Buffalo-born saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has earned a strong reputation for his forthright, fearlessly explorative playing that has tangible roots in gospel music and shows an acute awareness of jazz history. These factors come to the fore on his 16th album, Apple Cores, which finds him working with drummer Chad Taylor and bassist-guitarist Josh Werner. Both are time-served partners of Lewis and whose input underlines the teamwork which produced a fascinating and consistently energised recording across two sessions. 

Lewis’ inspiration here is two-fold: the work of poet and jazz theorist Amiri Baraka (the album takes its name from a column Baraka wrote for DownBeat in the 1960s) and the spirit and musical curiosity of trumpeter and free jazz/world music pioneer Don Cherry. The effervescent ‘Five Spots To Caravan’ charts the latter’s career from the famed Five Spot Café where Cherry partnered Ornette Coleman on his New York debut in 1959. Lewis’ clarion call-style initial announcement progresses into a throaty improvisation that’s equal parts uncompromisingly exploratory and reassuringly repetitive.

Taylor and Werner add groove and physicality, but over 11 tracks that vary superbly in pace and attack, they also lend atmosphere. Taylor’s mbira (or thumb piano) gives ‘Prince Eugene’ the air of an African marketplace while Werner’s bowed colourings and guitar soundscapes are as effective as his pumping pizzicato lines. Apple Cores is an album whose immediate impact is matched by gradually revealed subtleties that repay repeated listening.

Apple Cores is out now on Anti-; main picture: Shervin Lainez.