“She has established herself as a star attraction on the international Jazz Circuit.”
(Chris Parker, freelance critic for BBC Magazine)

If ever there was an Indy artist who truly deserved the title, it is Judy Lewis. In the 10 short years since abandoning a flourishing career as a concert classical pianist and turning to Jazz, she has made her mark on the global Jazz scene rubbing shoulders with New York Times reporters, dignitaries, and the directors of some of Europe’s most prestigious Jazz clubs and festivals. Armed only with passion, faith and an obsessive dedication to hard work, she has been her own manager, booking agent, record label CEO and publicist for nearly a decade.

The fact is that Judy started this journey 10 years ago as the single Mom of 4 small children, working a 40 hour a week day job, struggling to find 4 to 5 hours a day to practice and promote her music. She didn’t hesitate for a second when producing her first album (Weaver of Dreams, 1999) required selling her brand new car to do so. Now, a decade later (and with a more modest car) she has just released album #5 on her own Indy Jazz label, Visionary Insomniac Records and is recognized by fans and press worldwide as a truly unique 21st century artist.

Judy Lewis was born, Judy Levine, in Milwaukee, Wis. on February 19th, 1958. She began classical piano studies at age 7 and by age 9 it was clear to all that she would be a formidable musical entity in the future. As she put prize after prize under her belt she began to create a name for herself in the Classical world. At age 15 she won the Wisconsin Young Artists Competition, at age 16 the Wisconsin All Stars Competition, and at age 17 the Outstanding Music & Youth Award that included a performance with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Judy continued her studies at the prestigious Columbia University in New York, but her stay there lasted only 2 years. During her first year of college Judy became taken with the spiritual side of Jewish teachings. Little by little God replaced music as Judy was drawn into the tightly closed world of religion. After 2 years in university Judy moved to Jerusalem to study religion fulltime. Two years later she married a rabbinical student and left music forever…or so everyone thought.

For 10 years Judy Lewis remained a part of the most fervently religious sect in Israel. She had 4 children and worked odd jobs to make money for her family. But, thoughts of the dream she had given up haunted her. In 1995, Judy divorced, left the religious community for good and set out on her own, now a single mother of 4, to find that dream.

With no degree and no job experience, Judy began to take in private piano students and worked to complete her university degree through correspondence. A year later she landed a job as music teacher at a local primary school and enrolled in the Rubin Academy of Music to get a second degree and teaching certification in Music Education, which she received 2 years later.

Having settled the issues of supporting her family, Judy turned to the difficult task of reclaiming her standing as a professional musician. For 3 years she played Classical music, but with little passion, until one day she heard her very first Jazz concert and in seconds realized that this was the voice she had been looking for. The dream was found. The rest is a self composed fairy tale in the making…

Judy Lewis’s classical training as well as her passion for progressive Rock music have continually informed her personal vision of Jazz and have led to a fresh new stylistic conception. With major influences stretching from Dream Theater to the Peter Erskine Trio, her own brand of what she likes to call “acoustic fusion”, has gleaned praise from Jazzers and Rockers alike. John Fordham of The Guardian, upon hearing her band in concert at the world famous Pizza Express Jazz Club in London, called the music “a rare phenomenon” and singled Lewis out as “no clone of anybody else”.

Today, Judy Lewis has 5 albums of original Jazz music out on the international market, distributed worldwide and reviewed by the worlds leading Jazz and Music Journals. She is managing director of her own record label, Visionary Insomniac Records, and regularly tours Europe and Israel. She has been a pioneer of Jazz education in Israel, establishing the first high school Jazz Music Department in the country in 2001. Lewis is a teacher of Jazz Interpretation & Improvisation at the Rubin Academy of Music, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. In addition, she also teaches courses in Popular Songwriting, and Self Promotion for the Independent Artist, at Musrara College of Music and Media in Jerusalem.

Judy Lewis is on a small and prestigious list of Israeli artists sponsored by the Israel Foreign Ministry as ambassadors of Israeli Culture abroad. Thanks to the Ministry, she has headlined such international festivals as The Calcutta International Jazz Festival, The Nepal International Jazz Festival, The Birmingham Women In Music Festival and the Prague Solo Piano Jazz Festival. In 2008 Judy Lewis was appointed International Ambassador for the Birmingham based Women In Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes and encourages women in all areas of the music field worldwide.

* For more info please visit www.judylewisgroup.com or www.myspace.com/judylewis for more information about Judy and her work.