In today’s music scene, it isn’t uncommon for those involved to wear many hats.
Artists crossover from performing to producing, find parallel careers in film, literature, and the visual arts with regularity. In earlier times, this phenomenon was less prevalent, excepting well-known performers such as Elvis and Frank Sinatra. Arlington’s own Gerald M. Lewis had a rich and varied career, being involved in many different aspects of music including performing, instruction, production, and recording.
From 1954-1979, Mr. Lewis served as a band director for Gunston and Stratford Junior High Schools, and Wakefield and Washington-Lee High Schools. At his home on 216 S. Pershing Drive, Lewis also owned and operated Gerald Lewis Recording. Housed in a mobile home adjacent to his residence, Gerald Lewis Recording was a mobile recording unit that offered him the ability to record performers and public events on location.
Operating from 1964-1991, a remarkably diverse customer base utilized Mr. Lewis’ recording service. Local Virginia and Maryland schools and churches recorded public events and concerts, including performances from high school marching bands and public speakers.
Local recording artists also took advantage of Lewis’ expertise. In 1985, Teen-Beat Records artists Unrest used the mobile studio to master their debut 7” single “So You Want To Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”/ “Zelda” (Side A) – “The Hill” (Side B), which was also the first Teen-Beat vinyl release. Unrest band member and Teen-Beat impresario Mark Robinson recalls, “He [Lewis] essentially was the broker for Teen-Beat to press our first record. He put the master tape together, sent it to the pressing plant, etc. I paid him, and he paid the pressing plant. I found his number in the Yellow Pages. He also recorded and pressed up the Arlington All-County Orchestra record that I was on back in 4th or 5th grade, so I knew that this guy knew how to make a record.”
In 1996, Mr. Lewis and his wife Elizabeth, a music teacher at Wakefield High School, moved to Tennessee where he continued to be involved in music, directing, arranging, and playing trombone for the Pleasant Hill Ensemble until his passing in March of 2008, at the age of 82.
What about you?
Do you have any memories of Mr. Lewis or his recording services?
I appreciated very much reading eh recollection of Gerald Lewis. I am wondering whether any of his original recordings exist nowadays.
I am in a group called the Capitol Hill Chorale and I am putting tracks together for a compilation CD to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. Our first few years of recordings were made by Mr. Lewis, but we do not have the originals. If there are originals somewhere that could be used, I suspect that they would be of better quality than the cassette tapes that our long-standing members have. Wold you know anything about what became of Mr. Lewis’ recordings? Thanks for any information you can provide.
Carl,
We forwarded your question to the archivist who researched this story, and he responded:
“Unfortunately, this appears to be a bit of a dead end.
When I was doing research for this article, I tried to get in contact with Lewis’ widow, who was listed as living in Tennessee. I looked her up via People Search and Intelius and while the records I found did seemed to be for the same person, those listings often include people who have actually passed away.
I called the listed number twice and left a voicemail message each time, but received no reply. In addition, the voicemail message was an automated reply that gave no personal information.
I also had no luck tracking down any other relatives, i.e. children, etc.
In regards to the recordings: Since Mr. Lewis used “vanity” record pressing services such as Mark Records and Century Records to press actual vinyl copies, it is possible that they retained the master copies of his recordings. This was a common practice with those labels; what they would do is retain the masters in case the client wanted additional copies of the album/single pressed up after the initial run had been sold. If that were the case, the masters are almost certainly lost or destroyed.
Probably the best bet on finding better fidelity recordings would be by finding vinyl copies via thrift stores, auctions, etc. I see a lot of Mr. Lewis recordings in the local Goodwill’s, Salvation Army’s, etc.”
“Uncle Gerry” was my band director at W-L in the mid-70s. He was good friend, a fantastic teacher (with a lot of patience for someone with zero musical talent!)and a great person.
At one time I had a few of his albums – in particular I remember one of the Va. Tech marching band – but I think I have long since parted ways with them. I’ll have to check.
Thank you for this article. Mr. Lewis was my favorite teacher, and band was a huge part of my life back then.
Thank You! Gerald Lewis was my dad. Please feel free to contact me if I can help. My Mom is still alive and living in Tennessee. Dad passed away a little over 4 years ago. He touched a lot of lives with his recording business and band directing. It is a real joy to run into unexpected surprises like this! Or in used record stores, ex students memories, etc.
Mike,
Your dad was a great man. I was in the Symphonic Band at West Springfield High School and your dad was there at every performance to capture our beautiful music. I made my parents purchase every one of them but have since lost some that I would like to track down. Do you know if there is a master of them somewhere?
