Lewis Nash
'/Lewis Nash is played and recorded with many of the most important and highly regarded jazz musicians of all time, among them Tommy Flanagan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Oscar Peterson, Betty Carter, Sonny Rollins, Ray Brown, Gerald Wilson, Horace Silver, Ron Carter, Hank Jones, Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Art Farmer, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Heath, John Lewis, and many others. In addition, he has recorded with Willie Nelson, Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, George Michael, Melissa Manchester, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt.
Though renowned as a master stylist, particularly in be-bop and post-bop styles, Lewis is at home in a wide range of stylistic territory, including funk, free, and Latin based jazz styles, and his versatility has made him one of the most in demand drummers of the past two decades. Lewis is known for his seemingly endless depth of melodic vocabulary, drawing from all eras of jazz percussion, while adding his own unmistakably identifiable approach to the construction of his comping figures and soloing. This indentifiable voice puts Lewis on a shortlist of drummers of the past 20 years, who have managed to incorporate the important traditions of American jazz music without overshadowing their individuality.
Lewis Nash's style can be characterized by a few defining elements. An unrelenting ride cymbal beat, dazzling melodic invention between the snare, toms and bass drum, cymbal crashes which resolve these figures in complex, unpredictable ways, crisp technical execution of rudimental figures, a huge sweeping brush sound, and the use of three toms (10, 12, 14), which give Lewis a pianistic range of melodic possibilities. Lewis is recognized as one of the foremost brush stylists of his generation. In particular, Lewis's recordings with the great pianist Tommy Flanagan display his mastery in this regard.
Lewis is also renowned in the jazz drumming community for his passion and dedication to jazz education, and has fostered the careers of a long list of younger players. He is in high demand as a clinician and educator at schools, workshops and major educational jazz festivals worldwide. He formed his own group in the late 1990s and currently leads several groups of varying instrumentation, from duo to septet.
