Larnell Lewis (born March 22, 1984) is a Canadian drummer, composer, producer, and educator. He is most well known for playing drums with the Brooklyn-based

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

band

Snarky Puppy Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalist ...

Biography

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Lewis started playing drums at age 2 and was first introduced to drums in church. This is where he began to learn to play a variety of styles including

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

soca Soca or SOCA may refer to: Places * Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy * Soča, Bovec, Slovenia * Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code * Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania * SoCa, Southern California Other u ...

, calypso,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

zouk Zouk is a musical movement pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm and a loud horn section. The fast zouk béton of Martini ...

and

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 m ...

. He also studied electric bass and piano to further his knowledge of the melodic and harmonic aspects of music making. Lewis’ parents were originally from

St. Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of ...

in the Caribbean. Lewis attended

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

, where he was the 2004 recipient of the Oscar Peterson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music, the highest award given by the institution. Lewis was featured on the cover of the September 2016 issue of ''

Modern Drummer ''Modern Drummer'' is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public. ''Mo ...

'' magazine, alongside fellow

drummers Robert “Sput” Searight and Jason “JT” Thomas. In 2017 Lewis was named one of the Top 35 artists under 35 by

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

, and also received the award for Emerging Jazz Artist from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Lewis served as musical director for a performance during the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

's premiere of the critically acclaimed documentary ''Quincy'', about famed producer

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, where he led performances from the likes of

Yebba Abigail Elizabeth Smith, (born January 16, 1995) known professionally as Yebba, is an American singer and songwriter from West Memphis, Arkansas. She first became known for her backing vocal performance on Chance the Rapper's SNL performance of ...

Smith,

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...

, and

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

. In 2018 Lewis released his first solo album, ''In The Moment'', on which he played bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica, percussion, piano, synthesizer and vocals, in addition to writing and producing. In February 2021 Lewis recorded a video for the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel ''Drumeo'' in which he listened to the

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

song "

Enter Sandman "Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist a ...

" for the first time, then played the drum part of the entire song after having heard it just once. The video went viral, with over 12 million views as of January 2023.

Session work

Lewis currently plays and has recorded with musical artists

and

Laila Biali Laila Biali (born 3 October 1980) is a Canadian Vocal jazz, jazz singer and pianist. She has been nominated for and won a Juno Award and has worked with Chris Botti and Sting (musician), Sting. Career Born in Vancouver, Biali began playing pi ...

. He has also played with

Fred Hammond Frederick William Hammond (born December 27, 1960) is an American gospel singer, bass guitar player, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most popular figures in contemporary gospel music. He is known for using a variety of differe ...

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

Matt Dusk Matthew-Aaron Dusk (born November 19, 1978) is a Canadian jazz vocalist. He has four certified gold albums: ''Two Shots'', '' Good News'', ''Old School Yule!'' and ''JetSetJazz'', and two certified platinum albums; ''My Funny Valentine: The Chet ...

Robi Botos Robi Botos is a Hungarian-Canadian jazz pianist. He has recorded several albums as a leader and was the winner of the Concours de Jazz, TD Grand Jazz Award at the 2012 Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 2016, Botos won the JUNO Award for Bes ...

Molly Johnson Margaret Leslie "Molly" Johnson, OC is a Canadian Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter of pop and jazz. Biography Johnson began as a child performer, receiving formal training from the National Ballet School and the Banff School of Fine Arts. ...

Elizabeth Shepherd Elizabeth Shepherd (born 12 August 1936) is an English character actress whose long career has encompassed the stage and both the big and small screens. Her television work has been especially prolific. Shepherd's surname has been variously ren ...

Emilie-Claire Barlow Emilie-Claire Barlow (born 6 June 1976) is a Canadian singer, arranger, record producer, and voice actress. She has released several albums on her label, Empress Music Group, and has voiced characters for animated television series. She performs ...

