Lewis, who was significantly influenced by the arranging style and carriage of Count Basie, played with a tone quality that made listeners and critics feel as though every note was deliberate. Schuller remembered of Lewis at his memorial service that "he had a deep concern for every detail, every nuance in the essentials of music". Lewis became associated with representing a modernized Basie style, exceptionally skilled at creating music that was spacious, powerful and yet, refined. In an interview with "Metronome" magazine, Lewis himself said: