Ramsey Lewis’ star still on rise
Pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis has been a major force in contemporary jazz since the late 1950s. His welcoming style and warm personality paved the way for a rare crossover into both the R&B and pop charts.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Lewis was introduced to music by his father, who loved the music of Duke Ellington and Art Tatum. Not long after his fourth birthday, he was already accompanying the choir at Sunday services. At the age of 15, he joined a jazz combo called the Cleffs, but Lewis was interested in a leaner, more bebop-oriented sound. To that end, he formed the soon-to-be legendary Ramsey Lewis Trio with two of his former bandmates, bassist Eldee Young and percussionist Redd Holt.
The trio became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, almost immediately landing a record deal with Chess. In 1956, Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Jazz was released, and the Ramsey Lewis Trio continued to build a sizable audience among jazz fans. It all came together in 1965, when Chess released the trio’s swinging version of Dobie Gray's hit, "The In Crowd," a single recorded live at Washington, D.C.’s Bohemian Caverns. Certainly recognizable by anyone even remotely familiar with jazz, “The In Crowd” earned Lewis his first gold record, as well as a Grammy® Award for Best Jazz Performance.
As Lewis' star rose, he returned to the pop charts in ‘66 with versions of "Hang on Sloopy" and "Wade in the Water." Interestingly, Young and Holt left Lewis to form their own group, Young-Holt Unlimited, and the pianist hired a new rhythm section, Cleveland Eaton on bass and Maurice White on drums. In 1970, White resigned to form his own group, Earth, Wind & Fire, garnering considerable success on the R&B charts. The two giants-in-the-making remained friends, with White producing Lewis' 1974 album Sun Goddess. The use of electronic keyboards (and quite possibly the inclusion of several members of EWF on the album) helped to catapult Lewis into the upper ranks of the smooth jazz/fusion scene.
Lewis would continue to record R&B-influenced material through the '70s, but remained faithful to more traditional jazz sounds as well as Latin rhythms. In 1983, he returned to the studio with Young and Holt for the album Reunion, and in 1984, he collaborated with Nancy Wilson on The Two of Us. 1988 saw Ramsey Lewis recording with London's Philharmonia Orchestra for the album A Classic Encounter.
Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen snapped Lewis up for their successful jazz label GRP Records, and in 1995 he launched the side project Urban Knights, in which he collaborated with a handful of successful crossover jazz stars including Grover Washington, Jr., Earl Klugh and Dave Koz. In 1997, Lewis hosted a popular show on Chicago's WNUA-FM that ran until 2009. The low-key but highly knowledgeable show went into syndication in 2006 under the name Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis. It is still on the air today.
Hit after hit and project after project followed, and in 2006, Lewis hosted the well-received 13-episode Legends of Jazz television series on public TV, spotlighting live performances by jazz artists such as Larry Gray, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Hammond organist Joey Defrancesco, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Kurt Elling, Benny Golson, Pat Metheny and Tony Bennett.
Join the in crowd with Ramsey Lewis at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 14th for The Nat King Cole Tribute featuring Lewis and John Pizzarelli in the Performing Arts Theatre at Cape Henlopen High School. Ramsey Lewis will appear again on Saturday, October 15th at 2:30 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church.
