School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Mel Lewis

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Mel Lewis was born in 1929 as Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He was already playing professionally as a teenager and in 1954 joined the orchestra of Stan Kenton. In 1957 he moved to Los Angeles, in 1963 to New York. He worked as a jazz drummer, session musician, teacher and writer and received fourteen nominations for a Grammy Award.

Music and breakthrough

In 1966 he founded the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra in New York with Thad Jones. The group began as informal jam sessions of the city's best studio and jazz musicians and then played every Monday night at the Village Vanguard. In 1979 the orchestra won a Grammy for the album Live in Munich. When Jones moved to Denmark in 1978, the group continued as Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra. Lewis played with them on Mondays at the Vanguard until shortly before his death. Albums from his career include Jazz Mission to Moscow from 1962, The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones · Mel Lewis from 1968 and Mellifuous from 1995.

Influence

His cymbal work was regarded as unique. The drummer Buddy Rich said that Mel Lewis sounded like no one else, only like himself. He played Turkish cymbals of the Istanbul brand, light in weight and with a dark, rich sound. He died in 1990, shortly before his orchestra's twenty-fourth anniversary. That orchestra still plays at the Village Vanguard as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and so shows how a big band can become a permanent home.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a big band recording by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, such as The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones · Mel Lewis, and notice the cymbals: how dark and open does the ride sound, and how does Lewis keep the whole orchestra moving?

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsBig band