biography Based in Charleston, SC, saxophonist/composer/educator Robert Lewis is enjoying a growing presence in the jazz community of the South. In demand as an artist and clinician, Robert performs over 200 times a year, both as a leader and as a sideman. He is also the Director of Jazz Studies at the College of Charleston, balancing his career between performance and education. Robert and his primary musical collaborator Frank Duvall have released two critically acclaimed cds of original music, Swagger and Fearless Jones. Swagger was featured on the National Public Radio program JazzSouth, voted in by the committee with the highest score of any of the featured albums that year. Robert and Frank have found they have an unusually strong chemistry when performing together. They have performed nearly 2000 times together, consistently working on each others projects, and working out a musical vocabulary of their own. Robert is the bandleader and lead alto saxophonist for the Darius Rucker Big Band. He has been working with Darius (lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish) in shows featuring the music of Frank Sinatra. Robert was the winner of the 1998 “db” award by Downbeat Magazine for “Best Jazz Soloist,” chosen from thousands of applicants around the country. As Director of Jazz Studies at the College of Charleston, Robert directs the Jazz Combo I, teaches Jazz Theory, Jazz Composition and private lessons on saxophone and jazz improvisation. Under his leadership the program has grown in both quality and quantity of students. The program has produced a number of working professional musicians, as well as students winning prestigious awards such as Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead camp at the Kennedy Center.