Daniel Vee Lewis (born July 15, 1959) is an American musician and bass player, perhaps best known as the bassist for the

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

-based group

World Entertainment War World Entertainment War was an American funk rock band, formed in 1986. They recorded four records before disbanding in 1993, and then played reunion concerts in 2000 and 2001, and again in 2009. The band describes itself as “a benevolent med ...

. His current projects include Dreambeach, with cofounder & vocalist,

Pipa Piñon The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rangi ...

, and performance work with Solcircle, The Joint Chiefs, and The Al James Band.

Biography

Daniel Vee Lewis was born on July 15, 1959, in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

. He was raised in Los Angeles and later moved to

. He started playing drums in rock bands at 12 years old and took some formal training on drums before he switched to the bass guitar, which he taught himself to play well by the age of 16. He finished high school in Santa Cruz, California and then enrolled in jazz improvisation courses at

Cabrillo College Cabrillo College is a public community college in Aptos, California. It is named after the conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and opened in 1959. Cabrillo College has an enrollment of about 9,700 students per term. Facilities Classes are of ...

, where one of his instructors was trumpet player Ray Brown of the Stan Kenten Band. Lewis played in Tao Chemical with

Rob Brezsny Rob Brezsny (born 21 June...) is an American astrologer, author, and musician. His weekly horoscope column "Free Will Astrology" – formerly "Real Astrology" – has been published since 1980, and by 2010 was syndicated in around 120 pe ...

. From 1988 until their disbandment in 1993, he was the bass guitarist for World Entertainment War, playing with vocalists

and

Darby Gould Darby Marie Gould (aka Darby Venegas) is an American vocalist best known for her work with Jefferson Starship and World Entertainment War. Over the years she has developed a loyal following based on her passionate, soulful vocals and intense sta ...

, drummer

Anthony Guess Kevtone (born Kevin Anthony Guess, December 30, 1964) is an American musician, percussionist, and songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Performing live and in studio, his rhythm style may best be described as improvisational, melodic, progressive, ...

, and keyboardist Amy Excolere on two albums, one on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

. Bill Graham, World Entertainment War's manager, once said of Lewis, backstage at one of their shows, "I love your bass style. You've got that animal/juju thing going on." He and Guess went on after that to play old-school funk and disco music in Jivehounds, another Santa Cruz-based band that also featured vocalist Dante Dark. He currently plays bass guitar for the Santa Cruz-based band Solcircle, which he helped form in the early 1980s, then as Special Fun, and which currently consists also of wind instrumentalist Gary Regina, percussionists Michael Horne and Gary Kehoe, and guitarist and videographer Bob von Elgg. Solcircle released a self-titled CD album on August 31, 2002 on Audio Amigos Records. Adam Cotton of the Metro Santa Cruz newspaper called them, "One of the most visionary bands in the history of the Santa Cruz music scene." Since 2003, Lewis has also played bass guitar for The Joint Chiefs, a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

and classic

rhythm & blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

band that started in 1990 and plays regularly in the Northern California and San Francisco Bay areas. The Joint Chiefs consists of Lewis with bandleader, composer, and guitarist Don Caruth, saxophonist Bob Biala, and drummer Don Thomas. Other fruitful collaborations during his thirty-plus-year musical career have included Free Wheelin', Unknown Jeromes, Aligator and his Zydeco Swamp Band,

Tranceport Tranceport is a trance music DJ mix album series. The series debuted in November 1998 with Paul Oakenfold's '' Tranceport'', released on Kinetic Records. The album featured many trance songs that were receiving a lot of dance club play at the tim ...

Tao Chemical The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religion. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. T ...

, Mic Overman and the Maniacs, Johnny Fabulous, Delta 9, Ariel Thierman, Cosmic Flash, Laura Valatis, Greg Chansky, and Soulbabies.

References

External links

Official website of DreambeachOfficial website of SolcircleOfficial website of The Joint Chiefs Band
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Daniel Vee 1959 births Living people Musicians from Santa Cruz, California Songwriters from California Cabrillo College alumni Guitarists from Los Angeles American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians World Entertainment War members American male songwriters