I remember listening to this programme on Radio 3 some years ago. Brilliant insight into the greatest jazz clarinettist of all time. Lewis's playing had an extraordinary emotional quality capable of moving almost to tears in a way I have only ever experienced in opera.! Genius . Absolutely. Woody Allen sums it up beautifully. My great regret was not taping from Radio 3 at the time. Grateful thanks to Dave Senior! Perhaps Radio 3 will repeat those programmes sometime. Also those done about the same time on Preservation Hall. I live in hope!!!
I heard George with Jim Robinson's band at Preservation Hall in about 1961. I immediately bought recordings of the band and other New Orleans revival bands and have loved Dixieland ever since. No one has surpassed those bands, featuring artists who had been relegated to doing physical labor for years and were by then in their sixties and older.
What about Johnny Dodds, the clarinettist chosen , playing regularly with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five , whose tonal power of expression and inventiveness was on a par with George’s undeniable sweetness of tone on the “early” recordings chosen by Woody Allen , also you can’t ignore Albert Nicholas and Omer Simeón, Jelly Roll Morton’s favoured clarinet players ! George’s over reliance on his often too harmonically primitive and too repetitive arpeggio phrases lack the wider melodic approach of these other players , as Bob Wilber pointed out to me.
Not to disagree with Woody here, but I would say Louis Prima, Al Hirt and Pete Fountain would be more commercially known than George Lewis historically. At least at first thought here.
Thank You Woody for the good word to George Lewis great art. Donald Fransson, Sweden
I remember listening to this programme on Radio 3 some years ago. Brilliant insight into the greatest jazz clarinettist of all time. Lewis's playing had an extraordinary emotional quality capable of moving almost to tears in a way I have only ever experienced in opera.! Genius . Absolutely. Woody Allen sums it up beautifully. My great regret was not taping from Radio 3 at the time. Grateful thanks to Dave Senior! Perhaps Radio 3 will repeat those programmes sometime. Also those done about the same time on Preservation Hall. I live in hope!!!
I enjoyed him and the Band twice in the 50th in Hamburg and since this time I love his play.
I heard George with Jim Robinson's band at Preservation Hall in about 1961. I immediately bought recordings of the band and other New Orleans revival bands and have loved Dixieland ever since. No one has surpassed those bands, featuring artists who had been relegated to doing physical labor for years and were by then in their sixties and older.
He was the best!
Ornette Coleman heard George playing at a Jazz Festival and said,"that old man has the most beautiful tone I have ever heard on a clarinet '
'What A Friend I Have In Jesus'... Thank you, George
Where's the follow-up to this with Woody Allen discussing Jimmy Noone?
Listening to unforgettable Lewis, let me put in a word for Sammy Rimington..
sammy is the last of the greats and carries on the N.O TRADITION
and Chris Barber’s clarinet stars Monty Sunshine and (Ian Wheeler, also passed away ? “ )
To me he had a sound that was lively, yet strangely dark and hollow.
I can’t believe I didn’t know this superlative musician before. Thanks for this loving introduction.
Woody says it all for me. .Mick Welstead
What about Johnny Dodds, the clarinettist chosen , playing regularly with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five , whose tonal power of
expression and inventiveness was on a par with George’s undeniable sweetness of tone on the “early” recordings chosen by Woody Allen , also you can’t ignore Albert Nicholas and Omer Simeón, Jelly Roll Morton’s favoured clarinet players ! George’s over reliance on his often too harmonically primitive and too repetitive arpeggio phrases lack the wider melodic approach of these other players , as Bob Wilber pointed out to me.
I agree completely. I would also throw in Irving Fazola and Danny Polo as lesser known but outstanding clarinetists.
Not to disagree with Woody here, but I would say Louis Prima, Al Hirt and Pete Fountain would be more commercially known than George Lewis historically. At least at first thought here.