12 May 2009

A piano performance that balances chaos and harmony: Eric Lewis on TED.com

Eric Lewis (who plays the White House tonight!) 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. (Recorded at TED2009, February 2009, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 4:54.)

Watch Eric Lewis' performance on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 400+ TEDTalks.

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17 March 2009

4 chances to see TED speakers live, this week and next

TEDIndia's Lakshmi Pratury will be interviewing two TED speakers next week in the Bay Area:

+ March 30, 2009, hear TED2009 speaker Nandan Nilekani, the founder of Infosys and the author of Imagining India, at the Crowne Plaza Cabana in Palo Alto, 6:30-8pm. Tickets: $15 members, $25 nonmembers. Premium tickets (includes reception, book and priority seating) $100 members, $125 nonmembersMore info.

+ On April 2, 2009, hear John Francis, author of Planet Walker, at Le Petit Trianon, 72 N. Fifth St., San Jose, 6:30-8pm. Tickets: $15 members, $25 nonmembers. More info.

Both events are presented by the Commonwealth Club, Silicon Valley. For tickets, call (800) 847-7730 or register online at www.commonwealthclub.org/sv.

+ Meanwhile, up in San Francisco on April 2, the wonderful Jill Sobule is playing songs from her new album to benefit the 826 Valencia writing lab. Drinks at 6:30pm, concert at 7:30pm. Tickets: Minimum donation of $100 to benefit the free student programming at 826 Valencia. Online ticketing: 826valencia.org/sobule

+ And this Thursday night, March 19, in New York City, catch the white-hot pianist Eric Lewis in a set at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. If you loved ELEW's TEDTalk performance -- drop by. Doors 6:30, show 7:30. Tickets: $20 advance, $25 door. Get tickets online or (866) 55-TICKETS. More info.

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06 March 2009

A striking evolution in jazz: Exclusive interview with Eric Lewis

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.

The TED Blog interviewed Eric Lewis by phone on Wednesday to find out what brought him from a strictly jazz repertoire into the intense explorations of rock music that brought the TED2009 crowd to its feet. Here's a snippet:

The irony of it all, at the end of all this, is I ended up doing what jazz musicians have always done: taking pop culture tunes and playing their own variations upon them. It's all so funny, because now the jazz community is starting to embrace me, slowly but surely. It's a weird, circuitous, cyclical, ironic, paradoxical story.

Read the full interview with Eric Lewis, after the jump >>

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06 March 2009

Striking chords to rock the jazz world: Eric Lewis on TED.com

Eric Lewis, an astonishingly talented crossover jazz pianist -- seen by many for the first time at TED2009 -- sets fire to the keys with his shattering rendition of Evanescence's chart-topper "Going Under." (Recorded in February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 10:36.)

Watch Eric Lewis' performance from TED2009 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 390+ TEDTalks -- including lots more live music.

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