Dave
Lewis
had a number of groups under his name and leadership... Dave Lewis
Combo,
Dave Lewis Trio, The Five Checks and more. The above are only
some
of the musicians who performed with him.
I was just
searching
for an old friend, Dave Lewis, and came upon your site. I
met
Dave at Meany Jr. High in 1951. We became good
friends
and when he got his first job at Birdland, possibly in 1953, he invited
me to come hear them play. They were terrific. I would do a
little rap on the alley door which was right next to the bandstand and
one of them would let me in. I remember Ronnie Height was in the
first Dave Lewis Combo.
I moved to
California
in 1956 and when I returned in 1958 they told me Ronnie had moved to
Los
Angeles to write music. The last time I saw Dave perform was
probably
1966 at the Owl Tavern. The last time I saw J.B. was in the early
70's. He had joined the Merchant Marines and was doing very
well.
I met Barney in 1949. We both had a Seattle Post Intelligencer
(P.I.)
paper route and we worked out of the same paper shack. One of my
favorite memories is of a Sunday morning argument when he came out on
top
of one the older boys.
Does anybody
know
where these people are?. We were good friends and it would be
great
to talk about old times and share how we have managed to get this old.
Brian
O'Neill,
November 2005
(Webmaster's
Note:
If you have any information about Brian's old friends, please send it
to webmaster@pnwbands.com
and it will be forwarded to Brian.)
I watched Dave
Lewis
perform at Dave's fifth Avenue, and DJ's. I believe I saw him
first
at the "Downbeat" in Seattle on a revolving stage. I would drive
from Tacoma to Seattle every Saturday night to watch his group
perform.
There has never been a sound like the "Dave Lewis Sound".
I have been
trying
to find old Dave Lewis vinyl's. I got a good copy of "little
Green
Thing" album and converted to a CD. Wow!
An article in
the
Tri City Herald a few years ago said Dave died in California. I
believe
it was 1998. It was an AP article that tributes Dave as a part of
the "Northwest Rock" sound
Mike Kupfer,
November
2005
George Griffin
moved
to California in 1970. After 36 years in California, he moved
back
to Seattle in August 2006.
While in
California,
Griffin recorded with many artists at the Gold Star Studios. He
had
one of the top Sports Commercials in Los Angeles, the Big Joe MacDonald
Theme. He played and sang on many movie sound tracks... 10 to
Midnight,
a Charles Bronson movie, "Abby"/"God Told ME To".
He became a
legend
in Long Beach, CA at clubs dates, R&B and jazz concerts. He
also
did a tribute to Otis Redding in Maui and California. George
toured
Holland at the Blues Festival with The Elliott Chaver Band. The
list
goes on and on... TV commercials and Mad TV.
All this
started
after the Dave Lewis Combo. He is one of Seattle's music pioneers.
For more
information,
write to him at 33rd Avenue South, #629, Seattle, WA 98144 or call
206-721-5261.
George
Griffin,
September 2006
I had the
supreme
pleasure of sharing the stage with Dave Lewis & Ron Holden at the
Children's
Orthopedic Hospital Benefit in 1981. We, Sparky and the
Starfires,
were the backup band for The Coasters w/Bobby Nunn, and opened with a
30
minute set of our own.
As the evening
progressed
Dave Lewis took the stage performing on that ineffable Hammond B-3...
and
I mean he "took" that stage. Man was that a gas. Dave and
his
group were absolutely flawless.
I felt so
blessed
to be a part of that lineup of musicians. It is one of my fondest
memories
as a Northwest musician.
Frank
Neubert, Sparky
and the Starfires....Seattle, February, 2007
In the summer
of
1964, Dave Lewis, with the other two members of his trio, Joe Johanson,
guitar, and Dickie Enfield, drums, left The Black & Tan to go to
work
at Dave's Fifth Avenue Club on 5th Ave. just off Denny Way. At
that
time, Mike Mandel got the gig at The Black & Tan. Mike was,
and
is an incredible keyboard player.
At the time he
was
playing Hammond B-3 with 1 Leslie speaker (he later had 2 Leslies)
fashioned
after combined styles of Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack
McDuff,
John Patton, etc. Mike was a big part of the Seattle jazz scene
at
the time and a member of The Seattle Jazz Society for whom he played
many
functions other than his gig at The Black & Tan. Mike was
good
friends with Don Stevenson/drummer & Lee Parker/guitar (both had
been
part of the Seattle R&B scene for several years) so he hired them
to
gig at the Black & Tan.
Mike Mandel
fronted
the group until Don Stevenson left to go south to San Francisco.
At that time, George Griffin, drummer extraordinaire, joined the
group.
With George's vocals and stage presence, he became the front man, and
the
organ trio became The George Griffin Trio. George had just come
off
the road with Lionel Hampton. He was with "Hamp" 18 months.
Hamp called him "Little Hamp".
Lee Parker
From the
memoirs
of Lee Parker, provided courtesy of Patricia Hubbard (wife of Lee
Parker),
August 2011
