“Lewis’s music is beyond category.” - The Australian

Reuben Lewis’s practice is both singular and eclectic. As an award-winning trumpeter, composer, improviser, bandleader and producer he has refined a diverse electro-acoustic language that has been lauded as “a vivid listening experience that gleams with sinister detail” (The Wire). Devised through trumpet alongside live processing with pedals and laptop, his music aims to play on our expectations and unravel all semblance of familiar form, and in doing so seek to create a new musical narrative that is “beyond category” (The Australian).

Reuben considers improvisation to be at the core of his artistic practice, both as a vehicle for meaningful collaboration that transcends stylistic or disciplinary boundaries as well as a fundamental philosophy behind making new work. As a solo artist, critics have described his work as containing a “vast, monolithic intensity” (Rhythms Magazine), whilst his ensemble I Hold the Lion’s Paw has been likened to the “feeling of having stumbled into someone else’s LSD trip” (Sydney Morning Herald).

Reuben has become widely known for his strong artistic vision and ability to bring people together. The first studio album with his ensemble I Hold the Lion’s Paw (IHTLP), titled Abstract Playgrounds, was released through Earshift Music (AU) and gained international acclaim – including a glowing review in ‘The Wire’ magazine and a nomination for the Best Australian Jazz Ensemble at the Bell Awards. Subsequently, he produced a successful Australian tour with high profile performances across Australia in 2018. His second album with IHTLP, titled Lost in Place, was nominated for a 2022 APRA/AMC Art Music Award for Best Jazz Album and launched at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. His debut solo record, titled The House is Empty, was released in 2022 on the esteemed ambient label Shimmering Moods (NL) and he has been featured in the 2021 Jazzwise (UK) Australian jazz compilation as well as the Sounds Australia/AMC ‘Close Up’ digital showcase for 2021 Jazzahead conference (DE).

Recent premieres include the durational jazz-butoh crossover project Lost in Place featuring dancers Yumi Umiumare and Taka Takiguchi (滝口貴) at Mona Foma 2023, Kidstruments featuring instruments designed by children and built by Playable Streets at the 2022 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, a studio record featuring Australian Poetry Grand Slam champion Huda the Goddess supported by the Australian Music Centre Momentum Commission, and a touring program for children titled Imagination Exploration devised in collaboration with Musica Viva Australia in Schools. Other notable commissions include his multidisciplinary work Closed Beginnings in collaboration with poet Tariro Mavondo and trumpeter Peter Knight for the Australian Art Orchestra, which premiered as a live-stream concert in 2020, was nominated for an ARIA Award (Best Jazz Album) and won the APRA AMCOS/AMC Art Music Award for electroacoustic/sound art work of the year in 2021. THIS Trojan Women, a collaboratively composed theatre work with poets Didem Caia and Tariro Mavondo commissioned by the Melbourne Fringe Festival, i know that i know, which premiered at the 2017 Melbourne Festival with the ensemble ACME, Sleep Talk for the contemporary jazz orchestra UNFIX featuring vocalist Georgie Darvidis and the Penny String Quartet, as well as the Instagram work The World Died Today While You Were On Your Phone commissioned by the Art, Not Apart Festival for I Hold the Great Rack in 2020. Selected compositions can also be found in the Australian Jazz Real Book.

Since 2012, Reuben has maintained a regular international schedule of self-directed, funded and freelance engagements in Germany, France, Denmark, Netherlands, USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Norway, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. In 2017, he performed an 8-hour durational sleep concert with The Phonetic Orchestra at the Serralves Festival in Portugal. Reuben also co-produced and performed in their 24-hour concert Silent Towns, which was streamed live from Germany and Australia in 2020 and subsequently won the APRA AMCOS/AMC Art Music Award for jazz/improvised music performance of the year in 2021.

Reuben’s long-standing association with the internationally acclaimed dancer, director, choreographer and visual artist, Tony Yap has seen him regularly premiere new collaborative works across Australia and Southeast Asia, such as I am Ding Chai at the 2017 AsiaTOPA festival, Love Fall at the 2018 ButohOut! festival, as well as multiple pieces at the MAP Melaka festivals from 2015-2019. Other acclaimed cross-disciplinary collaborative projects include Inflorescence with visual artist Dianne Fogwell, premiered at the 2015 You Are Here festival, Waterfalls Plunge into The Abyss, written in 2016 by Bambang N Karim and premiered in Java, Indonesia, as well as Memoir for Rivers and The Dictator by Lilian Steiner, commissioned as part of the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award and premiered as a 50 minute work at Dance Massive in 2019.

Reuben has featured on several critically acclaimed releases as diverse as Westside Movements and Avenues by Melbourne based producer Loure, Cold Radish Coma and Elevate by renowned Melbourne nu-soul outfit 30/70, Space Klezmer by the chaos infused large ensemble YID, as well as Half Mile Harvest and Live at the Forum by multi-ARIA winning band The Teskey Brothers.

As a music producer, Reuben has developed a character that is as distinctive as his live performance practice. Alongside his production work for multiple projects with I Hold the Lion’s Paw, Tony Yap Company, The Phonetic Orchestra and I Hold the Great Rack, he has produced and co-recorded many releases including the recent release Closed Beginnings featuring Tariro Mavondo on AAO Recordings.

As an arts professional, Reuben works part time at a number of key organisations in the Australian arts sector. His current roles include Marketing & Communications Manger at Dancehouse. Previous roles include Digital Producer & AAO Recordings Manager at Australian Art Orchestra (2020-2022) and Publicity & Content Producer at Earshift Music (2021-2023).

Reuben has managed, curated and produced multiple major tours, projects and media campaigns as an independent artist including the DUODUO festival for the Lebowskis Music Series and AAO Mini Masterclass Series. Through his work with the Australian Art Orchestra, Reuben has co-produced and managed several large scale productions including the Of Deities and Demons national tour in 2019 and the international tour of Nicole Lizée’s Karappo Okesutura Volume 3 to Canada in 2020.

As a published writer, Reuben’s work can be found in the Bloomsbury Press publication of the academic edition; ‘The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts; Spontaneity, Flaws and the Unfinished’, a collection of essays and interviews centred round the notion of the accidental in creativity and edited by Andy Hamilton and Lara Pearson. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne.

Reuben was appointed to the role of Associate Artist, as part of the Australian Art Orchestra’s Pathfinders – Music Leadership Program for 2019/2020 as well as the 2020-2021 AMC Artistic Associate for Jazzahead! and was nominated for a Freedman Jazz Fellowship in 2018 and 2019. In 2015, Reuben attended the inaugural MAP Delhi residency with the Tony Yap Dance Company and was a faculty member in The Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive in 2019-2021. I Hold the Lion’s Paw was selected for the inaugural Lebowski’s Development Residency in 2016 and maintained a monthly residency at iconic Melbourne venue, The Brunswick Green from 2017-2020. In 2015, The Phonetic Orchestra participated in a collaborative residency with Norwegian new-music collective The Kitchen Orchestra in Stavanger, Norway as well as attended the 2017 Sonascopia Creative Residency in Porto, Portugal.

Various associated projects have received funding for creative development, touring and new works by distinguished Australian funding bodies, including the Australia Council, Creative Victoria, APRA/AMCOS, Australian Music Centre, Sounds Australia, Arts ACT and the Ian Potter Foundation.