Ramsey Lewis "Sun Goddess" C/D?

It's not that unknown. I remember hearing the title track on the radio in Detroit all the time when the LP came out, and it's been sampled fairly often, too (I know DJ Spooky lifted the guitar part in the intro).
I will agree to its (sporadic) greatness, however.

It's not that unknown. I remember hearing the title track on the radio in Detroit all the time when the LP came out, and it's been sampled fairly often, too (I know DJ Spooky lifted the guitar part in the intro).
I agree about its (sporadic) greatness, however.

It's not that unknown. I remember hearing the title track on the radio in Detroit all the time when the LP came out, and it's been sampled fairly often, too (I know DJ Spooky lifted the guitar part in the intro for "Galactic Funk").
I agree about its (sporadic) greatness, however.

Has anyone ever heard Lewis' Solar Wind? Any observations?

mew mew mew mew, mew mew miliamew mew meeew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Btj9FmqOw

this album is super fun! a friend gave it to me about 8 years ago or so and i never listened to it but my son pulled it off the shelf and we put it on

ramsey lewis rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tLSl1fA4wg

^that album is so well-recorded

I'm far more familiar with the 60s trio than the 70s jazzfunk. I think I just dismissed it on hearing as sounding like Snoopy music. But Vince Guaraldi seems to be becoming pretty popular anyway. & maybe I should recheck both of them out.

Wasn't the drummer in the 60s RL Trio Maurice White who went off to found EWF? Which could be hence connections between the 2 70s bands?

Yes, Maurice White played with the trio in the late 60's.

This the only Ramsey Lewis thread? Haven’t dug too deep into the catalogue but always like the cuts I have heard from his Beatles album, Mother Nature’s Son.

I like Another Voyage from ‘69, that’s a cool album

A couple of years ago, the BGO label reissued a bunch of Lewis's albums, four albums each on two-CD sets. I bought a set that has Don’t It Feel Good, S’longo, Tequila Mockingbird and Love Notes, and another that has Funky Serenity, Golden Hits (funk-fusion re-recordings of his mid '60s tunes), Solar Wind and Sun Goddess. Most all of it rules.

for half an hour I've been trying to work out where I'd heard Wade in The Water before, it was used as the intro music to Nairn Across Britain.

great live rendition of The "In" Crowd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOO42RbEvPw

My gateway into Ramsey Lewis was this hyperactive DJ Paypal edit of "Whisper Zone"--such a great tune in any form:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANw4hLTVD40

Mother Nature’s Son is a jam. Just picked up a couple of later-period RL records; not expecting too much from them but the price was right.

pioneer. rest well.☮️

he did the best version of les fleur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCKCRrGKx_c

and the best version of dear prudence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMKoKiXKYc

and the best version of wu tang forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqGDKpgxvlg

obviously charles stepney big part of the magic there AND YET

also afaik ramsey has no connection to wu tang, just an obtuse joke about “oriental”-isms

Charles Stepney indeed a hugh part. Doesn't take away from Ramsey himself though. Always thought "Soulful Strut" sounded a lot like "The In Crowd." Maybe I once knew that Young and Holt were orginallly in Ramsey's trio but I forgot.

(did a post earlier but i guess it got vaporized) RIP, hugely underrated today. a couple of my cratedigger jazz snob friends roll their eyes at me for picking these records up whenever i see them but they dont know what theyre missing, plus the records still go for peanuts. happened to spend all labor day weekend listening to Mother Natures Son, never get sick of it.

Don't know his 60s material at all, but his 70s run — Funky Serenity, Salongo, Don't It Feel Good, Solar Wind, Sun Goddess of course — is incredible.

Think he did more straight ahead stuff early on that should appeal to the aforementioned jazz
snobs but they probably woudn't be bothered to listen.

To me he is in kind of this small elite circle of jazzy but funky piano players along with Vince Guaraldi and Galt MacDermot.

galt mcdermot is a good comparison! though i prefer ramsey

Horace Silver vaguely similar as well but he seems to have a higher profile with mainstream jazz cats.

And of course Ramsey was a huge Horace Silver fan.

he got funky instrumentals into the top 40 and on the radio at the peak of the motown era.

pioneer. enough said.

ps-
if you want to dig a little deeper, i highly recommend funky serenity from 1972.

I like Another Voyage from ‘69, that’s a cool album

― brimstead, Sunday, January 17, 2021 10:20 AM

also brim otm. the trio is reunited and riffing on this one this morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXTToYdIurw

ramsey lewis trio - "wanderin rose" (1969)

ramsey- piano
cleveland- bass
maurice- drums

Somebody said Keith Jarrett was a fan but can't find this anywhere.

ramsey lewis trio - "wanderin rose" (1969)

ramsey- piano
cleveland- bass
maurice- drums

― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Tuesday, September 13, 2022 11:24 AM (three hours ago)

+ Phil Upchurch on guitar

RIP Ramsey, we didn't name my son after him, but I'm glad they share it.

The In Crowd is basically untoppable for me, but for later, electrified funkiness, this is my fave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pux-0_2bEPE

nice one! i think that was the first ramsey lewis track on my radar, i think i heard it on this pulp fusion comp

Listening to a few random albums today (one of the benefits of working from home) I've checked out Goin' Latin (1966, exactly what one would expect, but I have a high propensity for slightly kitschy Latin jazz), Mother Nature's Son (I wasn't aware of this one previously, really interesting arrangements) and Them Changes (1970, recorded live here in Minneapolis at the club that would later become First Avenue.) I liked the latter the best; warm, funky, gospel-y soul jazz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6j6Zk945ZY

Is this the only Ramsey Lewis thread? Listening to Funky Serenity for the first time and wow, this is superb, so much more going on than just pop jazz or whatever.. this “nights in white satin” is a trip, especially when he gets all chromatic and shit.

He's got a whole string of 70s albums that are fantastic. (And he shows up on Earth, Wind & Fire's live album, Gratitude, to perform "Sun Goddess.")

his "The In Crowd" was featured heavily in a relatively recent Woody Allen movie, it's nice

this "Nights in White Satin" is something else though

I quite like his Beatles covers too

i am deeply into this guy right now. Upendo Ni Pamoja is my current obsession. also Tequila Mockingbird