Given the precocity of her artistry, it’s unsurprising that Alexis Lombre has often found herself filling the role of wunderkind sideperson among seasoned players, including in groups helmed by Nicole Mitchell, Ernest Dawkins, and many others. This trio sees Alexis taking up the mantle of bandleader, shining a spotlight, as she puts it, “on who I truly am as an artist, not a sideperson: me.” The group brings together Kingston, Jamaica-born double bassist Russell Hall and the prodigious New Orleanian percussionist Brian Richburg to perform an evening of Alexis’ original songs, an “eclectic mix of everything new and old,” in her words, including jazz, R&B; everything “fresh, dynamic, precise.”...
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Given the precocity of her artistry, it’s unsurprising that Alexis Lombre has often found herself filling the role of wunderkind sideperson among seasoned players, including in groups helmed by Nicole Mitchell, Ernest Dawkins, and many others. This trio sees Alexis taking up the mantle of bandleader, shining a spotlight, as she puts it, “on who I truly am as an artist, not a sideperson: me.” The group brings together Kingston, Jamaica-born double bassist Russell Hall and the prodigious New Orleanian percussionist Brian Richburg to perform an evening of Alexis’ original songs, an “eclectic mix of everything new and old,” in her words, including jazz, R&B; everything “fresh, dynamic, precise.”
Fusing blues and church gospel with African and Caribbean-inspired rhythms of New Orleans street bands, Brian Richburg, Jr. began honing his craft at age five, inspired by his father Brian Richburg Sr., the pastor and musician. A Berklee graduate who returns often to New Orleans to perform, Brian has toured extensively with legends including Nicholas Payton, Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr., Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Amina Figarova, and Joanne Bracken. In New York, he is a regular fixture at Ray Angry’s Monday night Nublu Club jam sessions, and in his own “New Legaxy” project, a “gumbo” blending rhythms from Congo Square, blues of Memphis, Kompa rhythms of Haiti, and the country flares of Virginia.
Beginning at the Ft. Lauderdale Dillard Center for the Arts and continuing under master bassists Ron Carter and Ben Wolfe at The Juilliard School, Russell Hall has carved out an award-winning bass career on stages with Edward Norton, Kathleen Battle, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Barry Harris, Wayne Shorter, Roy Haynes, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Mwenso and The Shakes, Emmet Cohen and Jonathan Batiste and Stay Human. His band, “Bessie and The Rainbowkids,” comprises a global cohort of musicians who aim to “bring peace to all ears and love to all hearts.” He is also a member of The Blacksmiths, a social justice arts coalition.
Still in her twenties, the pianist, vocalist, composer, and producer Alexis Lombre established herself as a force out of Chicago’s legendary musical universe while barely out of her teens. Living, learning and working in the vibrant musical cultures of Chicago, Detroit, New York, and now Los Angeles, Alexis’ cosmopolitan musical vision is formed in dialogue with textures of contemporary urban Black experience in these cities. Dissolving “boundaries” between Black music’s so-called “genres”—including R&B, avant-garde, gospel, soul, hip-hop and jazz—is part of the living tradition she carries. As she puts it, “Separation is an illusion. Especially within the genres of Black music.” From April 3–18, 2025, FourOneOne is proud to collaborate with Alexis Lombre on a multifaceted residency, featuring Alexis alongside her inspirations, mentors, and peers. www.fouroneononeprojects.org.
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