Lewis Worrell

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Lewis Worrell

| birth_name = Lewis James Worrell

| birth_date = {{birth date|1934|11|7}}

| birth_place = Charlotte, North Carolina

| genre = Jazz, free jazz, avant-garde jazz

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = double bass

| associated_acts = Albert Ayler, the New York Art Quartet, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp

}}

Lewis Worrell (born November 7, 1934{{cite book | last =Wilmer | first =Val | authorlink = Val Wilmer | title =As Serious as your Life: Black Music and the Free Jazz Revolution, 1957–1977 | publisher =Serpent's Tail | year = 2018 | pages=386 }}) is a jazz double bassist best known for his work during the 1960s with Albert Ayler, the New York Art Quartet, Roswell Rudd, and Archie Shepp.

Biography

Worrell was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and began playing the tuba at age 11, switching to double bass six years later.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lewis-worrell-mn0000229268 |title=Lewis Worrell |last=Prato |first=Greg |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 17, 2020}} In 1953 he graduated from Second Ward High School in Brooklyn (Charlotte, North Carolina), after which he served in the United States Military in France.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4g8yp6G_jAC&dq=Lewis+Worrell+jazz&pg=PA62|page=62|title=Charlotte, North Carolina|author=Vermelle Diamond Ely, Grace Hoey Drain, Amy T. Rogers|year=2001|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738513751 }} He was a member of John Lewis' Orchestra USA and played with Bud Powell and Elmo Hope.{{cite web |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J730900 |title=Worrell, Lewis (James) |last=Kennedy |first=Gary W. |website=Grove Music Online |year=2003 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J730900 |access-date=October 17, 2020}} Worrell's first recording was in 1963, on Hank Crawford's album True Blue.

In 1964, Worrell joined the New York Art Quartet, replacing Don Moore,{{cite web |url=https://johntchicai.com/linernotes-mohawk |title=linernotes Mohawk |last=Tchicai |first=John |website=johntchicai.com |access-date=July 27, 2020}} and participated in the recording of their first, self-titled album. He also performed with the NYAQ as part of the October Revolution in Jazz.{{cite book | last =Young | first =Benjamin I. | title =Dixonia: A Bio-Discography of Bill Dixon | publisher = Greenwood | year =1998 | pages=345 }} The following year, he recorded with Albert Ayler on the live album Bells, and with Sunny Murray on his album Sonny's Time Now. In 1966, he appeared on Ayler's At Slug's Saloon, Vol. 1 & 2 and also recorded two albums with Archie Shepp (Live in San Francisco and Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime, both released on Impulse!), as well as on Roswell Rudd's album Everywhere. Worrell made a handful of recordings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, then disappeared from the music scene.