Lew Anderson came out of Iowa (Drake University) playing one-nighters as an alto saxist and arranger with bands in the U.S. midwest. With the onset of World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and formed a big band attached to the submarine service in the Pacific. After the war, he joined the Honeydreamers vocal group, writing their charts and singing with them on a host of television shows.

In a change of pace, he was "drafted" to play the part of Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show. After six years (1954-1960), he returned full-time to music, putting together a band comprised of musicians playing the Broadway theaters and working jingle dates with him.

In 1989, brought to the attention of Red Blazer proprietor Dennis Carey by music broadcaster, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, the band began an eight-year stint at Carey's New York nightclub. Towards the end of their engagement, producer Ruby Fisher invited Don Kennedy of radio's "Big Band Jump" show to come up from Atlanta to host "Live at the Blazer!" The one-hour program aired June 14, 1997 on Jump's 130 stations, was re-broadcast in August on New York's WQEW and now constitutes "Live at the Blazer! The Lew Anderson Big Band", Sovereign CDSOV-506, joining the band's previous Sovereign albums, "Feelin' Good, Yeah" and "Fired Up."

August of '97 also found the band beginning an open-ended engagement at Birdland, guided in by American Music Projects' Janet Solesky. Stop in any Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 for a truly "live" treat hearing the great Anderson jazz orchestra in concert!

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