Lewis, (Big) Ed (actually, Edward)
Lewis, (Big) Ed (actually, Edward)
Lewis, (Big) Ed (actually, Edward), jazz trumpeter; b. Eagle City, Okla., Jan. 22,1909; d. Sept. 18, 1985. His father was trumpeter Oscar Lewis. The family moved to Kansas City, Mo., before Ed started school. He began on baritone horn and marched alongside his father in Shelly Bradford’s Brass Band. He ceased playing temporarily until 1924, then again took up baritone horn and joined a band led by Jerry Westbrook for a year. He switched to trumpet, spent two months in Paul Bank’s Band, then worked with pianist-singer Laura Rucker before spending six years with Bennie Moten (1926-32). He left in February 1932 and joined the newly formed Thamon Hayes and his Kansas City Skyrockets, which did extensive touring and residencies in Chicago. Lewis returned to Kansas City and worked for various leaders including Pete Johnson and Jay McShann. He joined Count Basie in February 1937 and remained until September 1948. After that, he left music and worked as a cab driver in N.Y., and later became motorman on a N.Y. subway. He resumed playing again in 1954, and soon organized his own 12-piece band which gigged in and around N.Y. He continued to play gigs in N.Y. through the early 1960s.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter