Additional Information
“She discovered early that the true essence of music is not just about what you hear, but how it makes you feel. Her mission is to keep the ‘Soul’ in music alive” says her bio profile. Alexis Lombre, 28, is an emerging soul/jazz artist from Chicago, more precisely from the South Side. She toured with Jon Batiste, Terrace Martin, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ledisi, Lizz Wright, STOUT, Keyon Harrold, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Marcus Miller, Nicole Mitchell, Jamila Woods, DJ D-Nice, and the Miles Davis Electric Band. She was awarded the inaugural 2022 New Music Next Jazz Legacy Award and the 2023 Luminarts Award.
And she was playing in Montreal on July 3rd at Pub Molson stage.
With her trio, she proposed a nice blend of soul/R&B/gospel jazzy original compositions and also references from the past, including a solid version of Duke Ellington’s Caravan. So ? The quest for new jazz artists at PAN M 360 led us to Alexis Lombre ! Here is our conversation.
PAN M 360: Thanks a lot Alexis for accepting this interview. One of the main programmers of this Montreal festival suggested that I discover your craft like a few weeks ago. Which I did !
Alexis Lombre: Thank you !
PAN M 360: And well, it’s the beginning of maybe a long relationship with Montreal.
Alexis Lombre: I hope so, yeah.
PAN M 360: You’re from Chicago, you play the piano and you sing. You also compose your own music and play with other bands like Marcus Miller.
Alexis Lombre: Yeah, I was even here with Marcus Miller in 2022 at the Montreal Jazz Fest.
PAN M 360: This time, you’re coming with your own band, your own compositions. So let’s talk about the evolution of your craft, your own identity as a keyboard player, composer, and also a singer-songwriter.
Alexis Lombre : Yeah, my favorite piano players are Gene Harris and Bobby Timmons.
PAN M 360: Oh!
Alexis Lombre: Funk guys, I mean, and of course, Oscar Peterson from Montreal. And of course, I love Herbie (Hancock) coming from Chicago.
So it’s funny because I feel like Herbie, my love for Herbie has followed me throughout my life in an interesting way. Like I loved Herbie because he had that kind of soul jazz energy. But then as he gets more into his more fusion type stuff with Headhunters. Earlier in my career, I loved the straight ahead Herbie Hancock. And then as I got older, and as his records progressed, I loved his more fusion records as well. And Herbie being a South Side Chicagoan as well, like I am.
PAN M 360: You’re from the South Side?
Alexis Lombre: Yes, sir.
PAN M 360: Chicago has such a beautiful new music scene. In Hip Hop you have Saba, for example.
Alexis Lombre: Yeah he’s great. You know I was just two grades younger than Vic Mensa, Chance the Rapper. And I remember growing up and watching them, watching how they were writing music and putting music out and tuning.
PAN M 360: In Jazz you have Makaya McRaven or Marquis Hill or Junior Paul.
Alexis Lombre: Those are all my big brothers !
PAN M 360: So you play with them sometimes in Chicago, I suppose.
Alexis Lombre: Yeah, actually we’re all playing soon (in August) at We Out Here Fest in the UK. We’re doing a tribute to the late producer Charles Stepney.
PAN M 360: Do you still live in Chicago ?
Alexis Lombre: No I’m now based in Los Angeles. Yeah I just wanted to see something new, you know? I’m young and I don’t have no kids and I’m not married, so I can just kind of be anywhere.
PAN M 360: Let’s try to pinpoint some other influences of your craft, to be more precise.
Alexis Lombre: Sure ! Well, you know, I’m really inspired by many artists. I remember when Solange released A Seat at the Table. Don’t Touch My Hair was my song. I also love Erykah Badu. She really inspired me as a songwriter. And there is D’Angelo you know. And Thundercat. And nu soul, experimental stuff like Flying Lotus or Georgia Anne Muldrow. And Kendrick Lamar of course.
PAN M 360: What is the way you play and create ?
Alexis Lombre: I’m definitely someone who is a composer, an arranger, a producer. I produce all of my own stuff. Self-produced, independent. And, yeah, I think a lot of my music covers my spiritual journey, such as Come Find Me, was about, you know, finding the inner light. And finding God within me.
PAN M 360: Did you have a gospel background in your family?
Alexis Lombre: Funny enough, the first time I felt the Holy Spirit was in a jazz club.
PAN M 360: Really?
Alexis Lombre : So I didn’t grow up in church per se, but I’ve definitely had experiences where I felt the Holy Spirit in the jazz clubs on the south side of Chicago. So my experience is a little more unique. I’m probably one of the only Black musicians from the U.S. who didn’t, like, primarily grow up in church, but you still hear it in my sound. I liked to sleep on Sunday mornings, I just didn’t feel like it, you know? So, you know, it was just that simple. I’m just not a morning person, yeah. It’s just that simple.
PAN M 360: Well, it fits well with your profession.
Alexis Lombre: Yeah, exactly. I’m definitely a night owl and somebody who is very sensitive and, you know, very… I love writing songs. I’ve been songwriting since I was 10 years old. A lot of the songs that I’ve written on my first album, South Side Sounds, I wrote in high school !
Photo : Benoit Rousseau
