I recently ran into a wonderful article chronicling part of the music scene in Seattle when I was there. We use to go down and hang out with Joe Johansen the guitarist and Dickie Enfield, drummer when they were playin in Dave Lewis’ legendary trio at Dave’s 5th a funky club right under the monorail in Seattle’s downtown!! This is an excerpt from an article I found on Green Monkey Records website. If you would prefer you can look at the article on their website the link is at the end of the page.
November 2013
The Songs:
1. David`s Mood
2. That`s What We`re Here For
3. Feel Alright
4. Little Green Thing
5. J.A.J.
6. Lip Service
7. Last Train
8. #1 Hit
9. Dave`s Fifth Avenue
10. Tear Out
11. Little Joe
12. Dave`s Other Mood
13. The swim Thing
14. No Name #1
15. Hold On, I`m Coming
16. High Heel Sneakers
17. Mr. Clyde
18. Three Dots
19. Philly Dog
20. Jack Daniels Green
21. Two Chords of Soul
22. No Name #3
23. House of the Rising Sun
24. Something You Got
Credits:
Produced by Jerry Dennon
Liner notes: Peter Blecha & Stan Foreman
Mastered by: Alec Palao
Design & Editing: Bob Wikstrom
Original recording engineer: Kearney Barton
Recorded at Audio Recording, Seattle, Washington
Manufactured and distributed by Jerden Records
“The Godfather of Northwest Rock & the King of Seattle R & B”:.
No doubt: some folks will probably find it amusing, or even a bit shocking to see in this CD’s title the two terms “Seattle” and “R&B” co-existing in the same sentence. After all, this area – while nowadays universally associated with computer nerds, shiny jets, and whiny grunge dudes – must seem, to the uninitiated, to be one of the least likely places on earth to ever have supported a vibrant rhythm & blues scene. Now, Los Angeles? Sure. Memphis? You bet. Detroit? Of course! But. Come. On. Seattle!?! Well, yes. Just read on brothers and sisters….
Admittedly, when R&B itself first began to spring up in places like L.A.’s Central Avenue nightclubs back in the 1940s, the scene in Seattle was still largely based around the mainstream musical tastes – i.e. church hymns, classical, Scandinavian, and country/western – of the majority of the area’s citizens. However, the “underground” jazz scene based down in the old town section of Seattle around Jackson Street was thriving, and within it some serious R&B explorations were being made by a number of adventurous players including a hip young player named Ray Charles.
It was in 1948 that Charles cut his first two records in a tiny and primitive Seattle studio. Before heading off in ‘50 to promote those records on tour, he also hosted his own TV show and was a serious draw at area nightclubs, leaving his mark locally by directly influencing a great number of Seattle musicians including Dave Lewis – the fellow who can be credited with leading the early local R&B and rock n roll scene as well as sparking its namesake aural signature, the “Northwest Sound.”
Dave Lewis’ family had been part of a sizeable migration of African-Americans who rolled into the region seeking war-related work in the early ‘40s – interestingly, one of their new neighbors was a teenaged trumpeter named Quincy Jones whose family were also newcomers. Lewis’ father, Eddie, was an accomplished amateur guitarist who tried to interest his son in the instrument but it was Dave’s mother’s piano playing that actually captivated him. Settling into their Central District neighborhood Lewis soon discovered a couple nightclubs nearby and chanced into hearing various jazz bands, and indeed, he claimed to this writer that it was a formative experience as a young man – that of hanging ouside the backdoor of Seattle’s legendary Rocking Chair nightclub and hearing Charles – that hooked him on the goal of being a professional musician.
Over the next few years Lewis honed his singing and piano-playing skills and then around ‘55 he and some newfound school pals heard about Edmund Meany Jr. High’s seasonal talent show and threw together the Five Checks, a doo-wop vocal group, mainly, Lewis once told me, “just to get out of class.” It was this ensemble that would first make a big impression on many locals when the group performed for pep rallies at schools all across town – giving a lot of Seattle kids their first exposure to live doo-wop singing and served as a local inspiration for other subsequent groups including the Mello-aires, Bop Tones, and Gallahads.
