lewis. In 2023, Wes was awarded the Mellon Foundation's "Artist Corps" grant, providing $20,000 to create and lead the New Haven Composers Spotlight, which aimed to reduce segmentation between musical communities of New Haven, CT, by commissioning a large multi-disciplinary ensemble to perform the works of emerging local composers. Wes has also been featured in several major performances of experimental music. He performed the piece ZONG! alongside poet and author M. NourbeSe Philip to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the book and Philips' reception of the prestigious 2024 Wyndham Campbell Prize in Poetry. He also performed the piece American Ledger #1 as part of Raven Chacon at Yale.

In 13 years of performing professionally, Wes has played at an array of established venues and art spaces, including Woolsey Hall, Dizzy's, Scullers, Wally's Café, The Side Door, The Bop Shop, Pausa Art House, NXTHVN, The State House, Westport Public Library, Redscroll Records, the Yale Jazz Festival, and The Lewiston Jazz Festival. Along with the Yale ensembles and his own combo, Wes also performs with Trance Macabre, a collective merging free jazz and dance influences, which released its debut LP on the Redscroll Records label in Summer of 2024 and recently opened for legendary experimentalists Deerhoof in Middletown, CT. His debut studio album with the Wes Lewis Quartet (featuring Derek Lewis, Ryan Sands, and Jeff Fuller) is scheduled to release in Summer of 2025. In the future, Wes aims to apply his scientific acumen to his musical practices, by using techniques of machine learning and algorithm development to enable new creative compositions.