Sabby Lewis papers, 1930s-2005

Jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader William Sebastian “Sabby” Lewis (1914-1994) was born in Middleburg, North Carolina, and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lewis began piano lessons at age seven; as a youth, he played for rent-raising parties and in small dance groups. Lewis’s family moved to Boston in 1932 following his high school graduation; he took courses for a year at New England Conservatory but primarily focused on gigging. After a short stint with Tasker Crosson’s Ten Statesmen’s Band in 1934, Lewis organized his own seven-piece Sabby Lewis Band in 1936. Original members included Cliff Turner (alto, clarinet); Boston Conservatory alumni Clarence “Tex” Thomas (trumpet) and Jerry Heffron (tenor, clarinet); George Wellington (bass), Clarence Terry (drums), Marie Hawkins (vocals), and Lewis (piano).

Expanding to eight pieces, (three saxes, two brass, three rhythm), the lineup included Lewis on piano; Gene Caines and Maceo Bryant on brass; drummer Joe Booker; saxophonists Jerry Heffron, Elliott “Ricky” Pratt, and Jackie Fields; and bassist and sometimes-vocalist Al Morgan who joined in 1941. Later members included Bill Dorsey, Paul Gonsalves, Big Nick Nicholas, Sonny Stitt, Jimmy Tyler, Cat Anderson, Freddie Webster, Idress Sulieman (Leonard Graham), Ray Perry, Roy Haynes, and Osie Johnson. Vocalist Evelyn White was with the band through the early 1950s. Collaborators in the forties and fifties included Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstein, Jackie Mabley, Lil Green, Billie Holiday, Coles Atkins, George Shearing Trio, Sugar Chile Robinson, and others. Lewis and Herron provided most of the arrangements of both original and popular jazz tunes in the band’s early years; Paul Broadnax produced the band’s charts in the later forties through the mid-fifties.

The band became a mainstay at notable Boston jazz venues such as the Roseland-State Ballroom, Egleston Square Gardens, and especially The Savoy Café, the only club with a jazz-only policy, where they performed regularly through 1946.

Following a New York City debut opposite Nat King Cole and his Original Trio at Kelly’s Stables in February 1942, Lewis’s band won a listener contest sponsored by the F. W. Fitch Company to appear regularly on NBC's The Fitch Bandwagon. The July 12 broadcast from the Statler Hotel in Boston garnered the band national reach. The band alternated engagements at Boston and New York City nightclubs and ballrooms throughout the 1940s. Venues included Kelly’s Stables, Club Zanzibar, Club Tondalayo, Club Ebony, Club Baron, the Savoy Ballroom, and the Apollo in New York City, and Wally’s Paradise, the Savoy Café, the Down Beat Club, the Hi-Hat, and the Show Boat in Boston. The band also toured across New England and booked many theater engagements as a twelve-piece band in several major cities. Lewis led recording sessions for Continental, Crystal Tone, and Mercury in the post-war years and from 1947-1948 operated the Sabby Lewis Restaurant at 422 Massachusetts Avenue.

In December 1949, all members of Lewis's band quit due to financial difficulties. Lewis built a new band with Alan Dawson (later replaced by Joe Gordon), Lennie Johnson, Hy Lockhart, Danny Potter, George Perry, Elwyn Fraser, and Champ Jones. In addition to their residency at Wally’s, the group played as the house band for Sugar Hill, Showtime, and the Jazz Box. He joined WBMS (later WILD) as one of Boston’s earliest Black disc jockeys from 1952 to 1957, and also worked solo playing intermission piano in Boston lounges. After his band broke up in 1957, Lewis continued to lead small groups through the 1950s and early 60s.

In 1962, Lewis suffered a broken hand in a car crash and took a hiatus from performance. In 1964 he became a housing investigator for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, a career from which he retired in 1984. He returned to radio in the 1970s, and eventually returned to performing as well. Until his death in 1994, Lewis played in small combos, trios, and solo, primarily in Boston area clubs, hotels, lounges and private functions. Associated band members included Dick LeFave, George Perry, Leon Merrian, Andy McGhee, Stanton Davis, and Claudio Roditi.

Lewis was a dedicated community servant: he sold war bonds during World War Two, made hospital appearances, fundraised for the Red Cross Blood Bank, and performed for charitable events such as Mae Arnette’s Stepping Out gala. He also lectured on jazz at schools and universities. He received numerous awards for his musical contributions and public service, including the Martin Luther King, Jr., Musical Achievement Award received during the 1988 celebration 350 Years of Black Presence in Boston, the Black History Award for contributions to music (1988), and The Boston Jazz Society, Inc. Music Award (1989). Posthumously he was inducted into the New England Jazz Hall of Fame.

Lewis died at age 79 on July 9, 1994, two weeks after a final performance with Billy Thompson and Ron McWhorter at the Mall at Chestnut Hill.