“Preservation Hall’s 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.”
Branden Lewis has been leading the world-renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band since 2022. He has music in his heart and soul, and although he never planned on playing music for a living, he always loved playing the trumpet. His grandfather, James Victor Lewis, is a Grammy award-winning sax player famous for his role in one of New Orleans’ most iconic R&B bands, Li’l Millet & His Creoles. James moved to Los Angeles around 1960 to escape some of the bitter realities of being a black man in Louisiana at that time. Despite growing up in Los Angeles, Branden's grandfather never let the family forget their New Orleans roots.
Branden was raised playing trumpet in church, marching band, and for one of the top youth orchestras in Los Angeles. In 2012, he moved to New Orleans to truly discover his 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, Branden quickly worked his 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. He is a co-creator of the international Trumpet Mafia collective based in New Orleans and 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”, Branden recorded his first album as a bandleader entitled ‘BLQ’ at the historic Esplanade Studios in 2017.
