Elew
Rivera Court inside the Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Ave.
Feb. 27, 2026
“I’m the bad boy of jazz.”
That’s how Elew describes himself, standing in front of a packed house at the Detroit Institute of Arts’ stunning Rivera Court for their Friday Night Live! Series.
I couldn’t agree more.
Elew, a.k.a. Eric Robert Lewis, is one of the most exhilarating pianists you can see today. He’s known for his “rockjazz” combos, taking on pop music and pulling it through the lens of classical music to create something else entirely.
He’s just as comfortable on stage with Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones as he is with Josh Groban and opening up for Sting, which Elew recently did for a 30-date stint.
For his gig at the Rivera Court, it was completely focused on the music of Sting -- or, at least, his wild interpretations of it. At one point, he calls them the “snarky sarcastic little tunes of Sting.”
And you’ve never quite heard “Desert Rose” done this way, with Elew standing over the piano before he launches into that instantly recognizable motif, bending the strings of the piano to make it sound monstrous; like a massive thunder cloud lumbering its way over the venue before crashing and spilling out this beautiful interpretation to a packed house. This juxtaposition of aggressive, avant garde noise mixed with one of the most recognizable pop motifs in Sting's catalog sums up exactly Elew's prowess and appeal.
In disbelief, someone puts their head in their hands in the front row and looks to their friend as if to say, “Can you believe what we’re seeing? Can you believe what we’re hearing?”
I doubt Elew sees this expression of pleasure in the front row, but almost as if he did, he decides to slow things down for the overwhelmed audience: "After that, I'll play a quiet song for you."
Elew begins plucking out "Fields of Gold," a song from Sting's catalog that has over 500 million streams on Spotify. Again, that instantly recognizable hook emerges from Elew's quiet storm of showing just how capable he is of manipulating something you know so well, deconstructing it and putting it back together right before your ears. There's dissonance. There's a fresh arrangement. Through it all, however, Sting's earworm remains in tact.
It was an absolute pleasure to see Elew twice in two years in wildly different venues. Back in 2024, Elew came to Cliff Bell’s for a quiet Thursday night show in front of maybe 50 people. It was a beautiful performance; one that leaned more into the jazz world than this Sting dedication.
At the Rivera Court, there was a line outside to get in.
Apparently, word has spread that Elew is a must-see performer every time he comes to Detroit. Don’t miss the “bad boy of jazz” next time he performs here.
