Sélébéyone
By Steve Lehman ’96
Steve Lehman’s album Sélébéyone was selected as a Top 10 CD of 2016 by NPR, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times Popcast. The ensemble Sélébéyone—“intersection” in Senegal’s Wolof language—includes two emcees from different continents, two composer-saxophonists, and three supporting players with strong jazz pedigrees in a jazz-rap collaboration. As a Pitchfork review describes, “What they come up with feels both legitimately new and surprisingly approachable.”
Described as “a state-of-the-art musical thinker” by the New York Times, Steve Lehman is a composer, performer and educator working across a spectrum of musical idioms. His recording Mise en Abîme (2014) was named the number-one jazz album of the year by NPR Music and the Los Angeles Times. His previous recording, Travail, Transformation & Flow (2009), was chosen as the number-one jazz album of the year by the New York Times. Recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, Steve is an alto saxophonist who has performed and recorded nationally and internationally. In September 2016, Steve joined the music faculty at The California Institute of the Arts.