, Barbra Lica and Tia Brazda. Lewis's performance on

's 2014 album '' We Like It Here'' was noted for his learning most of the songs on the airplane flight to the Netherlands, having only played two of them before the recording date. He also played on the group's 2016 albums

Culcha Vulcha ''Culcha Vulcha'' is an album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy that was released on April 29, 2016. The album includes performances by a number of musicians associated with the band and called "the Fam". The band's first studio album i ...

, which won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and

Family Dinner – Volume 2 ''Family Dinner – Volume 2'' is an album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy that was released on February 12, 2016. Track listing All songs arranged by Michael League. Bonus DVD and digital download tracks Personnel * Michael Leag ...

. Lewis has also played on the

JUNO Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

-winning albums ''Clear Day'' by jazz singer

, and ''Root Structure'' by jazz bassist Mike Downes.

Equipment

Lewis endorses

Yamaha Drums Yamaha Drums is a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation founded in 1967. The company manufactures acoustic and electronic drum kits as well as percussion instruments, marching band equipment, and drum hardware. Production Most of Yamaha's drums ar ...

Zildjian :''Zildjian leads here. For people with the surname, see Zildjian (disambiguation)'' The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded ...

Promark Promark is a Houston, Texas-based American drum stick company. Since 2011, it is part of strings company D'Addario. Promark is a widely known stick company generally played in drum set, drum and bugle corps and concert bands. History Promark wa ...

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

, D’Addario, and

Latin Percussion {{for, the company, Latin Percussion Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music. Instruments Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican styles Folkloric and Santeria * Trap drums * Abakua ...

Discography

Solo

* ''In the Moment'' (2018) * ''Relive the Moment'' (2020)

With Snarky Puppy

* Empire Central (GroundUP, 2022) * ''

Immigrance ''Immigrance'' is the thirteenth album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy. It was released on March 15, 2019 and debuted at #2 on the ''Billboard'' Jazz Albums chart in the United States. Track listing ''Source'' Personnel Adapted from ...

'' (GroundUP, 2019) * "

" (GroundUP, Universal Music Classics, 2016) * ''

'' (GroundUP, 2016) * '' We Like It Here'' (GroundUP, 2014)

Other artists

(2018), ''Tracing Light'' (2010), ''From Sea to Sky'' (2007) *

- ''Old Soul'' (2018) * Tia Brazda – ''Daydream'' (2018) * Rich Brown - ''Abeng'' (2016) * ''Barbra Lica'' - ''I'm Still Learning'' (2016) *

David Clayton-Thomas David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...

- ''Canadian'' (2016) *

- ''Clear Day'' (2015) *

- ''The Signal'' (2014) * ''Colleen Allen'' - ''Flashlight'' (2013) * ''Richard Underhill'' - ''Free Spirit'' (2011) *

Anjulie Anjulie Persaud (born May 21, 1983), known as Anjulie, is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has released one self-titled album, and has collaborated with Diplo, Zedd, Boombox Cartel, Kelly Clarkson, Nicki Minaj, TheFatRat, and Benny Benassi, ...

- ''Anjulie'' (2009) * ''Mike Janzen Trio'' - ''Mombâcho'' (2008) *

Toronto Mass Choir Toronto Mass Choir is a Canadian gospel music group that incorporates contemporary gospel, traditional gospel as well as Caribbean music influences; founded in 1988. Seeds of this gospel choir were sown during the choir’s initial live recording ...

- ''Going Home'' (2007) * Rhema Worship & Praise - ''The Experience'' (2006)

Awards and recognition

* 2004 recipient of the Oscar Peterson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music. * 2016

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (previously: Best Pop Instrumental Album) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording arti ...

* 2017 Emerging Jazz Artist Award, Toronto Arts Foundation * 2019

(Nominated), ''In the Moment'', Jazz Album of the Year: Solo

References

External links

Official site

Snarky Puppy Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Larnell 1984 births Living people Canadian jazz drummers Canadian session musicians Jazz fusion drummers Musicians from Toronto Canadian male drummers 21st-century Canadian drummers Snarky Puppy members 21st-century Canadian male musicians Black Canadian musicians Canadian people of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent