Ramsey Lewis - The In Crowd 1965

Ramsey Lewis staked his claim to fame with The In Crowd, an instrumental version of Dobie Gray's Top 40 hit. He also was one of the first soul-jazz icons of the mid-'60s, based on the strength of the sales of this recording, done over three days during a club date at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C. What is not readily acknowledged over the years is that bassist Eldee Young is really the star of the show. He's the one who gets the crowd revved up with his vocalizing in tandem with the notes he is playing. It's on his Ray Charles-like take on "Tennessee Waltz" and a similar treatment of Gale Garnett's minor pop hit "You Been Talkin' 'Bout Me Baby" that gets the patrons off. Of course, the quintessential hip-shakin' introductory title track gets the groove in motion, but it's Young who lights the fuse. His stellar work with drummer Redd Holt bolsters the style of Lewis, and takes it further for the upbeat bossa "Felicidade." Of course, Lewis is the bluesy centerpiece on "Since I Fell for You," another cover of a pop hit that at the time Lenny Welch did so well. The variant is the dramatic "Theme from Spartacus," which has an up-and-down dynamic more suited for a concert hall than a smoky nightclub. This is the moment where Lewis shined the brightest, the "in crowd" at the club was verbally into it, and the time for this music was right. AMG.

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Ramsey Lewis - Sun Godess 1974

Pianist Ramsey Lewis first came to fame as the purveyor of swinging soul-jazz in the mid-'60s, but like a lot of musicians, he underwent some major changes by the end of that decade. Sun Goddess (1974), Lewis' biggest success of the decade, is miles away from the finger-snapping supper club sounds of "The In Crowd." By this time, Lewis had transformed himself into a jazz fusion funkateer, riffing on electric piano and synthesizer amid arrangements that meld jazz with funk, R&B, and yes, even touches of progressive rock. Sun Goddess is also something of a stealth Earth, Wind & Fire album, as it features most of the key players from that band, and bears echoes of EW&F's jazzier, more atmospheric side. AMG.

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Ramsey Lewis - Funky Serenity 1972

Cleveland Eaton, Ed Greene, and Morris Jennings accompany Ramsey Lewis on this commercial-flavored 1973 release. While jazz/pop/soul versions of "Where Is the Love" and "If Loving You Is Wrong" come off limp, spacy renditions of "Nights in White Satin"; Eaton, Jennings, and Lewis' two compositions, "Serene Funk" and "Dreams"; and a beautiful interpretation of Thom Bell and Linda Creed's "Betcha by Golly Wow" make this an enjoyable and essential reissue. Originally issued on Columbia Records (1973). AMG.

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Ramsey Lewis - Mother Nature's Son 1968

This album was another brainchild of Marshall Chess' regime at Chess Records and, in a sense, is of a piece with Electric Mud by Muddy Waters -- here, he's getting Ramsey Lewis, supported by an orchestra conducted and arranged by Charles Stepney, to do jazz improvisations on ten songs fromThe Beatles (aka The White Album). The results are a good deal more impressive and a lot less awkward than Electric Mud, Lewis and company being in far greater sympathy with this material thanMuddy Waters was with Rolling Stones material. The orchestrations are occasionally a bit thick and treacly, but when Lewis jumps in and his playing takes flight, songs such as "Julia" soar off in all manner of unexpected and delightful directions, while "Back in the U.S.S.R.," divorced from its Chuck Berry sound, still serves as the basis for some funky improvisations by the pianist. The album probably didn't do much more for Lewis' career than Electric Mud did for Muddy Waters, but it's a better fit with Lewis and an enjoyable excursion. The cover art is also funny enough to almost make it worth the price of the LP, which was reissued in Japan in 2002 in 24-bit digital audio. AMG.

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