Happy Fathers Day to all loving dads everywhere, and especially to my own father, Cappy Lewis! I did not know my father very well. For the first several years of my life he was on the road playing trumpet with Woody Herman and other big band jazz greats. Sometimes my mom and I would travel with him to Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. My parents got divorced when I was around seven. I then only saw him every year or two for a couple of weeks during summer vacations when I visited him and his family in Sherman Oaks CA. The one thing I can say for sure about my father is that his true love was jazz, into which he put his entire heart and soul. He was a great trumpet player and can be heard on many albums and in many movies. In addition to playing with Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, and numerous other big band greats, he also played with Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and other renown musicians and singers. My fondest memories of him are when I would go to Walt Disney Studios and listen as he played for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show, which he did for a few years. It was wonderful to see his dedication in action. I was very proud of him. Yes, I got to meet the musketeers, and even had a crush on one of them (Judy). And I got to meet a lot of other musicians who had moved, with the times, from playing on the road to working in studios. My father, a man of few words, spoke mainly through his trumpet. And boy did he have a lot to say. Every time I hear his music today I am reminded (in my heart and guts) of his great passion for music and how hard he worked to make himself one of the best trumpet players of his era. I learned a lot from his passion. It helped me understand the huge difference between dreaming about doing something and actually taking the steps necessary to do it, an understanding which has served me well throughout my life. Thank you Dad! If you would like to hear my father play, just click on this link: youtube/watch?v=jRacycV3yvE&feature=related
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:16:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015