George Lewis

"I try to get the computer to do its own thing ... as soon as the computer generates something independent, a performer can react to that and go with it..."

George Lewis is known as an improvising performer, trombonist, developer of interactive computer performance systems, and installation artist.

He has performed throughout the world with Anthony Braxton, Count Basie, John Zorn, Anthony Davis, Derek Bailey, Richard Teitelbaum, and Steve Lacy. He has been artist-in-residence at IRCAM (Paris), STEIM (Amsterdam), and the Banff Centre for the Arts. His music has been performed at De Ijsbreker (Netherlands), P3 Art and Environment (Tokyo), Centro Multimedia/ Centro National de las Artes (Mexico City), Metronom (Barcelona), Beijing International Jazz Festival, and Velvet Lounge (Chicago). His installations have been shown at Randolph Street Gallery (Chicago), DeCordova Museum (Boston), Musée de la Villette (Paris), and The Kitchen (New York). His awards include National Endowment for the Arts, San Diego Arts Commission, and Cal Arts/Alpert Award in the Arts. His performances as trombonist are documented on more than 80 recordings, and his essays have been published in Leonardo Music Journal, Contemporary Music Review, Black Music Research Journal, and Computer Music Journal. From 1980 - 1982, he was music curator at The Kitchen, an avant garde performance space in New York.