Biography
Webster Lewis, an American composer, arranger, vocalist, keyboardist, and clarinetist rooted in jazz and disco, earned his widest recognition through R&B and post-disco successes spanning the 1970s and 1980s, though early assessments positioned him foremost as a committed jazz artist. His initial sideman credits encompassed substituting for Larry Young inside Tony Williams’ Lifetime and contributing to multi-keyboard ensembles on George Russell-led projects alongside Bill Evans as well as the Piano Choir. Lewis placed several singles on the charts and delivered well-regarded albums for Epic, notably 1979’s 8 for the 80’s and 1981’s Let Me Be the One. Across subsequent decades he supplied scores for film and television while functioning as arranger, producer, and composer for an extensive roster of performers; he additionally instructed at Howard University.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1943, Lewis commenced musical training during childhood and performed on piano, clarinet, and additional instruments throughout high school. After completing studies at Morgan State College he obtained a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Gunther Schuller. In Boston and subsequently New York he formed jazz-funk ensembles and participated in numerous others’ sessions. His first recording, the 1971 live set Live at Club 7, appeared on Scandinavia’s Sonet imprint. Upon returning to the United States he assumed the organ chair in Tony Williams’ Lifetime for the 1972 album The Old Bum’s Rush, collaborated with George Russell and pianist Bill Evans on Living Time, and joined Russell again for 1973’s Listen to the Silence. That same year he took part in the Piano Choir’s Handscapes on Strata East under Stanley Cowell’s direction.
Lewis’s most lasting impact stems from the disco and R&B material he began issuing after joining Epic in 1976. The title track “On the Town” from his label debut reached the top of the dance charts; Lewis handled writing, production, arrangement, and keyboard duties while assembling an accomplished ensemble featuring trombonist Bill Watrous, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Lew Soloff, saxophonists Harold Vick and Howard Johnson, and drummers Grady Tate and Victor Lewis.
Although 1978’s Touch My Love yielded three singles that failed to chart, DJs embraced the space-age funk selection “Barbara Ann” (distinct from the Beach Boys recording) and established it as a staple on dance floors throughout the United States and Europe. Co-produced with Herbie Hancock, who also performed on the date, 1979’s 8 for the 80’s reunited Lewis with several musicians from Hancock’s Headhunters following his own appearance on Directstep earlier that year. Alongside Hancock the sessions enlisted Paul Jackson, James Gadson, Wah Wah Watson, Nathan Watts, and the Tower of Power Horns. One of its three club successes, “Give Me Some Emotion,” crossed onto both the pop and R&B charts. During the same period Lewis arranged strings for Lamont Dozier’s Bittersweet and contributed charts and performances to two tracks on Tom Jones’s Rescue Me.
Let Me Be the One marked Lewis’s final Epic release in 1981. Bolstered by the charting title track and “Kemo-Kimo,” the album registered on the R&B, dance, and jazz listings. Its expansive personnel again included Hancock together with percussionist Willie Bobo, saxophonist Fred Jackson, Jr., guitarist David T. Walker, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, and trombonist Fred Wesley. Concurrently the European imprint Unlimited Gold issued Love Unlimited Orchestra Presents Mr. Webster Lewis: Welcome Aboard, documenting Lewis directing the ensemble in Brazil while co-producing and arranging with Barry White; both singles “Welcome Aboard” and “Night Life in the City” registered in Europe and Asia.
Thereafter Lewis produced, composed, and arranged for Gwen McCrae, Marlena Shaw, Michael Wycoff, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Kimiko Kasai, Merry Clayton, Thelma Houston, and the Jacksons. The 1980s further saw him enter film scoring, supplying music for director George Bowers on The Hearse (1980), Body & Soul (1981), and My Tutor (1983), as well as Stan Lathan’s The Sky Is Grey, before shifting focus to television-commercial production and composition.
