Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five gold records and three Grammy Awards in his career. His album The In Crowd earned Lewis critical praise and the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. His best known singles include "The 'In' Crowd", "Wade in the Water", and "Sun Goddess". Until 2009, he was the host of the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show on the Chicago radio station WNUA.

Lewis was also active in musical education in Chicago. He founded the Ramsey Lewis Foundation, established Ravinia's Jazz Mentor Program, and served on the board of trustees for the Merit School of Music and The Chicago High School for the Arts.

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. was born on May 27, 1935, in Chicago to Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis and Pauline Lewis. He grew up in the Cabrini–Green Homes Housing Projects, an area native to soul singers Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler. Both of his parents came from the Deep South. His father was a church choir director who encouraged him to study music. Thus, Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four with Ernestine Bruce, the church pianist and organist. When he was 11, Bruce recommended he study with Dorothy Mendelssohn at the Chicago Musical College. Mendelssohn taught him classical technique with the philosophy that "it freed the performer from the thinking about the notes so he could concentrate on the music." Lewis realized what she meant when he saw Wynton Kelly with the Miles Davis group, Kelly asked him to play something, and Kelly complimented him by saying "Boy, I wish I had technique."

As a young man, Lewis played with a number of local ensembles, such as Edward Virgil Abner's Knights of Music. Lewis would eventually join a jazz group called the Clefs. He later formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young. They eventually signed to Chess Records.

In 1956, the trio released their debut album, Ramsey Lewis and his Gentle-men of Swing.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.