Emerging guitarist, composer, and musical conceptualist Lucas Winter will release his debut album Lo on Heartcore Records on January 24th, 2025.
Lucas Winter is a New York-based jazz guitarist and composer who has established himself as a distinctive and unconventional voice in modern improvised music. Originally from Seattle and raised in a musical family, Lucas developed an interest in guitar at the age of seven, quickly mastering note-for-note transcriptions of Jimi Hendrix performances. His exceptional talents led him to the prestigious Roosevelt High School jazz program, where he performed alongside Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on multiple occasions. He continued his studies at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, learning from revered mentors Jim Knapp, Jay Thomas, and Chuck Deardorf. Lucas later earned a Master’s degree in Jazz and Improvised Music at the University of Washington, where he studied under master drummer Ted Poor—a major mentor and influence on his creative voice. Above all, Lucas aspires to embody the spirit of what he calls a “revolutionist” in music.
Lo is Lucas Winter’s debut album and is the product of the artist’s arduous and deeply personal effort to push the boundaries of his own writing and instrumental techniques into new realms of possibility. Inspired by the conceptual framework and groundbreaking rhythmic innovation of New York avant-garde jazz and modern music, Lo combines elements from the shifting rhythmic landscapes of M-Base and associated contemporary forms with a free and fleeting melodicism that proves easily accessible to the layman listener.
Take, for example, the track “New Peace”. Inspired by Lucas’ reading of Stephen Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature, the song is notable for its dexterous and intervallic theme that, while cerebral, retains an element of singability which is referenced time and time again in masterful solos from Winter and pianist Gus Carns. Creative production, overdubbing, and electronic drum programming from Machado Mijiga lend depth and texture to the track. The album’s opening statement, “Forebode” is a moody piece on which Winter favors a smooth and subdued guitar tone. The sparse interplay between electronic drum tracks and ensemble seems, aptly, to foreshadow the mellifluous dissonance of the album’s more hard-charging numbers, acting as a sort of invitation to the listener to explore further. The final single, “Catch 192” is introduced with the punctuated and virtuosic solo acoustic bass of Kim Cass, the masterful Brooklyn, NY bassist who Lucas Winter credits as a mentor and major influence upon Lo. Cass’s super-human bass lines are then mirrored by the ensemble as undulating rhythm’s beneath devolve into near cacophony. Together, the band deftly weaves through the labyrinthine 192-beat form that inspired the tune’s name. Winter is quick to point out the stop-start dynamic of his music is “tight, specific, and follows a definite set of parameters within each composition.” This is the common thread throughout Lo, a highly disciplined and conceived form of trailblazing musicianship that challenges the commonplace and favors an independently minded form of personal self-expression.
“I am always happiest when I am listening to music and I don’t know what is going on, and my analytical brain can’t comprehend what is happening. Even in my early stages of music-making as a child, I knew that I did not want to take the traditionalist path. All of my heroes, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and Charles Mingus, took the daring path of being revolutionaries and going against the idiomatic norm. This is the kind of artist I want to be.” - Lucas Winter
The six original tracks comprising Lo display Winter’s penchant for an almost surrealist juxtaposition of material that seems to blur our assumptions of the basic elements of music. In Winter’s World, rhythms serve as melodies, harmony is introduced only to slowly spiral and decay in the most organic fashion, and melodies are often simple anchor points that morph within the constantly evolving topography of each tune.
Lo is Lucas Winter’s first album as a bandleader and features six original compositions blending disparate elements from a vast array of influences into a cohesive and connected whole. The album features Kim Cass on bass, Gus Carns on piano, keyboard and synthesizer, Machado Mijiga on electronic drums and productions, Evan Woodle on acoustic drums, Rex Gregory on tenor saxophone, and Lucas Winter on guitar and compositions. Heartcore Records will release Lucas Winter’s Lo on January 24th, 2025. The album will be available for purchase and listening through all digital music platforms and as a CD.
