Ramsey Lewis was born in Chicago in 1935. He studied piano from a very young age and was attracted to play Jazz by the music of Duke Ellington, amongst others. He joined the Cleffs at the age of fifteen, playing at local dances and parties, and later formed his own group, the Ramsey Lewis Trio, with two other members of the Cleffs, Eldee Young on bass and Isaac Holt on drums. In the mid-fifties, the trio joined Chess Records, releasing their first album in 1956.
The first Ramsey Lewis Trio album on the Argos label 1956
Lewis was keen to widen the scope of Jazz, to attract music fans whose interests didn’t usually extend that far. By including popular songs in his repertoire, he sought to bring his music into the mainstream. Twenty albums by the Trio were issued by Argos between 1956 and 1965, exploring Jazz from a number of interesting angles, as suggested by some of the titles: “Down To Earth”, “Country Meets The Blues”, “Bach To The Blues”.
The Trio then released an album “The In Crowd”, produced by Esmond Edwards, which featured a version of Dobie Gray’s hit song. The album went to number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. The title track was released as a single, reaching number five on the Billboard 100 Singles Chart. The plan had worked!
When Holt and Young left in 1966 to form their own group, Lewis recruited two Chicago session men, Cleveland Eaton (bass) and Maurice White (drums), to relaunch his trio, with no loss of momentum. The follow-up singles, “Hang On Sloopy” and “Wade In The Water” also charted, with all three releases selling over a million copies and achieving gold certification. The Chess team that made this happen included producer Esmond Edwards, arranger Richard Evans, and engineer Bruce Swedien. It was a very talented group, who played a big part in Chess Records’ growing success.
Ramsey Lewis
Photo: Justin Steyer KPLU Radio 2009 (Wikimedia Commons)
Lewis continued to explore ways of fusing elements of Jazz, R&B and Pop on his 1969 album “Another Voyage”, issued on the Cadet label. Charles Stepney supervised the recording, with Stu Black replacing Swedien as engineer. Guitarist Phil Upchurch joined the band for three tracks. One of the most interesting compositions is “Uhuru”, written by trio members Eaton and White. The tune has some of the foot-tapping appeal of the earlier hits and is certainly funky. Yet it is firmly embedded in the Jazz tradition and shows some of the experimental features that Marshall Chess was keen to encourage. White plays the kalimba on this track, an African thumb piano.
Maurice White left the trio in 1970, to form Earth, Wind & Fire. He was replaced by another outstanding drummer, Morris Jennings. In 1972, Ramsey Lewis moved to Columbia, where the experimental nature of his work was maintained with albums including “Sun Goddess” (1974), which was produced by White and featured synthesizers for the first time in the trio’s work.
