Lew Tabackin: My 15 Favorite Tracks

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 9, 2025
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The best way to appreciate Lew Tabackin is through a cross-section of his work over the years.

Lew will be making a rare live appearance on New York's Upper East Side at 92NY on Saturday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. You can attend in-person at the cultural institution (starting at $40 per seat) or purchase an online ticket (starting at $20) and stream from anywhere in the world. His appearance is part of 92NY's annual Jazz in July Festival.

The concert, Tenors of Our Time, features saxophonists Melissa Aldana, Chris Lewis, Walter Smith III and Lew Tabackin, backed by pianist and artistic director Aaron Diehl, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Kush Abadey. For tickets and more information, go here.

Here are 15 tracks from 1968 to 2024 plus two bonus clips:

Here's Lew with Les and Larry Elgart playing Bill Finegan's arrangement of Soon in 1966...

Here's Lew on Duke Pearson's New Girl from Introducing Drew Pearson's Big Band (1968-'69)...

Here's Lew with the Toshiko Akioshi Quintet playing Opus No. Zero, from At the Top of the Gate (1968)...

Here's Lew playing on At Twilight on Attila Zoller's Gypsy Cry (1969)

Here's Lew playing flute on Kofi, from the Donald Byrd album of the same name (1969)...

Here's the full album of Day Dream (1976)...

Here's the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band playing Deracinated Flower from March of the Tadpoles (1977)...

Here's Strive for Jive, on the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band's live album, The Big Apple (1977)...

Here's Phil Woods and Lew Tabackin playing Limehouse Blues on Phil Woods & Lew Tabackin (1980)

Here's the Lew Tabackin-John Lewis Duo playing Lewis's Afternoon in Paris (1981)...

Here's the complete Sweet Return album in 1983 by Freddie Hubbard with Lew, backed by Joanne Brackeen (p), Eddie Gomez (b) and Roy Haynes (d)...

Here's the complete Desert Lady (1989), with Lew on tenor saxophone and flute, backed by Hank Jones (p), Dave Holland (b) and Victor Lewis (d)...

Here's Lew backing Carla White on flute on Dreamsville, from White's Listen Here (1991)...

Here's Lew playing Body and Soul from Tanuki's Night Out (2001)...

And here's Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew playing Serenade to Sweden from Vintage: Duke Ellington Songbook (2008)...

Bonus. Here's Lew Tabackin (ts), with Steve Ash (p), Boris Kozlov (b) and Bill Goodwin (d) in 2024 performing The Man I Love at the Shea Center for the Performing Arts in Wayne, N.J... .

Bret Primack conducted an extensive series of on-camera interviews with Lew seven years ago that are all up on YouTube. Here's Lew on developing his sound...