William Sebastian "Sabby" Lewis (November 1, 1914 in Middleburgh, North Carolina – July 9, 1994) was a jazz pianist, band leader, and arranger.
Lewis was born in Middleburgh, North Carolina, but was raised in Philadelphia. He started taking piano lessons when he was 5 and moved to Boston in 1932. After working with Tasker Crosson's Ten Statesmen in 1934, Lewis organized his own 7-piece band in 1936. ![]()
In the late 30s and early 40s Sabby Lewis and his band were mainstays at notable Boston jazz venues such as the Roseland-State Ballroom, Egleston Square Gardens, and The Savoy Café.
In 1942, Lewis' band won a listener contest on a broadcast from the Statler Hotel's Terrace Room in Boston. The contest, sponsored by the F.W. Fitch Company, was to select a band to appear regularly on NBC's Bandwagon program, heard on 120 stations at the time.
Though Lewis did not tour frequently nor leave Boston often, he did perform on Broadway and in ballrooms and clubs in Manhattan such as Kelly's Stables, the Zanzibar and the Famous Door He performed with Dinah Washington and Billy Eckstine. "I recall one night at the Famous Door when Count Basie checked out the band," Lewis said. "He stood just inside the door and listened and left without saying a word. The next night I received a telegram from the Count. It contained three words: Rock 'em, Pops." 
During World War II, Lewis' orchestra included long-time Ellington tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves,and drummer Alan Dawson spent much of the 1950s in the band. Other notable alumni of the Lewis band included trumpeters Cat Anderson, Sonny Stitt, Roy Haynes, Al Morgan, Idrees Sulieman and Joe Gordon.
Here’s Sabby Lewis and his Orchestra with Edna, recorded 1946
Here’s Sabby Lewis and his Orchestra with Edna, recorded 1946
He continued to lead a big band well into the 50s. In 1956, he performed in the Boston Area, and recorded with a local vocal group, the Vibra-tones. He also became a disk jockey when he went to work at WBMS in the 1950s. After his radio career ended
around 1957 (WBMS was sold; it became WILD and made changes to its staff), he went back to doing what he did best—entertaining audiences. Unfortunately, his career was almost permanently ended in 1963, when his car was hit by a drunk driver; the accident damaged his left hand, making playing the piano difficult. He left the music industry and worked for a while as a housing inspector at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, before gradually making a return to performing in the mid-1970s. A position from which he retired in 1984.
Lewis received a proclamation from Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis during that same year. The special music citation celebrated his work and his place in the African-American history of Boston. Lewis never made the national big-time, nor appeared to feel the need to do so.
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Till the day he finally retired, many local jazz musicians thought of Sabby as a mentor and an inspiration. Sabby Lewis died in July 1994. He was 79. (Compiled mainly from Wikipedia)