The
eminent pianist and composer Ramsey
Lewis is one of America’s most influential and beloved jazz
musicians.
At
the forefront of Chicago jazz, Ramsey Lewis first captivated fans with his
Gentlemen of Swing and Ramsey Lewis Trio. By 1965, he was one of the
nation’s most successful popular jazz pianists, topping charts with The In Crowd, Hang On Sloopy, and Wade In The Water. Often called legendary, Lewis concedes “it’s
a high honor when someone says so but I don’t put myself in that league.
What keeps me enthusiastic and energizes me, is the realization I still
have far to go.”
“Living
life,” Ramsey Lewis says, inspires him to create. “LIfe is a thing of
miracles and reserving time to communicate with the Universe is food for
my soul. My medium, the piano, allow me to reach out. If an artist
sincerely gives of him- or herself to the listener, the listener sends
something back — it’s a mutual love affair.”
Ramsey
Lewis began at the age of 4 with piano lessons, studying the basics and
the fundamentals. But, “It wasn’t until I started studying with
Dorothy Mendelsohn that I responded to some of the startling things she
was teaching me, such as ‘listen with your inner ear’ and ‘make the
piano sing’. These concepts were revelations!” Soon after, Lewis began
learning Bach, Beethoven, Hayden, Brahms, and Chopin — the basic piano
repertoire for the concert pianist.
Except
for records his father played around the house (Duke Ellington, Art Tatum,
Mead Lux Lewis, and others) Ramsey Lewis had no special exposure to jazz.
He was 15 when a fellow church musician Wallace Burton asked him to join
his jazz band, and it was a brand new experience. A seven-piece group
called The Cleffs provided Lewis first real involvement with the great
music of jazz. “It soon became a major force in my musical life, but
European classical and gospel music were of almost equal importance,” he
recalls. “During the course of my career, people often ask me what makes
up my style. It wasn’t until Dizzy Gillespie and Maurice White said
that, to their ears, my music is made up of classical, gospel, and jazz
influences that a light came on in my head! Certainly in my case it is
true that one’s style reflects one’s strongest influences.” Lewis
beautifully expressed these common musical denominators on his 1999 Narada
Jazz debut APPASSIONATA. Brimming with the bright, yet lush energy of the
pianist’s signature style, the album features classical and operatic
favorites, traditional spirituals, and Lewis’ blues-inspired jazz
originals. Lewis reminisces, “More than any album I’ve ever done,
APPASSIONATA is a snapshot of all I’ve been involved in.”
Visit the official site of Ramsey Lewis
Performing
for almost 50 years, Nancy Wilson has graced almost every facet of the
entertainment industry — from recording, acting, hosting the nationally
syndicated NPR program Jazz Profiles, to her work as spokesperson for
several humanitarian efforts. Her touch is unmistakable.
Miss
Wilson recalls, “I always knew I wanted to sing, but it took me longer
to decide if I wanted to do it professionally. I sought instruction at 12,
but I was told it was too early, that my voice would change. By the time I
was 22, my voice was still the same!”
Wilson’s
career began in her hometown of Chillicothe, Ohio where, much like Ramsey
Lewis, performances with her church choir proved to be invaluable and
influential experiences. But, as she remembers, “The music my Dad played
by the legendary Billy
Eckstein, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, LaVern Baker, Dinah Washington, and
Jimmy Scott really nurtured my desire.”
Pursuing a career as a singer, however, provided many obstacles,
especially as a woman. To the disappointment of her family, Wilson
persevered, left college to join Rusty Bryant’s Carolyn Club Band, and
eventually embarked on one of the most successful jazz pop careers in our
time.
Now,
with over 60 albums, a Grammy, and an Emmy, Wilson is among contemporary
music's premier vocalists. While
often crossing over into the pop and R&B markets — and even hosting
her own television variety program, The Nancy Wilson Show — her first love remains singing in an intimate club setting
and she is best known for her stunning jazz vocals. She is one of the most
dazzling and stylish voices of our time.
Visit the official site of Miss Nancy Wilson
During
the 2001 season, Nancy Wilson performed at the Ravinia Festival. Ramsey
Lewis, the Artistic Director of Jazz, was chatting backstage with his
longtime friend. After a time, Lewis stopped and said to her, “We should
do something together.” Miss
Wilson replied, “You’re right — it’s been too long.” MEANT TO BE
is the result.
MEANT
TO BE marks the first time Lewis and Wilson recorded in the same studio.
Even during their 1984 collaboration THE TWO OF US (produced by Stanley
Clarke), each recorded their tracks separately. Seventeen years later,
their new offering showcases two jazz legends in top form: Wilson’s
vocals on standards First Time Love,
Peel Me A Grape, and Moondance
are a velvety and lilting overlay to Lewis’ elegant keys. With Piano
in the Dark, the duo delves into a soul jazz fusion and Did
I Ever Really Live’s bold, Broadway-esque delivery reveals Wilson as
a powerful yet sultry chanteuse.
Balanced
by six tracks in a classic trio setting, MEANT TO BE reflects the
timelessness of a great art form performed by two of its masters — an
event to be treasured.
Please visit the album page for sound samples of MEANT TO BE.
