Mix at Six

Alexis Lombre

Performances

May 7

Alexis Lombre- keys, vocals
Morgan Guerin - sax, EWI, keys
Matt Skillz - bass
Luke Titus - drums
Featuring special guest Georgia Anne Muldrow

Alexis Lombre discovered early on that the true essence of music isn’t about just what you hear, but about how you feel.

The Chicago-born pianist, vocalist, and composer’s mission is to keep the “soul” in music alive —and her 2017 debut album, Southside Sounds, does just that. The album, released in 2017, is a soulful, straight-ahead reflection of Lombre’s upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, a homage to the area’s lively artistic and cultural heritage. Lombre’s 2021 single, “Come Find Me,” is a song created without any borders, described by Lombre as “lyrically, a gospel song; harmonically, a jazz song; and rhythmically, a hip-hop/R&B song.” As JazzTimes put it, Lombre “realized early on that by refusing to be constrained by convention — whether so called ‘jazz’ or otherwise — she’d be honoring, rather than defiling, the rich heritage she’d come to embrace.”

Named as an inaugural member of the Next Jazz Legacy class, a national apprenticeship program by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, Lombre has studied with jazz luminaries including Willie Pickens, Benny Green, Geri Allen, and Robert Hurst. She has played with renowned musicians including the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ Great Black Music Ensemble, Dee Alexander, James Carter, Ernest Dawkins, Donald Harrison, Nona Hendrix, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Makaya McCraven, Marcus Miller, J Moss, Cece Peniston, Wadada Leo Smith, Bobby Watson, and Buster Williams.

Lombre showcases new material from her forthcoming album in her Harris Theater debut, bringing her singular blend of avant-garde, hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and jazz to the provocative and engaging Mix at Six series.

“An emerging composer-bandleader of uncommon maturity and poise."
—Chicago Tribune

Alexis Lombre
Alexis Lombre is a pianist, vocalist, composer, and Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians member from Chicago. Her debut album, Southside Sounds, is a collection of original compositions that pay homage to the artistic and cultural heritage of Chicago’s South Side.

In 2022, Lombre was selected as one of the inaugural members of the Next Jazz Legacy, a national apprenticeship program organized by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice for women and non-binary improvisers in jazz.

Lombre has performed and/or recorded with internationally known musicians such as Marcus Miller, Nicole Mitchell, Faith Evans, Donald Harrison, Bobby Watson, Buster Williams, Wadada Leo Smith, Too $hort, Jamila Woods, JMoss, DJ DNice, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Nona Hendrix. She has been featured in JazzTimes, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Metro Times, and Vocalo.

Georgia Anne Muldrow
Georgia Anne Muldrow is an Instrument of the Ancestors, electronic musician, mother, mentor, activist, vocalist/ songwriter and producer. She's collaborated in recorded work with Brittany Howard, Anderson Paak (for Flying Lotus), Erykah Badu, Yaasin Bey (Mos Def), Lakecia Benjamin, Meshell Ndegeo'cello, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad's Midnight Hour, Denzel Curry, Dudley Perkins, Tank and the Bangas, Bahamadia,Henry Threadgill, Dev Hynes, Mike & Keys, Keyon Harrold, Robert Glasper, Jason Moran, Brian Jackson, Wildchild, DJ Romes, Oh No, Big Daddy Kane, Posdonous, Steve Arrington, Madlib, Bilal, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Dwight Tribble...and many more. you guessed it- that IS a whole lot of talented black folks. She's from L.A., raised and steeped in the afrocentric art technologies of Leimert Park. She wrote Stay Woke with a kiddie marker on an old white tee and it turned into a worldwide phenomenon soon after. She also thinks the blues is too good to throw away but loves that her computer listens to her better than humans can. Her Overload album was nominated for a Grammy, but she likes Mama, You Can Bet! more. She's recorded 21 records to date. Been in the morning paper quite a few times; L.A Times, New York Times. Georgia wants you to know that music is her spaceship- she's a one woman band that translates cosmic waves of music above her head...so they can touch your heart. Landed in 1983, debuted in 2004 & still alive.

Alexis Lombre

Alexis Lombre

“An emerging composer-bandleader of uncommon maturity and poise."—Chicago Tribune

“An emerging composer-bandleader of uncommon maturity and poise."
—Chicago Tribune