A couple years later, while at Garfield High School, Lewis (piano) and George Griffin (drums) reorganized as a band adding Barney Hilliard and J.B. Allen (dueling saxes), bassist Jack Grey (later: Chuck Whittaker) and, eventually guitarist Al Aquino (later: Bud Brown). The Dave Lewis Combo started off playing small-time YMCA sockhops and house parties. But then Seattle’s Palomar Theater suddenly began booking R&B matinees for the younger set and the Dave Lewis Combo got hired to open a few shows for touring stars like Sugar Chile Robinson, Nellie lutcher, and most significantly, the pioneering R&B organist “Wild” Bill Davis. By the summer of ‘56 the combo was on a roll touring with stars like Bill Haley & His Comets’ (and eventually, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Platters, The Drifters, and Roy Orbison) at old roadhouses scattered across the region including the legendary Evergreen Ballroom near Olympia. Interestingly, the Evergreen was one of the tour stops that the L.A.-based R&B singer Richard Berry hit when he was out promoting his tunes like “Louie Louie” in 1957. And it was likely there that Lewis first happened to hear that song, felt its magic beat, saw the crowd’s ecstatic response, and decided to adopt it into his own set list. In the process he helped introduced it to Seattle audiences and the tune evolved over the next years into the Northwest’s signature rock ‘n’ roll song – one that would become an international phenomenon when a local rock band called the Kingsmen would take it to the top of the charts in 1963-’64.
It was around ‘57 too that the combo raised their profile further by appearing on the local Rock & Roll Dance Party TV show and also became one of the first African-American bands to integrate the popular Northend room, Parker’s Ballroom. By ‘59 they were ensconced as the new house-band at Seattle’s hippest R&B club, the Birdland. It was at this Central District reefer den that the Dave Lewis Combo really became established as the center of an increasingly vibrant teen-R&B scene. By now the combo’s members were gaining recognition for their individual talents as well as the ensemble’s overall power. Lewis won fans for his singing, playing, arranging, and bandleader skills while Griffin was a contender for title of: Baddest Drummer This Town’s Ever Had. And the sax duo of Allen and Hilliard had firmly coalesced into one serious honkin’ unit of dirty boppin’. Longtime locals still talk…. The clincher though was the fact that Lewis always welcomed guests onstage and so musicians began stopping by after-hours to hang out and jam at the Birdland. In fact a young Jimmy (Jimi) Hendrix and his teen bandmates lived for nights at Birdland. Indeed, it is known that in later years Hendrix maintained a fondness for Lewis’ music, and those memories of hanging out at the Birdland. Bringing this story thread full circle, it might be mentioned here that when Hendrix returned home a world-conquering rock star in ‘68, Lewis was among those who were there to witness Jimi’s “homecoming” concert at the Seattle Arena.
What is most important to establish here is that of all the young rockin’ R&B bands on the Northwest scene, it was the Dave Lewis Combo and their rockin’ jazz/blues bag which laid the foundation for the emerging “Northwest Sound.” Indeed, Lewis himself was the singularly most influential figure on the budding local scene and the earliest rock bands that followed (The Frantics, The Playboys, The Continentals, Little Bill & The Bluenotes, The Wailers, etc) all acknowledge the direct influence he had on their music. Beyond that, the top second wave Northwest bands (including The Dynamics, The Counts, The Kingsmen, The Courtmen, The Chosen Few, and Don and the Goodtimes) all covered Lewis’ original songs on their own records.
Cutting records was the next step in Lewis’ career and it all began around 1959. That’s the year that the nation’s record industry was first forced to sit up and take notice of the Northwest. Prior to that, nobody had ever cut a hit in Seattle. But then suddenly a whole string of teen acts, including the Wailers, Frantics, Little Bill & The Bluenotes, The Fleetwoods, (and in ‘60: Ron Holden and the Ventures) came roaring out of the region with great tunes that raced up the national charts and helped establish the notion of a “Northwest Sound”. It was during that period that the combo cut their first two singles, “Barney’s Tune” / “How Deep is the Ocean?” and (with guitarist, Jerry Allen, and on solo sax Carlos Ward) “Candido” / “R.C. Untwistin’” (a “Twist” era tribute to Ray Charles) for two startup labels.
In ‘61, and anticipating the upcoming work opportunities that would accompany the ‘62 World’s Fair, Lewis decided to start anew with a nightclub oriented quartet. Keeping Allen on guitar, Lewis added bassist, Jim Manolides (ex-Frantics), and drummer, Don Mallory (later: Dickey Enfield), and they scored a plum gig: the house-band position at the most prominent downtown jazz and R&B club, Dave’s Fifth Avenue. Times were good, Seattle was swingin’ and the music was happenin’.
It was in ‘62 that Lewis became hooked on the sound of the Hammond B-3 organ. Little could he know that his adoption of that instrument – and his subsequent emergence as Seattle’s version of nationally known Hammond masters like “wild” Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, and Jimmy McGriff – would directly inspire scores of other area bands to make the same switch from piano, once again heavily impacting the direction of the “Northwest Sound.” Then Lewis pared down to his classic trio – with Enfield (later, Dean Hodges) and guitarist, Joe Johansen – and hooked up with Seattle’s Jerden Records – the label that would soon gain notoriety for giving the world the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie.” Jerden’s exec, Jerry Dennon had forged connections with just about every radio station and record shop in the region and when he released the Dave Lewis Trio’s debut 45, “David’s Mood (Part 2),” it became a favorite on the tiny and new R&B station, KZAM-FM. A decent start, but the big breakthrough came when the region’s AM giant, KJR, was persuaded to test the tune. Overnight Lewis had a smash regional hit and Dennon easily cut a deal with the happening Hollywood-based A&M Records (who were riding high on the phenomenal success of the Tijuana Brass’ many hits). A&M re-released the single but, alas, somehow failed to push it beyond regional hit status.
