Philosopher's Sax: Steve Lehman

BROOKLYN-BORN MUSICIAN and composer Steve Lehman is a jazz alto saxophone heavyweight. For that instrument's improvisers, to be considered as such has come to mean one who is impressively complex or deftly experimental.

Jazz alto legends Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy were some of the first to tilt jazz toward the avant-garde and cross over into classical music territory. The brainiacs of the idiom, alto sax cats have typically taken a backseat acclamation-wise to ubiquitous tenor types.

Lehman isn't necessarily out to change that. In fact, he's not even that keen on referring to his music as "jazz" — despite being named a "rising star" on his instrument by Downbeat magazine in 2006 and 2007.

"The problem with the term 'jazz,' for me, is that it's too vague," Lehman says.

He admits, though, that the musicians he most identifies with work within that style.

"Jackie McLean changed the whole trajectory of my life," Lehman says.

The late Jackie McLean was once a teacher of Lehman's. The young musician, who also studied under innovative reedman and composer Anthony Braxton, is currently finishing up studies at Columbia University, where he is a doctrinal candidate in musical composition.

It was in McLean's music that Lehman first heard something significant — something that imparted more than just jazz's historical and technical connotations. On his new album, "On Meaning," Lehman employs both technique and soul in seeking to express the inexpressible.

On the song "Great Plains of Algiers," Lehman's quintet tackles timbre head-on using "spectral" harmony techniques that he learned from his current mentor, French composer Tristan Murail. "If it works, the instruments should sound well-blended," Lehman says.

The New York artist also likes to blend sounds with computers when he's not writing theses and wowing jazz societe. Audiences will gain insight into this particular side of the artist Saturday when he gives a solo performance as part of the Spontaneous Infinity music series at the Velvet Lounge.

"Working with [computers] opens doors in composition," Lehman says. "If I can use it in a meaningful way, anyone could."

» Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW; Sat., 10 p.m., $10; 202 462-3213. (U St.-Cardozo)