“Preservation Hall’s 33-year-old Grammy-nominated trumpet player, Branden Lewis, is surprisingly modest. He beams with bravado on stage but, in conversation, he’ll tell you about what he cooked for dinner, what he’s been listening to lately and what his friends have accomplished far before he’ll open up about himself. It is not that he isn’t proud of having performed with Stevie Wonder, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Arcade Fire, Chance the Rapper, Jon Batiste, Reggie Watts, Dave Matthews, Corinne Bailey Rae, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and Foo Fighters. It’s just that those experiences are lagniappe to having a day job that allows him to do what he loves to do most.”
I have music in my heart and soul. I never planned on playing music for a living, i just always loved playing the trumpet. my grandfather, James Victor Lewis, is a Grammy award winning sax player famous for his role in one of the new orlean’s most iconic R&B bands, Li’l Millet & His Creoles. he moved to Los angeles around 1960 in an attempt to escape some of the bitter realities of being a black man in louisiana at that time. Even though I grew up in Los angeles, grandpa never let us kids forget that we were from new orleans.
I was raised playing trumpet in church, marching band and for one of the top youth orchestras in L.a.. IN 2012, I MOVED TO NEW ORLEANS to TRULY discover MY career as a musician.
Immediately Taken under the wing of Delfeayo Marsalis, with regular gigs on Frenchman Street’s “modern jazz proving ground” Snug Harbor, I quickly worked my way up to collaborating with artists like Dee Dee Bridgewater and recording on the Grammy nominated bobby rush ft. Dr. John album “Decisions” in 2014. I’m A co-creator of the international Trumpet Mafia collective based in New Orleans, AND I BEGAN tourING with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra in 2015. After joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 2016 and recording the album “So It Is”, I recorded my first album as a bandleader entitled ‘blq’ at the historic Esplanade Studios in 2017.
