Australian experimental jazz collective I Hold the Lion’s Paw, led by ARIA-nominated trumpeter Reuben Lewis, have carved out a reputation for tearing up conventions since their formation in 2016. Their third studio album, Potentially Interesting Jazz Music (Earshift Music, September 26th 2025), takes that ethos further, embracing what Lewis calls a “genre rebellion” and posing the provocation: what is jazz, or what might it be?
The record emerged from a seven-hour marathon session later collaged and reassembled in the studio, resulting in nine concise yet unpredictable tracks. With contributions ranging from Emily Bennett’s soaring vocal arrangements to guest appearances by Tariro Mavondo and Michelle Nicolle, the album continues the band’s mission to push boundaries while maintaining a collective spirit.
Jazzviews caught up with Lewis to discuss the bold title, the ensemble’s evolving dynamic, and the balance between freedom and cohesion that drives I Hold the Lion’s Paw.
Potentially Interesting Jazz Music is a bold title. What was the spark behind choosing it, and how does it capture the essence of the record?
The title took a hold on the group during one of our initial editing sessions for the record. “Potentially Interesting Jazz Music” is one of those wonderfully loaded phrases that inevitably means different things to different people. For Lion’s Paw, it’s a dare to leave preconceptions at the door and stay curious about what is being heard.
Since forming in 2016, the group has been described as “the feeling of having stumbled into someone else’s LSD trip.” Do you embrace that description, or is there another image you prefer?
A reviewer recently nailed it when they described our music “as if the Muppets wandered into a Sun Ra rehearsal and never left”. I love this. It still nods to the psychedelic and intense nature of the band, but also acknowledges our more playful and surreal tendencies.
A big part of the yearly Lion’s Paw tour schedule at the moment involves performing our music for children in Imagination Exploration through the Musica Viva Australia in Schools program. We get to connect with kids from all walks of life across Australia and share how improvisation can be a powerful tool for making something magical with whatever materials are at hand. We often describe improvising together during those shows as exploring “Abstract Playgrounds”, which also nods to our first record and I think still summarises our music most poetically.
You’ve spoken about wanting audiences to join you in a “genre rebellion.” What does that rebellion mean to you in practice?
To put it bluntly, Lion’s Paw makes music by improvising together and drawing influence from whatever we like. We’re most interested in the journey, honouring the moment, and being open to new possibilities that can redirect the flow. I think we’re also collectively wary of letting genre categorisation, nostalgia, classicism and fashion creep in to stunt the creative growth.
The album poses the rhetorical question: “what is jazz, or what might it be?” How do you personally answer that, at least for now?
To be honest, I think the power of that rhetorical question is more in the sitting with the provocation rather than trying to answer it. Lion’s Paw doesn’t have the answer, that’s for sure! That being said, we like to think of “jazz” as a guiding philosophy for absorbing, re/dis-assembling and experimenting with nearby materials.
The nine tracks were born out of a seven-hour marathon session and later reassembled in post-production. Can you talk about how that process differed from previous albums?
The biggest difference this time was that the editing of that marathon session was a collective effort from start to finish. We spent a lot of time reviewing the materials as a group, distilling every offering so that they could be as potent as possible. The material was then framed, collaged and sharpened in post-production; broken into parts with new layers added, and then carefully re-assembled.
Emily Bennett’s vocal arrangements and contributions from guests like Tariro Mavondo and Michelle Nicolle add striking layers. How do you decide when and how to bring new voices into the mix?
It’s worth first highlighting that Emily is a core member of I Hold the Lion’s Paw. Her practice with voice, words, electronics and synths is more like a superpower in the ways that it can transport the group into entirely new creative universes with a single utterance.
When it comes to adding new voices within the context of making this record, we simply heard an opening for particular people to shine. Tariro Mavondo is an extraordinary artist that I have worked with closely with through our Closed Beginnings project alongside fellow trumpeter Peter Knight and for an earlier Lion’s Paw collab called Bones. I’d trust Tariro with my life and anything her voice touches turns to gold, so we gave her the track, pressed the red button and let her run with it.
No one can do what Michelle Nicole can do, and similar to Tariro, we have a deep love and respect for her artistry and a total trust that she will elevate the class of absolutely anything she encounters. Emily worked closely with Michelle to bring that track to life by writing heart-swelling lyrics about the recent birth of our twin daughters (Joan and Mavis) and by framing the melodic contours and choir backings with plenty of room for Michelle to let it rip.
The album cites inspirations from Ornette Coleman to Laurie Anderson, Don Cherry to Sun Ra. Which influence loomed largest during this project?
From a record making standpoint, Jon Hassell looms large. Jon’s studio collages carry the torch of Miles and Teo into all sorts of possible musics that everyone in Lion’s Paw has been deeply affected by. From a playing perspective, I think Ornette, or more specifically his philosophy of Harmolodics, resonates with how we like to put all the parts together moment by moment.
With trumpet, bass grooves, synths, spoken word and more, the sonic palette is vast. How do you balance freedom with cohesion in the ensemble?
The cohesion comes from trusting every member completely and by affording each other total freedom when we play together. There isn’t really a predetermined sonic palette, the music of Lion’s Paw comes from its members and the materials that they each use to express themselves.
The group has been together almost a decade now. How has the dynamic between members evolved since your debut?
In a way, Potentially Interesting Jazz Music celebrates IHTLP – Mk III. I started I Lion’s Hold the Paw in 2016 as a kind of live experiment that used compositional levers to open up new possibilities during collective musical improvisation. Making the first record, Abstract Playgrounds (2018) was a process of documenting those interactions, capturing moments in extended play that brought the listener into our world as we made it. When making the second record, Lost in Place (2021), I wanted to dig deeper into the possibilities of making a record and thus made the studio the laboratory for the band rather than the live stage. In both cases, my role and creative influence was far more dominant as the hybrid composer/producer/bandleader.
Between then and now, Lion’s Paw has adopted a more democratic approach that is foregrounded in the contributions and philosophy of the other members – Emily Bennett (Great Rack and an Empty Club Reverb), Ronny Ferella (Ish Ish, Michelle Nicolle Quartet) and Adam Halliwell (Mildlife). What you are hearing on Potentially Interesting Jazz Music is an improvising ensemble that, since around 2019, has been in a perpetual state of re-inventing and replenishing itself, as well as mapping a shared vision.
If someone completely new to IHTLP pressed play on just one track from the album, which would you suggest as the gateway into your world?
I think Big Bois would give the listener the most direct and unfiltered glimpse into the inner workings of Lion’s Paw. That track was a virtually un-edited segment taken from one of the earliest moments of the improv marathon (I want to say within the first 20 minutes) and all four members are going for it in full Harmolodic glory.
