ATHENS, W.Va. (Hinton News) – As part of Concord University’s 2022-2023 Artist Lecture Series, guitarist and recording artist Vince Lewis will perform on Tuesday, September 20 at 11 a.m. in the Alexander Fine Arts Center Room M105 for students and community members.
Lewis has headlined jazz festivals with Dave Brubeck, B.B. King, Ellis Marsalis, Lou Rawls, Mundell Lowe, John Pizzarelli, and Melissa Manchester. He has performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Smithsonian Institute Jazz Barr. He also has served as the staff guitarist at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Palm Beach, Florida and at West Virginia’s own Greenbrier Resort.
Lewis has recorded 20 CDs as a leader and sideman, and each has received critical acclaim in nearly every major jazz publication.
“His playing is indicative of the rarified air of true mastery,” says Jim Carlton in Conversations with Great Jazz and Studio Guitarists. “He routinely creates engaging and excellent music.”
Lewis was the cover and feature interview in the February 2014 issue of Just Jazz Guitar Magazine and has been noted as “one of the leading active jazz artists” in the Jazz Guitar category every year since 2002 by Jazz Improv Magazine. He has also been notified of his future induction into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
In addition to performing and recording, Vince Lewis has taught at the post-secondary level for 48 years. He developed and directed the classical and jazz guitar programs at the University of Charleston, Marshall University, Palm Beach University, Liberty University, and Bluefield University, where Lewis currently serves as an adjunct professor of music and guitar.
Tuesday’s performance at Concord University is free to both students and the public. For more information, contact Dr. Jacob Womack at 304-384-5306 or jwomack@concord.edu
