signalmankenneth
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Ramsey Lewis is how I started into modern jazz music in the mid-sixties?!!
CNN —
Depending on which music pundit you ask, jazz “died” when its 1920s heyday ended. Others believe jazz music lost its luster when the 1960s – and rock music – rolled around.
But Ramsey Lewis, an inventive jazz pianist and one of the nation’s most respected artists in the genre, continued to find novel ways to keep the genre alive and evolving and, crucially, grow new generations of jazz listeners.
Lewis spent nearly 60 years recording and performing original jazz music, striking gold in 1965 with the crossover hit “The ‘In’ Crowd.” He won three Grammys, scored seven gold records and in 2007 was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master, the highest honor bestowed upon jazz musicians in the US.
Lewis died Monday at his home in his native Chicago, his manager Brett Steele confirmed. He was 87.
A lifelong Chicagoan, Lewis grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing project in the city’s Near North Side. Though he played piano throughout his childhood, his exposure to jazz came only at home, when his father would play records from Duke Ellington and Art Tatum (one of Lewis’ all-time favorite artists). He didn’t attempt to learn to play jazz himself until another musician at his church approached him to start a band when he was 15, according to the National Endowment for the Arts’ biography of Lewis.
After honing his jazz piano skills with that band, the Clefs, he formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with bassist Eddie Young and Redd Holt on percussion, per his website. Their debut album was released in 1956, but it wasn’t until almost 10 years later that they became national stars: The trio’s instrumental cover of “The ‘In’ Crowd” became a hit upon its 1965 release and won Lewis his first of three Grammys.
The mid-1960s also saw the release of crossover hits like “Hang on Sloopy” and “Wade in the Water,” two songs that resonated with listeners from all backgrounds, not just jazz aficionados.
The trio’s line-up shuffled over the years – other members included Maurice White on drums (he eventually departed the trio to start Earth, Wind & Fire but returned to produce Lewis’ 1974 album “Sun Goddess”). Lewis collaborated with other artists in his genre, too, including the late jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson on several albums, including 1984’s “The Two of Us.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/entertainment/ramsey-lewis-jazz-pianist-death-cec/index.html
Rest in Peace!
CNN —
Depending on which music pundit you ask, jazz “died” when its 1920s heyday ended. Others believe jazz music lost its luster when the 1960s – and rock music – rolled around.
But Ramsey Lewis, an inventive jazz pianist and one of the nation’s most respected artists in the genre, continued to find novel ways to keep the genre alive and evolving and, crucially, grow new generations of jazz listeners.
Lewis spent nearly 60 years recording and performing original jazz music, striking gold in 1965 with the crossover hit “The ‘In’ Crowd.” He won three Grammys, scored seven gold records and in 2007 was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master, the highest honor bestowed upon jazz musicians in the US.
Lewis died Monday at his home in his native Chicago, his manager Brett Steele confirmed. He was 87.
A lifelong Chicagoan, Lewis grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing project in the city’s Near North Side. Though he played piano throughout his childhood, his exposure to jazz came only at home, when his father would play records from Duke Ellington and Art Tatum (one of Lewis’ all-time favorite artists). He didn’t attempt to learn to play jazz himself until another musician at his church approached him to start a band when he was 15, according to the National Endowment for the Arts’ biography of Lewis.
After honing his jazz piano skills with that band, the Clefs, he formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with bassist Eddie Young and Redd Holt on percussion, per his website. Their debut album was released in 1956, but it wasn’t until almost 10 years later that they became national stars: The trio’s instrumental cover of “The ‘In’ Crowd” became a hit upon its 1965 release and won Lewis his first of three Grammys.
The mid-1960s also saw the release of crossover hits like “Hang on Sloopy” and “Wade in the Water,” two songs that resonated with listeners from all backgrounds, not just jazz aficionados.
The trio’s line-up shuffled over the years – other members included Maurice White on drums (he eventually departed the trio to start Earth, Wind & Fire but returned to produce Lewis’ 1974 album “Sun Goddess”). Lewis collaborated with other artists in his genre, too, including the late jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson on several albums, including 1984’s “The Two of Us.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/entertainment/ramsey-lewis-jazz-pianist-death-cec/index.html
Rest in Peace!
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