Short and
sweet.started my career as a classical pianist at age 7 in the States.
Took the prizes, played the big gigs and then at 19 moved to Israel and
"found God". After a 10 year complete break from music I left god and
found Jazz. Started with the usual stuff, Bebop and swing, but my love for
Prog Rock and Classical music were too strong to keep me mainstream for
long.
October 2006 saw the release of my 5th album, duo piano and acoustic guitar, with 17 year old blind guitar virtuoso Orr Didi. We toured the album in the Far East (Nepal and India) , Scandinavia & the UK , and Prague.
Now halfway through album number 6 with my Prog-Jazz Trio, to be released
on my own Indie label, Visionary Insomniac Records. New trio includes. the one, the only.it's a bird.it's a plane no, it's crazy Dave Marks (Ireland) on bass and The Motster himself, Motti Cohen (England) in drums. Unbelievably HOT!!!!!!
Regularly tour Europe, just starting to break back into the US market.
been review in the major mags, last album, "No Expectations" voted 6th in
"Critic's Choice Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2004" by New York Times critic
Stuart Nicholson.
"Milwaukee-born, Israeli resident pianist Judy Lewis is classically
trained (she performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at
seventeen), but turned to jazz just under a decade ago, since when she has established herself as a star attraction on the international jazz circuit. It's easy to see why; "Two on the Horizon" sets her
alternately rythmically robust and filigree-delicate piano against one of the most attractive, dexterous, delicate guitar sounds you're likely to hear, that of the teenaged Orr Didi, whose playing may remind UK listeners of that of Antonio Forcione. Although undeniably virtuosic, the playing on this attractive, immediately accessible album is also spontaneously joyous and celebratory, the duo striking musical sparks off each other whether they're rollicking through the vigorous pieces or producing more meditative music (REM's 'Everybody Hurts', the album's only non-original, a perfect example of the latter). Including bonus video footage, playable on Mac or PC, this album, with its influences ranging from Bach to progressive rock, should be accessible not only to jazz listeners, but to anyone moved by the lively musical interplay of like-minded souls."
Chris Parker
(*Chris Parker is a freelance Jazz critic for numerous UK Jazz publications including BBC Music Magazine and Jazz Review)
