Jim Lewis

Jim Lewis has managed to survive nearly 40 years in the music business as a manager, producer and  record company executive. He's done it all. After graduating at the top of his class from Julliard, the bass prodigy took a sharp turn into the world of rock and roll and landed in its epicenter: Atlantic Records. As the assistant to Atlantic's legendary head AhmetErtegun, Lewis found himself in the company of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and dozens of other acts that helped forge rock as we know it. As a vice president at Polygram Records, Lewis was instrumental in signing Bon Jovi and other major artists. He's had a long working relationship with the fusion violinist Jean Luc Ponty and recently put Ponty together with the founding lead vocalist of the band YES, Jon Anderson, to form the Anderson Ponty Band. The band, rounded out with members of Ponty's group, spent most of September in residence at the Wheeler Opera House working out material for a debut album and capped that residency off with two shows there.