George lewis clarinetist biography examples

  • George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his highest profile in the later decades of his life.
  • A self-taught clarinetist whose first instrument was a tin fife, Lewis was playing clarinet professionally with the Black Eagle Band of.
  • Clarinetist George Lewis, who would become one of the most popular of New Orleans jazzmen in the 1950s when he toured the world, was a complete unknown.

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    Atraditional jazz and brass band clarinet player and bandleader from New Orleans, George Lewis was an integral figure in the New Orleans jazz scene, playing with nearly every local musician in the genre at one point or another during his long and storied career. Many musicians would remember Lewis for giving them their first break in the music industry.

    Born George Joseph François Louis Zenon in the French Quarter on July 13, 1900, Lewis came from Native American heritage on his father’s side. His mother, Alice Williams Zeno, was employed as a domestic worker for author Grace King. A self-taught clarinetist whose first instrument was a tin fife, Lewis was playing clarinet professionally with the Black Eagle Band of Mandeville while still in his teens. It was in Mandeville that he heard the Fritz family band play and was influenced by clarinetist Isadore Fritz. Soon he began playing with Buddy Petit’s Black and Tan Band, and when Petit and Earl Humphrey formed a new band, Lewis jo

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    George Lewis

    George Lewis (born Joseph Louis Francois Zenon, July 13, 1900 – December 31, 1968) was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.

    Ancestry

    Lewis was born in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Through his mother, Alice Zeno, his maternal great-great-grandmother was a Senegalese slave who was brought to Louisiana around 1803. Zeno's family retained some knowledge of Senegalese language and customs until Alice's generation.

    Musical career

    Lewis was playing clarinet professionally by 1917, at the age of 17, working with Buddy Petit and Chris Kelly regularly as well as with the trombonist Kid Ory and other leaders. At this time, he seldom traveled far from the greater New Orleans area. During the Great Depression he took a job as a stevedore, continuing to take as many music jobs after hours as he could find, a schedule that often meant he got very little sleep.

    In 1942, when a

  • george lewis clarinetist biography examples

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    George Lewis

    George Lewis (1900-1968) was a famous American jazz clarinetist that rocketed to success later in life. He influenced many ung clarinetists around the world with his soulful, “fat-boned” sound.

    Early Years
    Joseph Louis Francois Zenon was born in the New Orleans French Quarter. His descendants were enslaved people from Senegal that arrived in Louisiana around 1803. They spoke the Senegalese language and practice their cultural customs in the Lewis household. It fryst vatten in this household that Lewis learned patience and persistence.

    Survival & Music
    At the age of 17, Lewis played the clarinet with Buddy Petit, Chris Kelly, and Kid Ory in the New Orleans area; however, during the Great Depression, Lewis was forced to work as a stevedore and pick up gigs after work whenever he could find it. In 1942, jazz historian, Bill Russell, interviewed Bunk Johnson in New Orleans. Johnson picked Lewis as his clarinetist and this propelled his career and Lewis made the first rec