“I’m just trying to make music and maybe help someone else along the way.”

Remembering an American Treasure

He was the son of a Georgia-born amateur church musician and maintenance man and a domestic employed in other people’s homes— Ramsey E. Lewis Sr. and Pauline Richards Lewis, respectively. He was child prodigy who became a world renowned musician (composer, pianist, keyboardist, composer, producer, and educator). This American Treasure is Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr.

He was a jazz man with soul and Sunday roots. He has been lauded as “an iconic leader in the contemporary jazz movement” with a performing career spanning more than fifty years. He was a musician “with an unforgettable sound and outgoing personality” that propelled his music and performance across media and genres: jazz, pop, rhythm and blues, traditional and nontraditional broadcasting.

L

ewis’s climb rose from a childhood Chicago-longing to perform on Carnegie Hall’s classical stage to a crowning achievement in concert performances on the world’s jazz stages (including Carnegie Hall’s).

Lewis was lured by the sounds on his papa’s record player (and in radio recordings) of performers such as singer Nat King Cole, pianist Art Tatum, and band leaders Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

In the late 1950s, Ramsey Lewis’ ensemble’s debut album “The Gentlemen of Swing” became the “Ramsey Lewis Trio” opening Chicago venues for jazz greats such as saxophonist James Moody, trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry, and pianist and composer Duke Ellington.

As the Trio gained in audience and reputation, the greats who came to town—greats such as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Clark Terry, Nat King Cole or Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson— would catch their performance. Listen to the Trio “all night, then go out to breakfast with us,” Ramsey told reporters. The stars would encourage them to keep on keeping on. “That’s good stuff,” they’d say.  “You guys should keep it up.”

A Chicago Tribune article in 1996 highlighted Lewis’ career; and, at that time, marked the fortieth year in his journey. In “The Music of His Years,” Howard Reich wrote

“Lewis has taken about every blow and honor that the music business has to offer.  He has won gold records and Grammys. He has been dismissed as a has-been—only to reemerge as one of the most visible jazz musicians in America.”

 

F

rom the early 1990s, Lewis emerged as “one of the country’s more visible spokesmen on jazz.” He became artistic director of the Ravinia Festival’s Jazz in June series involving young people and helping to establish “a Jazz Mentor program for young musicians.” Perhaps his was in the spirit of Leonard Bernstein’s late 1950s – early 1970s “Young People’s Concerts” through which Bernstein introduced young performers to another area of the music world’s classics. After all, Lewis had begun his young piano years studying and practicing the music of the European masters.

Added to his full schedule of recording and performing, Ramsey Lewis added broadcasting. The “Ramsey Lewis Morning Show” was aired via Chicago’s “smooth jazz” radio station (WNUA (95.5 FM), and later simulcast throughout the United States. Via various traditional and nontraditional broadcasting media, from the 1990s through the 2020, he hosted “Legends of Jazz.” In the early 2000s, he established the Ramsey Lewis Foundation to promote “musical instrument education” for young people.

S

hort list of Lewis’s Awards and Recognition

  HONORARY DOCTORATE DEGREE
DePaul University, Chicago, IL — June 1993

HONORARY DOCTORATE OF ARTS DEGREE
University of Illinois at Chicago — May 1995

HONORARY DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL — 1/2001

RECORDS & RADIO AWARD
R&R Industry Achievement Award — 2003

STELLAR AWARD
Best Gospel Instrumental Album “With One Voice” — 2006

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Jazz Masters Award — January 2007

LANDMARKS ILLINOIS
Legendary Landmark Award — March 2007

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Personal memorabilia inducted into the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D.C. — May 2008

HONORARY DOCTORATE: Doctor of Humane Letters
Loyola University, Chicago, IL — May 2008

GRAMMY HALL OF FAME
Induction of “The in Crowd”
Jazz single by the Ramsey Lewis Trio (Argo 1965) — 2009

In his words: “I’m just trying to make music 

Maybe help someone else along the way.”

 

A

n American Treasure Remembered

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. 

(May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022)

WELL DONE.

 

  

Sources

Chicago Tribune “The Music of His Years,” by Howard Reich and the Tribune’s jazz critic, February 25, 1996, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-02-25-9602250089-story.html

Biography, Background, News

Ramsey Lewis Biography “Ramsey’s passion for music was truly fueled by the love and dedication of his fans across the globe. He loved touring and meeting music lovers from so many cultures and walks of life. It was our family’s great pleasure to share Ramsey in this special way with all those who admired his god-given talents. “—Jan Lewis

“Ramsey Lewis Dies at His Chicago Home, September 12, at the age of 87: Jazz pianist, three-time Grammy winner, and NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis, who successfully crossed over from the Jazz charts to the Pop charts, most notably with his smash hit ‘The In Crowd,’ died peacefully at his home in Chicago on the morning of September 12, 2022.”

https://www.ramseylewis.com/biography

Jazz pianist, three-time Grammy winner, and NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis, who successfully crossed over from the Jazz charts to the Pop charts, most notably with his smash hit “The In Crowd,” died peacefully at his home in Chicago on the morning of September 12. He was 87. https://www.ramseylewis.com/news/2022/9/12/jazz-pianist-and-nea-jazz-master-ramsey-lewis-dies-at-87

The Jazz Foundation of America at https://jazzfoundation.org/

Wikipedia “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis was a 13-week, public television show, produced by the Chicago-based independent music entertainment company, LRSmedia and distributed by WTTW. It was first broadcast on public television stations in April 2006. The series was the first weekly network television jazz show in 40 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_of_Jazz

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) over the course of his career “recorded over 80 albums and received five gold records and three Grammy Awards.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Lewis

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Ramsey Emanuel Lewis Jr. Biography https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507640/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Awards and Recognition https://www.ramseylewis.com/awards
“Ramsey Lewis Discography” https://www.ramseylewis.com/discography

Related
Leonard Bernstein’s “Young People’s Concerts” Bernstein led fifty-three Young People’s Concert over a period of 14 years: 1958-1972 https://leonardbernstein.com/about/educator/young-peoples-concerts

 

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett