Bassist/composer Alan Lewine first took up the string bass in 1978. Never formally trained on the instrument, Lewine learned primarily by playing. “Most of my early lessons were from pianists or guitarists who would yell at me when I played a wrong chord or drummers who threw sticks at me if I messed up the beat.” Lewine considers bass great Milt “the Judge” Hinton, whom he first met in 1982, a mentor. He has received “green room” lessons from Ray Brown, Harvie Swartz, Leroy Vinnegar and John Clayton as well.

Lewine has worked with many of the great names in jazz over the years, including numerous appearances with “alto madness” saxophonist Richie Cole. He has also performed with clarinetists Eddie Daniels and Kenny Davern, sax masters Joe Henderson and Henry Threadgill, vocalists such as Anita O’Day and Mose Allison, pianists including Ronnie Matthews and George Cables, drummers Gus Johnson and Butch Miles, guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis, young turk Roy Hargrove, and old masters Sweets Edison and Carl Fontana to name just a few.

Favorite bassists include the usual suspects - Jimmy Blanton, Ray Brown (“the killer groove”), Scott LaFaro, Charlie Haden, Milt Hinton, Jaco Pastorius, and David Holland, a list by no means exhaustive. Charles Mingus, Krsyztof Pendercki, Duke Ellington, Frank Zappa, John Cage, Thelonious Monk, and Edgar Varese have been prime influences as band leaders and composers. His interest in all forms of musical and cultural expression has led Lewine also to study Ghanaian drumming with Obo Addy, Balinese gamelan with I Nyoman Suadin and composition with William Wood.

Alan Lewine “retired” from full time musicianship in 1994 and now works as an attorney focusing on technology transactions, as well as eCommerce and copyright law, policy and licensing. He still composes and performs occasionally with the Alan Lewine Xtet, with Armand Ntep and the Afro-Jazz Explosion, and as a side man.