In the spring of ‘63 Dennon took the trio in to Seattle’s Audio Recording studio and those sessions resulted in a hot new single, “Little Green Thing”, named after one of a KJR DJ’s many inane buzzword phrases. The 45 became such a strong regional hit – and was even highlighted by Dick Clark on American Bandstand – that A&M issued an entire album. That LP – the first of three for the trio – fairly well represented their typical nightclub set: a mix of pop classics and outstanding originals like the funky “Lip Service” which features Johansen’s sublime guitar-work.
For years Lewis remained the kingpin of Seattle’s club scene (working rooms like the Black and Tan, The Mardi Gras, The Peppermint Lounge, The Tiki Tavern,, DJ’s, The Embers, The Showcase, etc) but, for whatever reasons, he consistently refused offers to tour and resisted all urgings to head off to greater fame in L.A. like Ron Holden, The Ventures, The Fleetwoods, The Gallahads, Paul Revere & The Raiders and other local hitmakers had all successfully done. In time he fell into the old trap of local nightclub work and thus the 1960s and ‘70s flew right on by. The ‘80s weren’t too kind to Seattle’s R&B musicians and Lewis grew dismayed. Ultimately he lost faith in his own “simple” music – and, apparently, any perspective about its central role in local history. Lewis pawned his beloved B-3, fell into a downward spiral and, ultimately, into serious legal problems. Luckily though, he somehow regained hope once more about his career and organized his own orchestra that began opening shows for touring R&B stars at Seattle’s venerable old Paramount Theater. However, it would remain Lewis’ early work that earned him a central place in Northwest music history. Indeed: In the mid-80’s he was included in a huge Northwest Rock reunion concert at the Coliseum and in 1989 was inducted into the Northwest Area Music Association’s Hall of Fame. By 2000 the combo and trio were both being featured in the Experience Music Project’s inaugural Northwest Passage exhibit about Seattle R&B history. Sadly though, when Dave Lewis passed away in 1998 an entire generation of grunge boys, Riot Grrls, and hip-hop homies were probably perfectly clueless about the origins of our region’s music scene and the key role Lewis had played in establishing it here. Let’s hope this long-overdue collection begins rectifying that sorry void of knowledge about Northwest Rock’s deepest roots.
Peter Blecha, Seattle, 2005
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Dave Lewis Combo live. Seattle local record promotion man Denny Rosencranz and I ventured into a club on 5th Ave near the Seattle Center. For weeks Denny had been telling me how great this group was. I was a radio Program Director and part-time musician that played keyboards and loved live music. Denny was going to turn me on to some great music and hopefully more airplay for the Dave Lewis project. Dave Lewis was at the Hammond B3, Joe Johansen was on guitar, and Dickey Enfield sat at the drums. Denny and I ordered a cocktail and got comfortable. The combo launched into the Dave Lewis songbook and I was mesmerized by the huge sound of these three musicians. I had never before heard anything like it. Lewis was a monster on the B3 creating a wall of sound.
Johansen laid down the cleanest, meanest guitar licks, and Enfield held it all together with a rock solid beat. With songs like David’s Mood, Little Green Thing, and Lip Service, Dave Lewis changed the sound of Northwest music. After the release of Dave’s first CD on Jerden Records almost every Northwest band added a Hammond organ. B3s, M3s, whatever, the Dave Lewis influence was everywhere. Dave was a fine singer too in addition to playing the keys. And he had a smile that lit up the room. Never had I seen a three piece band that could put out this much music, and this in a time when there were no digital samples, drum machines, midi instruments, etc., to enhance a small group’s sound. These guys were the real deal. Needless to say, Dave Lewis music went into heavy rotation at my radio station. And to this day I love the sound that was created by the three guys from Seattle. As Joe Johansen said to a customer who had entered the club during a break and wanted to know if the band could “play anything good”…Joe looked at him and said “Man, everything we play is good”. And that really says it all. So sit back, turn it up a bit, and enjoy the music of Dave Lewis Combo, ‘cuz everything they play is good!
Stan Foreman, January 2006
You can also see the article in this link at the Green Monkey Records website:
Godfather of the Northwest
