Lew
Anderson came out of Iowa (Drake University) playing one-nighters as an alto
saxist and arranger with bands in the U.S. midwest. With the onset of World
War II, he enlisted in the Navy and formed a big band attached to the submarine
service in the Pacific. After the war, he joined the Honeydreamers vocal group,
writing their charts and singing with them on a host of television shows.
In a change of pace, he was "drafted" to play the part of Clarabell
the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show. After six years (1954-1960), he returned
full-time to music, putting together a band comprised of musicians playing the
Broadway theaters and working jingle dates with him.
In 1989, brought to the attention of Red Blazer proprietor Dennis Carey by music
broadcaster, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, the band began an eight-year
stint at Carey's New York nightclub. Towards the end of their engagement, producer
Ruby Fisher invited Don Kennedy of radio's "Big Band Jump" show to
come up from Atlanta to host "Live at the Blazer!" The one-hour program
aired June 14, 1997 on Jump's 130 stations, was re-broadcast in August on New
York's WQEW and now constitutes "Live at the Blazer! The Lew Anderson Big
Band", Sovereign CDSOV-506, joining the band's previous Sovereign albums,
"Feelin' Good, Yeah" and "Fired Up." August of '97 also
found the band beginning an open-ended engagement at Birdland, where they continue
to entertain jazz fans every Friday evening from 5:30 to 7:30PM.
