Artist: The Ramsey Lewis Trio

Format: 45rpm 7" Record

Label: Argo 13261

Country Pressed: USA

Condition Of Record: VG, and, has punch hole in label

Side A: My Babe

Side B: Something You Got

Ramsey Lewis has long straddled the boundary between bop-oriented jazz and
pop music. Most of his recordings (particularly by the mid-'60s) were very
accessible and attracted a large non-jazz audience. In 1956, he formed a trio
with bassist Eldee
Young and drummer Red
Holt. From the start (1958), their records for Argo/Cadet were popular,
although in the early days, they had a strong jazz content. In 1958, Lewis also
recorded with Max
Roach and Lem
Winchester. On the 1965 albums The
In Crowd and Hang
On, Ramsey made the pianist into a major attraction and from that point,
on his records became much more predictable and pop-oriented. In 1966, his
trio's personnel changed with bassist Cleveland
Eaton and drummer Maurice
White (later the founder of Earth,
Wind & Fire) joining Lewis. In the 1970s, Lewis often played electric
piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and hiring an
additional keyboardist. He can still play melodic jazz when he wants to, but
Ramsey Lewis has mostly stuck to easy listening pop music during the past 30
years. In 2004 he released Time
Flies, a look back at some of his most popular songs through new recordings.