Born in Brillion, Wisconsin, Carroll “Cappy” Lewis (1917-1992) was a veteran of the swing era, Lewis’ playing will conjure up some happy memories for jazz fans who remember his many solo endeavors with Woody Herman and Tommy Dorsey’s bands.

He grew up in the shadow of the Green Bay Packers football team and in the mid-thirties was already a veteran trumpet man, workingin the best territory bands in Wisconsin and then settling down in Milwaukee with Ernie Palmquist’s unit before joining that other Milwaukee native, Woody Herman, in 1939.

Once launched on the swing era road bands as a member of the Herman trumpet section, Cappy Lewis made quite a name for himself, first with the old Woodchopper and then with Tommy Dorsey, whom he joined in 1943. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Cappy rejoined Woody Herman in 1946 (the great Chubby Jackson-Bill Harris era for Woody Herman) and then after a couple of short stints with other name bands, settled in Hollywood in 1948 where he devoted himself entirely to working in the studio’s main brass sections backing Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Louis Armstrong and other jazz luminaires.

However, permanent residence in the Cote d’Azure of the West has not meant that Cappy Lewis was absent from the jazz scene. Though his primary work has been in the studios, he has continued to play with such bands as Nelson Riddle and Frank DeVol both in and out of the studios and is in continual demand--under the toughest kind of competition--in Hollywood brass sections.

In 1960, thanks to David Axelrod, then a producer for the Hi-Fi Jazz Records label, Cappy’s full throated trumpet could finally be heard in a small group context, in which he exhibits his buoyancy and refreshing style over an impeccable rhythm section enhanced by the subtle and always swinging pianist Jimmy Rowles.

On this, "Get Happy with Cappy" his only album as a leader, a casual hearing of this album indicates that Cappy Lewis is speaking straight from his heart when he says that his favorite trumpet player is Bunny Berigan. He blows both hot and cool, applying an engaging trumpet approach to a set of oldies and newer songs, that serve as a nearly perfect showcase of his talent.

—Jordi Pujol (From the inside liner notes of FSRCD 1073)