Mort Lewis was a veteran music manager whose client list included Simon and GarfunkelDave Brubeck and the popular folk costume The Brothers Four. At the time of this interview, at the end of 2015, Lewis represented Lewis Art Garfunkel and ended a career that had started in the 1940s. Amount First, Lewis noted in 1959 during Brubeck’s controversial tour in southern colleges.
Amount Credits you by standing up to segregationists in 1959 who would only book Dave Brubeck’s jazz combo if they dropped their black bass player, jazz legend Eugene Wright.
We had booked 10 dates in the south at $ 1,000 per night (for 10 nights), $ 10,000 was a lot of money in 1959. But at that time, state laws banned mixed racial groups on stage. I told Dave, if you pay Eugene for the two weeks, we can get Norman Bates, which is white, on base. And I will never forget, Dave said, “Mort, that’s a good idea. But suppose they said, “You have to get rid of your Jewish boss?” “I got tears in my eyes. It was his choice and his words, not mine. Brubeck was a good guy.
But the same year you left Brubeck to handle the brothers four, which were practically unknown.
I met the brothers four through a girl that I was crazy about. She studied at Mills College in Oakland, and she called and said: “Four young guys from the University of Washington come down to do a show at UC Berkeley. I know them through friends in the brotherhood here. Will you give them any advice? “Well, I was desperate to get on the good side of this girl and I saw them and they were four stylish, personal young fellows. But I knew nothing about folk music. So I called Frank Werber, who handled Kingston Trio, and they made more money than Dave Brubeck. And Dave Brubeck was the biggest jazz star in the world. Frank got me an audition with Mitch Miller who ran Columbia Records, and he said: “This is exactly what we are looking for. We need our own Kingston trio. “So they were signed to Columbia immediately. And I was considering going back to Brubeck when their first record, “Green Fields”, was a million seller. The decision to stay with them was made for me.
Simon and Garfunkel also came out of the folk scene.
Paul Simon Wanted someone to get them college bookings and was told that Bob Dylan’s manager was good at this and I was good too. He said: “I don’t want to be in Dylan’s shadow. What is the other guy called? “
