Ramsey Lewis — Getty Images
Mary Ann and I went to see the great Ramsey Lewis at Chicago’s London House in the early 70s. The Trio was the house band for a number of years. On his passing at 87, The Guardian wrote:
“The piano great tuned in to the hits of his day and played hard bop to a rock backbeat,
crossing into the mainstream and becoming one of the most sampled musicians of all time”
“I can, if necessary, play quite complicated jazz improvisations,” he once said. “But you’ve got to make sure you carry the audience with you. Most people don’t have an MA in music scholarship, they haven’t sat a jazz improvisation 101, they don’t want to hear you playing bebop inspired by Béla Bartók. You’ve got to follow the audience, and play off their energy.”
Amen! A class act when “class” meant a lot more.
— kenne
Here’s a link to a 2009 blog posting on Ramsey Lewis: https://kenneturner.com/2009/11/01/flashback-seeing-ramsey-lewis-at-the-london-house/
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