Mingo Lewis -

Mingo Lewis is an American percussionist from N.Y.C. who briefly played with Santana and Return to Forever, followed by a late-Seventies stint with The Tubes. As a solo artist, he released the 1976 Columbia album Flight Never Ending.

Background

James “Mingo” Lewis was born Dec. 8, 1953, in Harlem, New York City. His father, Jimmy “Babyface” Lewis, was a blues singer and guitarist who performed at the Cotton Club and Apollo Theater. Lewis began on snare drum and cymbal with brushes and played at home with his father. He encountered Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, and Art Blakey as visitors to the family home between ages six and twelve. Lewis turned toward Latin music in junior high school and entered New York’s Latin-music circuit as a young percussionist.

Santana needed a replacement conga player after Michael Carabello left the East Coast tour in October 1971. The band called for a percussionist from the audience at the Felt Forum in New York, and Lewis joined the touring lineup after an on-site audition. Lewis appeared at the Jan. 1, 1972 Diamond Head Crater concert released as Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! and played congas across the February–May sessions for Caravanserai, co-writing “Future Primitive” and composing “La Fuente del Ritmo.” He remained in the Santana circle for the Carlos Santana–John McLaughlin album Love Devotion Surrender and also appears on Welcome.

Chick Corea recruited Lewis in spring 1973 for a new Return to Forever lineup with bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Bill Connors, and drummer Steve Gadd. Return to Forever rehearsed and performed for three months before recording an initial version of Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy. Corea replaced Gadd and Lewis with drummer Lenny White and rerecorded the album for Polydor.

Al Di Meola enlisted Lewis for July–August 1975 sessions at Different Fur in San Francisco and Electric Lady in New York for Land of the Midnight Sun. Lewis played percussion and keyboards and contributed “The Wizard,” a composition he also recorded for his own album. He then recorded Flight Never Ending with bassist Eric McCann, drummer David Logeman, guitarist Randy Sellgren, percussionist A. Louis Bramy, and keyboardists Mike Kapitan and Kincaid Miller.

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