The Essence of Nancy Wilson
New Boxed Set
on Capitol Records
Also available
Simple Pleasures
WINNER
NAACP IMAGE AWARD
OUTSTANDING JAZZ ARTIST
With the release of Simple Pleasures, what began as a warm reunion of two great American musicians in 2002 is expanding into a collaboration with legs and plenty of heart. MEANT TO BE, and subsequent live shows, were so warmly received, and the pair felt such a natural musical bond, they’ve moved onto the next logical chapter.
Simple Pleasures is more than an encore performance of the earlier project, though. The songs, and their particular treatment, reflect the gift both musicians have for crossing over the line from jazz to pop and R&B, while always keeping integrity, soulfulness, and swing intact.
In planning SIMPLE PLEASURES, as with any project, Lewis asserts that “it starts with choice of songs, and that dictates where you want to go. Nancy looked at 30 or 40 songs and it got down to the five that she did. We didn’t go in there with a theme in mind. It was just ‘let’s just get some great songs.’ When I looked at her final list and mine, they were quite similar. It ended up being the choices, and the varied styles of music that it is. The music spoke. It said ‘here’s what the album should be.’”
What the song set ends up being is an eclectic, yet cohesive statement by two major musical voices. Lewis is happy with the mix, noting that it carefully “draws from standards, originals and the pop/R&B field. It’s a nice balance, I think.”
Whereas MEANT TO BE was a lean and direct affair, with Wilson appearing with the Lewis trio, the follow-up is distinguished by the presence of smart horn charts by Llew Matthews, Wilson’s longtime pianist and music director. The horn parts weave deftly around Wilson’s clear, soulful renderings of songs such as In The Name Of Love, Give Me Something Real, and Kenny Rankin’s Lost Up In Loving You. Lewis explains, “the trick here — something he said he learned from Duke Ellington — is voicing. Whether you have three horns or thirty horns, it’s all in the way you use them. Llew is a talented pianist and musician and arranger.”
Wilson, as usual, has an uncanny knack of making songs her own, whether an update of the DeBarge tune All This Love, or the moving piano-voice duet, God Bless The Child. This poignant performance pays tribute to Billie Holiday’s celebrated version, but ends up being pure Lewis and Wilson.
For his part, Lewis offers his own unique grasp of the jazz-tinged soul song, something of a specialty since his big splash in the mid-‘60s, with top-selling albums The In Crowd, Hang On Sloopy, and Wade In The Water. Lewis and his trio give fresh instrumental readings of such classics as the Beatles’ In My Life and a new take on the old War song Slippin’ into Darkness, which Lewis recorded years ago.
Lewis and Wilson’s latest round of interactions was sparked by a meeting at the 2001 Ravinia Festival in Chicago, for which Lewis serves as Artistic Director of Jazz. They had recorded a collaborative album, The Two of Us, back in 1984 (produced by Stanley Clarke).
But the initial meeting goes back to the early ‘60s, when both were managed by John Levy. They met in the famed manager’s office, and a friendship was struck. “We’ve stayed in touch for all of these years,” Lewis says. “It’s very comfortable. Two professionals, when they meet onstage or in a studio, they’re going to make it work, anyway. But when you’re professionals and also very good friends, it’s just so easy.”
Their separate career paths over the years have proven stellar. Wilson, born in Chillichote, Ohio, boasts a Grammy, and Emmy (for her NBC series, The Nancy Wilson Show), and a role as host of the popular NPR program Jazz Profiles, not to mention a discography of over 60 titles. Her career has spanned jazz, R&B, and the “contemporary jazz” market.
Lewis zoomed into the public sphere with 1965’s THE IN CROWD. He has three Grammy awards on his mantle, and has a wealth of experience in radio programming and as host of Legends of Jazz, BET’s Jazz Central, as well as host of WNUA’s morning show. He debuted on the Narada label with a diverse musical feast, Appassionata, in 1999.
Throughout his career, Lewis has managed to appeal to both the jazz audience and pop and soul fans, and mixtures thereof. “My career just evolved that way,” he says of his naturally eclectic, crowd-pleasing approach to music. “I think it started with my playing in church. I’d already started studying classical music, so there are two exposures to vastly different kinds of music. Playing in church, it’s about the message of your music reaching people and moving people.
“When I started performing myself, I’m just playing all these kinds of music that I always played — classical, gospel, pop from high school, jazz from the neighborhood. It was just there. Audiences said ‘I can connect with this.’ And they did, in 1965, to the tune of a million albums.
Another unusual aspect of the Lewis-Wilson collaborations has been the delicate balance of both instrumental and vocal tracks, giving each co-leader a showcase. That blend, in the space of an album’s tracks or in a live show, is something rare in contemporary music. Usually, Lewis says, “it’s either one or the other. Nancy and I have known each other for some time and have always wanted to do something together. She did it a long time ago, with Cannonball Adderley, and later with George Shearing, back in the ‘60s. I think it makes for a very interesting album. It’s not that either one of us could not carry a whole album, but in this case, I think two and two adds up to five or six.”
In the Swing Era, of course, the instrumental-vocal mixture was commonplace. “It kept it interesting for the listener,” Lewis says. “It kept their ear perked. We hope that’s what happens with this album. It surely happened on the first one, because the acceptance of that was so great. We went out and played some concerts last year and they were widely accepted, so we said ‘why don’t we do one more?’”
Meant to be? It’s looking that way. As Lewis comments, the pairing has proven to be mutually, artistically satisfying. “We said to each other ‘I think I’m going to cut out most of the other stuff I’m doing and just do this.’ The other said ‘I’m with you, babe.’”
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