Reggie Lucas -

Reggie Lucas (Feb. 25, 1953 — May 19, 2018) was an American jazz-funk guitarist and producer from Queens who played with Miles Davis and recorded the solo album Survival Themes. He later formed a songwriting and production partnership with James Mtume and produced early recordings by Madonna.

Background

Reggie Lucas was born Reginald Grant Lucas on Feb. 25, 1953, in Flushing, Queens, New York. His father, Ronald Lucas, practiced medicine, and his mother, Annie Parham Lucas, worked as a teacher and administrator in New York City public schools. Lucas began piano lessons at age six and received a Japanese electric guitar for his eleventh birthday. Lucas studied guitar as a teenager with Dave Barren, Dennis Sandole, and Pat Martino.

Lucas attended the Bronx High School of Science, where he played in small school bands and participated in student protests connected with the 1968 New York City teachers’ strike. He left Bronx Science after the strike and moved to Philadelphia. Singer Billy Paul hired seventeen-year-old Lucas for his touring band.

Miles Davis recruited nineteen-year-old Lucas in 1972 for his electric band. Lucas recorded “Rated X” on Sept. 6, 1972, at Columbia Studio E and joined Davis on Sept. 29 for the Philharmonic Hall concert issued as In Concert. Lucas remained with Davis through the 1975 Japan tour and recorded the Carnegie Hall and Osaka performances issued as Dark Magus, Agharta, and Pangaea. Lucas also played guitar on the Shunzo Ohno album Something’s Comming for East Wind in early 1975 under producer Toshinari Koinuma.

Lucas entered Minot Sound in White Plains on July 29, 1975, to record his first album, Survival Themes, for East Wind.

Discography: