Istanbul Signature Mel Lewis 1982 20in Ride

£320.99

Dark wash, subtle overtones, ‘woody’ stick definition, full-sounding, warm and lush…

Description

Istanbul Signature Mel Lewis 1982 20″ Ride Cymbal

Istanbul have lovingly recreated a handful of ‘tribute’ cymbals in memory of their first endorser, Mel Lewis and we are pleased to be offering their wonderful Mel Lewis 1982 20” Ride cymbal as part of the Agop Signature Series.

Over all, the Mel Lewis Signature Rides produce a dark wash with lots of subtle overtones, plus some seriously good stick definition. The Mel Lewis 1982 20” Ride is a particularly full-sounding cymbal with a warm, lush wash and a ‘woody’ stick response, making it a highly versatile cymbal for use in the Jazz-Big Band genres.

Check out this cymbal played in the following video…

YouTube video

Quite a driving Ride cymbal don’t you think? You can also hear the way the cymbal produces plenty of warm, trashy ‘crash’ accents with controlled overtones.

Always insisting on using Turkish cymbals, Mel Lewis switched to Istanbul, becoming their first endorser and continuing to play Istanbul cymbals up until his death in 1990. The Mel Lewis 1982 20” Ride is based on a cymbal originally created for his live work, accurately reproduced today thanks to the help of the Lewis family who allowed Istanbul access to his original cymbals to make a template.

Istanbul Cymbals have strived to replicate every detail of the cymbals loaned to them for the manufacturing process and the exemplary work undertaken by their cymbal-smiths makes sure Mel’s legacy lives on by giving new players access to the same sounds he loved during an illustrious career in Jazz and Big Band music. As the late (and obviously great) Buddy Rich said of Mel:

Mel Lewis doesn’t sound like anybody else. He sounds like himself.

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