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Vic Lewis 1919-2009 by David Rayvern Allen Guitarist, trombonist, bandleader, agent, artists’ manager, impresario – the compartments went more or less in that chronological order - Vic Lewis was also (to borrow a term used to describe Jim Swanton) ‘a sort of a cricket person’ (of course, they were totally dissimilar personalities) and the game was a passion that enveloped much of his later life. Yet, whether it was with cricket, or music, or in being a Director of Watford Football Club, as he was in the 1970s, Lewis was never short of aspiration and endearingly in conversation, often made the seemingly impossible appear quite matter of fact. Ubiquitous in the jazz and popular music world for more than 70 years, Victor Joseph Lewis was born in Brent, London on July 29th, 1919, the son of a jeweller. At the age of three, he was strumming a banjo before later switching to guitar and then dabbling with cornet and trombone. While still a teenager, he formed the Vic Lewis Swing String Quartet which won first place in a radio talent contest and led to broadcasts on the BBC and Radio Luxembourg. Visiting the USA in 1938, he met Joe Marsala, Buddy Rich, Bobby Hackett, Eddie Condon, Tommy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden and from then on he was associated with, in some form or other, almost every major jazz personality of his era and witness to what has been described as ‘a bayou tapestry of (its) history’. While serving with the RAF during World War 2, Vic spent much time organising bands and shows. It was in the Services that he met drummer Jack Parnell and Ken Thorne, the latter a highly skilled orchestrator, who in time was to have a considerable influence on Lewis’s musical tastes. With the help of Parnell, Lewis persuaded the Parlophone Record Company to finance a session and their Jazzmen group produced 31 titles, one of which,’Ugly Child’, made a great impression. After the War, his first big band ‘The Music of Today by the Band of Tomorrow’ contained many young stars of the music business such as Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Stan Reynolds and Kenny Wheeler. Then came a period cloning the music of Stan Kenton, having been totally smitten with the ‘loud progressive sound’: the friendship with Kenton was enduring. Tours with Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray followed, but Rock ‘n Roll had arrived and the music fashion changed as quickly as that of haute couture and so Lewis turned to agency and management work. Dudley Moore, Donovan, Shirley Bassey and Andy Williams were represented, there was a collaboration with Brian Epstein in arranging the Beatles first American tour, Cilla Black and Elton John were on his books, and pioneering music crossover, he began an association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. However, cricketing interests were gradually coming to the fore. Two of his three books involved the game, ‘Music and Maiden Overs’ and ‘Cricket Ties’, of which he had an unsurpassed collection. Numbering some twelve and a half thousand, one day they were disturbed by a burglar and the identifying labels strewn around his study. Sadly and understandably, Vic never quite managed to recover his enthusiasm for the neckwear. The Vic Lewis XI played charity matches benefiting cricketers to the overall tune of several millions for many years, he was a member of MCC, Surrey, Derbyshire, and on the General Committee of Middlesex from 1976 - 2001. He had taken a side to Pakistan, including a number of Test players, in 1981 and from 1988, he helped mount matches against the Royal Household Cricket Club at Frogmore; he also represented the United States at the International Cricket Council. The administrative side of cricket was much to his liking, the actual playing of the game perhaps less so. David English in his un-put-down-able book ‘Mad Dogs & The Englishman’ describes an hilarious episode during a Rohan Kanhai benefit game at Edgbaston, where Vic was adopting his usual role as a stationary fielder who much preferred to maintain a distant relationship with the ball. Unfortunately, the ball had other ideas and was intent on invading his personal space. Underneath a skyer and with his arms waving frantically to other fielders to rush to his aid, Vic copped it full on the head. Eventually coming round and now the unhappy owner of a three-inch bump, Vic uttered the immortal line: ‘I don’t know what they’re all laughing about. I was nowhere near it!’ (Vic Lewis born Brent, London, 29 July, 1919. Married former Windmill girl Jill Anstey, 1950 (died 2008, one daughter, Danielle, born 1960). MBE work for charity, 2007. Died Hendon, London, 9th February, 2009). |
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