Meade Lux Lewis
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Anderson Meade "Lux" Lewis (September 4, 1905 – June 7, 1964) was an American pianist and composer, remembered for his playing in the boogie-woogie style.<ref name="bare">Template:Cite book</ref> His best-known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded by many artists.
Biography
[edit]Lewis was born in Chicago,<ref name="bare"/><ref name="AMG"/> though some sources state Louisville, Kentucky,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on September 4, 1905 (September 3 and 13 have also been cited as his date of birth in sources). In his youth he was influenced by the pianist Jimmy Yancey.<ref name="russell">Template:Cite book</ref>
His father, a guitarist who made two recordings of his own, introduced Meade to music and arranged for him to have violin lessons. He gave up the violin at age 16, shortly after his father's death, and switched to the piano. The nickname "Lux" was given to him by his boyhood friends. He would imitate a couple of characters from a popular comic strip in Chicago, Alphonse and Gaston, and stroke an imaginary beard as part of the routine. His friends started calling him the Duke of Luxembourg because of this, and the name stuck for the rest of his life. He became friends with Albert Ammons during childhood, a friendship that would last throughout their lives. They went to the same school together briefly, and they practiced and learned the piano together on the Ammons family piano.<ref name="silvester">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
A 1927 rendition of "Honky Tonk Train Blues”, released by Paramount Records, marked his recording debut.<ref name="russell"/> He remade it for Parlophone in 1935 and for Victor in 1937, and a recording exists of a radio show, Camel Caravan, broadcast from New York City in 1939, which includes "Honky Tonk Train Blues”. His performance at John Hammond's historic From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 brought Lewis to public attention.<ref name="AMG"/> Following the event, Lewis and two other performers from that concert, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, often appeared as a trio and became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day.<ref name="russell"/><ref name="AMG">Template:Cite web</ref>
They had an extended engagement at Café Society, toured as a trio, and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records in 1939. Their success led to a decade-long boogie-woogie craze,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with big-band swing treatments by Tommy Dorsey, Will Bradley, and others; and numerous country boogie and early rock-and-roll songs.
Lewis appeared in the movies New Orleans (1947) and Nightmare (1956).<ref name="russell"/> He also appeared, uncredited, in the movie It's a Wonderful Life (1946), playing piano in the scene where George Bailey gets thrown out of Nick's Bar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lewis was fond of the Minneapolis area, where a niece lived, and would visit as often as he could. He appeared annually at the White House Restaurant (no longer extant) in Golden Valley. He began a successful three-week engagement there in May 1964. Around 2 a.m. on Sunday, June 7, Lewis left the parking lot of the White House and headed east on Olson Memorial Highway, when his Chrysler Imperial was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Ronald Bates, who was traveling an estimated 80 mph. Lewis's car was pushed 400 feet and crashed into a tree; he was killed instantly. He was 58. Bates survived, but his passenger died the following day.<ref name="silvester"/>Template:Rp
Legacy
[edit]Lewis' best-known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues”, has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement.<ref name="russell"/> Early recordings of the piece by artists other than Lewis include performances by Adrian Rollini, Frankie Trumbauer, classical harpsichordist Sylvia Marlowe, theater organist George Wright (with drummer Cozy Cole, under the title "Organ Boogie"), and Bob Zurke with Bob Crosby's orchestra. Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer often included it in his repertoire and had a Top 30 hit with it in 1976 on a single, and then they included that title in their 1977 album Works Volume II.
Lewis was mentioned in Chapter 81 of author Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle. Lewis is also mentioned in Ross Macdonald's novel The Moving Target and in Keith Richards's autobiography Life.
Discography
[edit]- 1941: Boogie Woogie (compilation), Columbia C44<ref name="Birnbaum">Template:Cite book</ref>
- 1955: Boogie Woogie Piano and Drums, Clef<ref name="BB">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
- 1975: Tell Your Story, Oldie Blues OL 2805
- 1982: Giant of Blues and Boogie Woogie 1905–1964, Oldie Blues OL 2810
- 1984: Chicago Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie 1936–1951 Vol. 3, Oldie Blues OL 2827
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- 1905 births
- 1964 deaths
- 20th-century American pianists
- 20th-century American jazz composers
- African-American jazz composers
- African-American jazz pianists
- American blues pianists
- Blues musicians from Kentucky
- Blue Note Records artists
- Boogie-woogie pianists
- Jazz musicians from Kentucky
- Musicians from Louisville, Kentucky
- Paramount Records artists
- Parlophone artists
- Road incident deaths in Minnesota
- Sackbut players
- Victor Records artists
- American male jazz composers
- 20th-century American male musicians
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- American male jazz pianists