Ramsey Lewis Trio 'Time Flies' album

What makes a man? Perhaps it is the sum of one’s history and experiences that shape the fabric of one’s personality.

For a musician (or anyone deeply in love with music), one’s life is often defined by the music they were listening to or creating at specific points in time. Every song, every style, imbeds itself into the psyche and becomes a part of the individual.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Ramsey Lewis recorded his immensely popular break-out album THE IN CROWD, but the project’s title track has remained a popular highlight of Lewis’ live shows, and as such has intricately woven itself into the pianist’s very being. So have many of the other compositions that Lewis has explored throughout his storied career, music which runs the gamut from R&B to jazz, gospel to classical music.

Although not one to rest on past laurels, Ramsey Lewis has revisited some of the most popular songs and styles from his past on TIME FLIES, his fourth recording under his own moniker for the Narada Jazz label. On the surface, the notion of re-recording past hits might seem superfluous for such a forward-thinking artist as Lewis, who has garnered acclaim as a straight-ahead jazz pianist, an adult R&B radio stalwart (with his Urban Knights projects), and as host of his own morning show on Chicago radio station WNUA-FM. However, on TIME FLIES, Lewis proves that even when looking back, it is possible to move one’s art forward.

Thus, the album is more than “Ramsey Lewis doing Ramsey Lewis”; the project taken as a whole explores all of the diverse forms of music that encompass the pianist’s musical persona, shaping a stylistic compendium of Lewis’ influences and greatest successes. Therefore, it is no surprise that the opening track, Allegretto from Brahms’ Symphony #3 is a classical piece; the pianist’s teenage dream was to travel the world as a classical musician. He further expresses his love for classical music on Air from Suite #3 by J.S. Bach. Both tracks were arranged by bassist/cellist Larry Gray, a longtime Lewis associate.

Second, there are those hits to contend with, songs that have been a part of Lewis’ repertoire for nearly four decades. “I couldn’t figure out how to revisit my older material, because if I was going to re-record these songs, I wanted to bring something new to them,” says Lewis. “I pondered over this for a long time, because it’s hard to bring something new to a hit song. The reason it was a hit in the first place was because something about it appeals to people, and if people like it, it’s fine the way it is.”

To add fresh perspectives to the classic urban radio hits Wade In The Water and The In Crowd, Lewis turned to son Frayne Lewis, a musician and songwriter with a band and songwriting team of his own. “I asked Frayne and his partners how they would interpret these songs if someone requested them,” Lewis explains. “What they came up with were some contemporary rhythms that are similar to what is popular today, but that still fit comfortably with the familiar melodies. I re-recorded the tunes with my regular trio (Gray and drummer Leon Joyce), using the new rhythms. The songs took on a new perspective, with more of an urban-street-rhythmic feel.”

That’s not to say that long-time fans won’t be drawn to the new renditions of these trademark Lewis tunes. “Melodies are melodies, and if you keep it intact, you have a song that is familiar and will please those who love the song,” says Lewis. “If you take a melody and put it in a different context by changing the rhythm, you have a whole new arrangement of the song. Rhythms can sound dated — if you take a rhythm common to 1920 and use it in 2004, it will still sound like 1920. On the other hand, melodies are timeless, and can be used in many ways while remaining true to the original idea.”

The third step towards representing the full spectrum of music that comprises Ramsey Lewis was the inclusion of the gospel songs Hosanna and Open My Heart. With striking accompaniment by members of Lewis’ church choir, the songs hearken back to Lewis’ earliest performances as a teenage church musician. “If I was going to do gospel songs,” says Lewis, “it was going to be authentic.”

The final touch necessary to complete TIME FLIES was to represent Ramsey Lewis in the here and now. This was accomplished by the recording of three new compositions from Lewis’ pen. “I used to compose a lot more in the early days of my career than I do now,” says Lewis, “because the downside of being a successful musician is that you have so many obligations, and you don’t have as much time to sit and write music as you would like. I specifically wanted to write some music for TIME FLIES, and I wanted the compositions to be different from anything I had previously written.”

Hence, the inclusion of original tunes Hide & Seek, Second Thoughts, and Last Dance. The pianist details the genesis of two of these new tunes:

Hide & Seek — “In my teens, I loved the Modern Jazz Quartet, particularly the sweet-and-sour contrast between pianist John Lewis and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. I wanted to capture a bit of that sound that touched me so deeply, and to utilize an arrangement similar to what they did. Also, I wanted to compose a piece of music that had the fugue-like quality of Bach.

Last Dance — “I tortured myself over a few notes of that song for days. As I was practicing, my friend came over, and he kept talking to me while I was playing around with those few notes. Just as I was certain nothing would come to me, the song practically wrote itself, with my friend still talking. That’s what you call an inspired moment. You don’t necessarily write the entire song right then and there, but you complete the blueprint for what it is and where it should go, and then fill in the spaces with the arrangement later.”

And so, the songs collected on TIME FLIES represent Ramsey Lewis past and present, with a nod towards the future. Just a single stop on one musician’s ongoing musical journey, but one worth visiting and revisiting time and time again.

~

Ramsey Lewis’ career took off in 1965, with the release of THE IN CROWD, and the subsequent radio hits The In Crowd, Hang On Sloopy, and Wade In The Water. Since then, he has been awarded three Grammys and has hosted several radio programs, including his current show on WNUA, and the syndicated Legends of Jazz which is broadcast on over 70 stations nationwide. He debuted on the Narada Jazz label in 1999 with the release of APPASSIONATA and has gone on to contribute to three contemporary jazz projects for the label (URBAN KNIGHTS III, IV and V), as well as two duo projects with vocalist Nancy Wilson, MEANT TO BE and SIMPLE PLEASURES, for which he was awarded a 2004 NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Jazz Artist). Additionally, the Chicago native is active in community service, acting as artistic director of the Ravinia Jazz Festival and organizing that festival’s ongoing Jazz Mentor Program.

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Ramsey Lewis Trio - Time Flies