Ramsey Lewis

A true living legend of jazz, Ramsey Lewis (born in Chicago on May 27, 1935 and age 83 at this writing) has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career. He began taking piano lessons at the age of four. At 15 he joined his fi rst jazz band, The Cleffs. The seven-piece group provided Lewis his fi rst involvement with jazz. He would later join drummer Isaac “Redd” Holt and bassist Eldee Young to form the celebrated Ramsey Lewis Trio, heard throughout this album, The Ramsey Lewis Trio in Chicago (Cadet/Argo LPS-671), one of their fi nest works from that period. The group would gain impulse in 1965 with their hit “The in Crowd” (the single reached #5 on the pop charts, and the album #2), after which they concentrated more on pop material. By 1966, Lewis was one of the nation’s most successful jazz pianists. In the 1970s, he often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and using an additional keyboardist in his groups. The complete LP Stretching Out (Argo LPS-665) and a studio version of one of the tunes from the main album have been added as a bonus.