Thanks!
Hello.
Is there anyway to get contact information for Mike Lewis? Gerald Lewis was an incredible person. I know that this may be a long shot, however My name is Lisa Brown and I am looking for a copy of the studio recording of the 1983 Prince George’s County Elementary Children’s Choir Festival held on May 5, 1983.
I have the master tapes from a Gerald Lewis recording made in 1974. There are two unlabeled half inch tapes, and two quarter inch tapes labeled as the lacquer master encoded in dolby/quadraphonic. These tapes have a LRS Burbank CA label on them. I am assuming that they were the final mix down from the half inch tapes. The limited issue vinyl records carry a Mark Custom Records label. Was LRS the parent of Mark Records?
I am working on a project to reissue the recording with the permission of the copyright owner. I would appreciate any information about what format those half inch tapes might be in and what equipment was used to record them. They are Ampex tapes on flangeless reels. Given their age, they are likely suffering from sticky shed syndrome.
Thanks for sharing. I am in the process of transferring my old vinyl from jr high to digital – 1976 Robinson’s Imagine and Make It Real. It is way cool that I was on a record, and now that I am 50, I am reliving highlights of my past and Mr Lewis recording is a wonderful memory.
Hi! Mike Lewis again. Unfortunately, there is no Gerald Lewis Recording archives. There are a few things in the Library of Congress and in school libraries of the schools if the director put a copy there. The best thing to do would be to check at tbe school, contact a fellow student or the director at the time and try and get a copy. The masters and all left over copies were dispossed of long ago. Also, check Google and EBay. I have sometimes found things there. Sorry, I cannot be of more assistance. My email is michaelalanlewis@yahoo.com if anyone would like to contact me. But again, I will not be able to provide anything in the way of copies/masters because they are long gone. Thanks again for the nice comments.
As most teenage boys in the 1960’s I had a fascination with all things electronic, especially recording. I had the privilege of being in Mr. Lewis Wakefield High School from 1960-1963. During that time he became aware of my interest in recording. Also during that time his recording business was expanding. Upon my graduation he asked me if I would be interested in helping him with the business. I jumped at the opportunity. I accompanied him to several recording sessions, mostly high school band concerts. He showed me how to set up the mikes for stereo recording, work the reel-to-reel tape machine and set the cables, etc. A footnote here; in the early 60’s stereo recording had taken over the industry. Mr. Lewis was not a fan of stereo at all. In his home where he had his huge record collection he had the biggest array of single (mono) speakers I’d ever seen and he loved that sound. I’m sure he gave in over the years and moved to stereo in his home.
After a few sessions working with him he began to send me out on jobs on my own when he has two recording gigs in one evening. I loved it and worked with him for two years until I left for college. In those years his business began to expand. In many ways he was a pioneer in recording in Northern Virginia and the very high quality of his work greatly expanded his business.
Mr. Lewis was a true Renaissance man with interests in a variety of fields and excellence in all.
In closing Mr. Lewis greatly influenced me to follow him into a career in music for which I will always be grateful.
Gerald Marvin Lewis was my dad. We all used to play a part in his company, from lugging heavy equipment on jobs to sitting with him in his basement office while he editing a concert, or in the garage in the middle of the frigid winter, depending on what phase of growth his buisiness was in.
We made pocket money packages ALL of those records in corrogated packing materials that I quickly mastered so as to get as MANY of those things folded up and stacked as I possibly could in as short a time span as was humanly possible.The Maryland All-State Band concert was always a huge job…We’d be called up for service…
He was a stickler for details, laboring long hours on the master tapes from a job. It helped to form my hyper-critical musical ear, which serves me well, but not my fellow performers, I must say… He was really wonderful at translating musical deatils so that we could understand why something was of importance in a sound or performance.
I believe my musical talents came from both of my parents, but there was something special about the heart of my father that I believe I inherited. He had a feel and instinct for a musical sound and form that cannot be taught, only experienced and exercised.
His last few years teaching at W-L were so special for him. We were a little older by then, and he began to enjoy the students in a more personal way than ever before. He was able to connect with them, and allowed it: Dad was really quite shy, being an only child and a product of a divorced household. I think having 4 children overwhelmed him sometimes, but he found new connections to the kids at W-L.
It’s incredibly gratifying knowing that his work meant so much to so many people, and that he is remembered. Thank you all.-Nancy Lewis, Birmingham, AL