Piano

(b. 4 September 1905, Chicago, IL, d. 7 June 1964)

Although he was popular in Chicago bars in the ’20s, Lewis was little known elsewhere and made his living running a taxicab firm with fellow-pianist Albert Ammons.  Encouraged by John Hammond and the enormous success of Honky Tonk Train Blues, which he re-recorded in 1936 (and later), Lewis became one of the most popular and successful of the pianists to enjoy fleeting fame during the boogie-woogie craze. With Ammons and Pete Johnson, billed as the Boogie Woogie Trio, he played at Hammond’s Carnegie Hall ‘Spirituals to Swing’ concert and at many top New York clubs.  Meade died following a road accident in 1964.