The New Weapon in Chess Is Zug Zwang

Eric Lewis, known as ELEW, is a multi-talented artist with a career that spans the worlds of music performance, composition, and film production. Eric started his music career as a jazz and concert pianist playing with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. Reinventing himself as ELEW, he pioneered the crossover musical techniques Rockjazz, Counterbop, and Piano Turntablism. Among many other accolades, Eric has opened for Josh Groban, produced tracks for Lil’ Wayne, appeared on America’s Got Talent, spoken at TED, and performed at the White House for the Obamas.

In this conversation, Chris Sparks takes you inside the mind of a musical genius as ELEW shares the strategy, mindset, and principles required to put on an epic performance. You’ll learn how to reverse-engineer a creative vision, the keys to reinvention as an artist, why preparation seeds adaptability, how to overcome perfectionism, career lessons from the world of blitz chess, and much more.

For the video, transcript, and show notes, visit https://forcingfunctionhour.com/elew.