Eric Lewis plays chaos and harmony



Eric Lewis explores the piano's expressive power as he pounds and caresses the keys (and the strings) in a performance during the 2009 TED Prize session. He plays an original song, a tribute to ocean and sky and the vision of the TED Prize winners.

Eric Lewis channels the raw emotion of alternative rock into fiery, take-no-prisoners jazz piano arrangements. Before setting out to capture the voice of alt rock in the keys, he toured with the likes of music legends Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones.

Not without a struggle (and a measure of healthy angst), acclaimed pianist Eric Lewis is driving the next evolution of jazz -- forging new musical alloys of classic blue note scuttles, delicate improvisations and heady alt rock hooks. Now, with a roster of sold-out shows and a growing list of celebrity supporters, his iconoclastic arrangements are fast catching insular music communities' attention. His possessed, finger-bloodying performances have erased a few old taboos, too: Miles Davis and Linkin Park suddenly seem less dissimilar.

Before discovering this latent passion for pop and rock music, Lewis has been the must-watch up-and-comer on the jazz circuit, playing with Elvin Jones, Roy Hargrove, Cassandra Wilson and Wynton Marsalis before winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the world's largest.