Send "Ramsey Lewis " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Allaboutjazz |
 I skipped right to this album's new edit of “Sun Goddess," a timelessly accessible 1970s R&B fusion number—already singing the familiar wordless chorus from the original by Ramsey Lewis with Earth Wind and Fire: Way-ohhh, waaaaaay-ooooooooh.In 1974, the sessions for the Sun Goddess album marked a reunion with Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White, a former member of the second Ramsey Lewis Trio. The tune became a huge crossover hit, eventually charting on the Pop Singles, Black Singles and Disco Singles charts. There's a still a beat-up copy around here somewhere but—so particular is the memory of this song—I didn't need to dig it out to remember, instantly, every detail. Initially a hot-buttered ballad featuring this a dreamscape vocal backing from Earth Wind and Fire, the 1970s version of “Sun Goddess" eventually opened up into a roaring rhythmic plateau. Don Myrick's saxophone, brawny and cool, and this chanky-chank guitar (was that Johnny Graham?) worked in cunning contrast with Verdine White's sleek bass lines—to the point where Lewis' rippled electric keyboard was occasionally subsumed in the maelstrom. When singer Philip Bailey and Co. finally returned with another chorus, “Sun Goddess" simply took flight, soaring over the horizon with a stirring hopefulness. Then, as now, the song represented a move into the mainstream, after years of playing in straight-ahead acoustic settings for Lewis. Earth Wind and Fire were still polishing and perfecting this heady combination of urbane soul and fonky jazz, eventually turning “After the Love is Gone," with a similarly constructed vocal effect, into a Grammy-winning hit song. In many ways, they used this date with Lewis to propel them toward that new synthesis....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Ramsey Lewis first made his name in the mid-1960s putting a funky, soul-jazz instrumental finish on top 40 fare such as “The In-Crowd” and “Hang on Sloopy”. The formula garnered his trio (which included future Earth Wind and Fire founder Maurice White on drums) significant crossover success and made Lewis one of America’s most successful jazz pianists. By the early 1970s, however, he’d tired of the acoustic trio format and embraced R&B fusion and funk. Eventually reuniting with White, this period reached its fruition in 1974 with the release of the classic Sun Goddess, which featured Earth Wind and Fire on several tracks and Miles Davis co-conspirator Teo Macero in the producer’s chair. Charting at number one both on the Billboard Black Albums chart and the Jazz album chart, it was both Lewis’s best selling album of the ‘70s and a cornerstone of the emerging smooth jazz movement. Anyone in a hurry to conjure up some mid-‘70s warm fuzzies would be hard-pressed to top Sun Goddess as a starting point. Fast forward some 35 years and jazz elder statesman Ramsey Lewis has been scarcely near a Moog or Fender Rhodes in 15 years. Performing jazz standards with an acoustic trio in Tokyo, the Land of the Rising Sun asks if he’d consider returning with the rise in volume of an electric band (and maybe a few Sunn amps to boot). Coincidently, his agent has been thinking along the same lines but with an added twist. He’d like his client to bring together the Electric Band and revisit the material from Sun Goddess. Initially skeptical, Lewis gets the group together “just to see how it feels” and likes what he hears. That in a nutshell is how Ramsey Taking Another Look, released on Hidden Beach Recordings and Lewis’s 80th album, came about. Hearty thanks to the fusion-loving Japanese and busybody agents, without whom we might’ve missed out on something special. No polite promenade down memory lane, Ramsey Taking Another Look packs up everything to love about Sun Goddess and forcefully plants it in the here and now. If you’re Ramsey Lewis, the here and now is apparently a ballsy place to be. Four of the seven tracks from Sun Goddess have been rerecorded by Lewis and his crack Electric Band featuring Charles Heath on drums, Joshua Ramos on bass, Henry Johnson on guitar and Tim Gant on various keyboards (the version of “Sun Goddess” is a re-edit of the original and not a remake). Additionally, they’ve laid down five new similarly conceived numbers. Engineer Danny Leake exploits the advances in recording technology to the fullest, bringing the rhythm section front and center and giving each instrument its own individual space. The sound here is truly amazing – you feel like you’re sitting in the room as the tracks are laid down. Happily the 76-year-old Lewis and his cohorts are in terrific form. For proof go no further than their version of Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City”. If you liked it on Sun Goddess, you’ll love it here. Listen to the dynamics of that opening rising like steam from a Lower East Side manhole, to Heath and Ramos locking into a heavy Jurassic funk groove (Jurassic in the sense of recalling a strutting Brontosaurus), to Lewis airing it out on a bluesy extended solo and to the glory of that final “Living……living for the city” chorus being spelled out for all eternity. If we can say Wes Montgomery owned “Round Midnight” and Coltrane “My Favorite Things”, then Lewis has certainly got dibs on “Living for the City”. I have few complaints on the other re-recorded material, either. “Jungle Strut” (here shorn of the “Latino” street banter lurking on the original) kicks off like “Haitian Fight Theme” Mingus suddenly getting the funk before settling into a fatback groove punctuated by Ramsey’s Fender Rhodes and the most lowdown Moog riff you’re ever likely to hear. “Tambura” keeps its ‘70s fusion Mojo even while the sound is pure updated 2011 funkware. The beautiful “Love Song” gets the biggest makeover of the Sun Goddess material. Gone is the dreamy, romantic innocence of 1974 (those strings….) and in its place is a stately, slightly matured take on love and loss. Some might miss the lush production of the original but then a great melody is still a great melody....full text |
| Jazzchill |
| Just like a breath of fresh air comes a brand new album from acclaimed jazz musician and three-time Grammy winner Ramsey Lewis. Lewis’ 80th album release, entitled Ramsey, Taking Another Look is being released on the Los Angeles based Hidden Beach Recordings. The inspiration for Ramsey, Taking Another Look comes from an appearance at The Blue Note jazz club in Tokyo where he was asked if he would consider bringing an electric band. Then his agent suggested the same idea, however, with a more specific focus – and that was to revisit Sun Goddess, his most successful album of the seventies (and his fifth to be certified gold by the RIAA). Soon afterwards came a decision to re-record some old songs where Lewis and his Electric Band breathe new life into many of Lewis’ favorite tunes from the mid-seventies, including a new rendition of the Stevie Wonder penned ‘Living for the City” as well as a new edit of the original “Sun Goddess” recording featuring Earth, Wind & Fire. The ten tracks on the album cover a wide range of emotions but not so much to lose the project’s “concept album” perception. They reveal more than rehashed 1970’s funk. While they don’t “blow the roof off the sucka,” they do win you over with their tender grooves; their fresh vibrant sounds; as well as being breezy, and organic all at the same time. You really need to give it a listen to understand what I am taking about. My personal favorites include the smooth groove sounding rendition of the Stylistics “Betcha By Golly Wow,” Wonders “Living For The City,” “To Know Her,” and ‘Intimacy.” In other words, I love the sound and I guarantee you will too! For Ramsey, the idea of taking another look suggests the liberties he takes with these songs. Rather than turning back the hands of time, his goal is to bring this material into the 21st century for new audiences to enjoy. Ramsey Lewis on Ramsey, Taking Another Look ‘The idea of the electric quintet came up and having played mostly in an acoustic trio arrangement for 12-15 years, I decided to get together with the guys to see how it felt. The rehearsals went so well that I called in my engineer, Danny Leake and my producer/son, Frayne Lewis to come in and roll tape. I’ve recorded maybe 65-70 albums, and this album is definitely among the top five.”...full text |
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