Although Lewis devoted the greater part of the 1990s to studio work for television commercials, he maintained writing contributions for R&B artists, registering notable appearances on albums by Yo Yo, Will Downing, London Elektricity, and others. Between 1995 and 1999 he served as visiting professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., teaching jazz voice and arrangement. Lewis died in 2002 from complications arising from diabetes and pneumonia. His Epic and Sonet recordings have received multiple reissues in Europe and Asia yet remain unavailable in the United States; in December 2022 the U.K. label Expansion released the sixteen-track remastered collection Give Me Some Emotion: The Epic Anthology 1976-1981.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1943, Lewis commenced musical training during childhood and performed on piano, clarinet, and additional instruments throughout high school. After completing studies at Morgan State College he obtained a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Gunther Schuller. In Boston and subsequently New York he formed jazz-funk ensembles and participated in numerous others’ sessions. His first recording, the 1971 live set Live at Club 7, appeared on Scandinavia’s Sonet imprint. Upon returning to the United States he assumed the organ chair in Tony Williams’ Lifetime for the 1972 album The Old Bum’s Rush, collaborated with George Russell and pianist Bill Evans on Living Time, and joined Russell again for 1973’s Listen to the Silence. That same year he took part in the Piano Choir’s Handscapes on Strata East under Stanley Cowell’s direction.
Lewis’s most lasting impact stems from the disco and R&B material he began issuing after joining Epic in 1976. The title track “On the Town” from his label debut reached the top of the dance charts; Lewis handled writing, production, arrangement, and keyboard duties while assembling an accomplished ensemble featuring trombonist Bill Watrous, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Lew Soloff, saxophonists Harold Vick and Howard Johnson, and drummers Grady Tate and Victor Lewis.
Although 1978’s Touch My Love yielded three singles that failed to chart, DJs embraced the space-age funk selection “Barbara Ann” (distinct from the Beach Boys recording) and established it as a staple on dance floors throughout the United States and Europe. Co-produced with Herbie Hancock, who also performed on the date, 1979’s 8 for the 80’s reunited Lewis with several musicians from Hancock’s Headhunters following his own appearance on Directstep earlier that year. Alongside Hancock the sessions enlisted Paul Jackson, James Gadson, Wah Wah Watson, Nathan Watts, and the Tower of Power Horns. One of its three club successes, “Give Me Some Emotion,” crossed onto both the pop and R&B charts. During the same period Lewis arranged strings for Lamont Dozier’s Bittersweet and contributed charts and performances to two tracks on Tom Jones’s Rescue Me.
Let Me Be the One marked Lewis’s final Epic release in 1981. Bolstered by the charting title track and “Kemo-Kimo,” the album registered on the R&B, dance, and jazz listings. Its expansive personnel again included Hancock together with percussionist Willie Bobo, saxophonist Fred Jackson, Jr., guitarist David T. Walker, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, and trombonist Fred Wesley. Concurrently the European imprint Unlimited Gold issued Love Unlimited Orchestra Presents Mr. Webster Lewis: Welcome Aboard, documenting Lewis directing the ensemble in Brazil while co-producing and arranging with Barry White; both singles “Welcome Aboard” and “Night Life in the City” registered in Europe and Asia.
Thereafter Lewis produced, composed, and arranged for Gwen McCrae, Marlena Shaw, Michael Wycoff, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Kimiko Kasai, Merry Clayton, Thelma Houston, and the Jacksons. The 1980s further saw him enter film scoring, supplying music for director George Bowers on The Hearse (1980), Body & Soul (1981), and My Tutor (1983), as well as Stan Lathan’s The Sky Is Grey, before shifting focus to television-commercial production and composition.
Although Lewis devoted the greater part of the 1990s to studio work for television commercials, he maintained writing contributions for R&B artists, registering notable appearances on albums by Yo Yo, Will Downing, London Elektricity, and others. Between 1995 and 1999 he served as visiting professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., teaching jazz voice and arrangement. Lewis died in 2002 from complications arising from diabetes and pneumonia. His Epic and Sonet recordings have received multiple reissues in Europe and Asia yet remain unavailable in the United States; in December 2022 the U.K. label Expansion released the sixteen-track remastered collection Give Me Some Emotion: The Epic Anthology 1976-1981.
Albums
