Tag: Ramsey Lewis

JAZZIZ Editors’ Choice: The Christmas Playlist

The editors of JAZZIZ have the good fortune of being able to listen to new…

Ramsey Lewis, Elvin Jones, Jon Batiste & More: The Week in Jazz

The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz…

Still Part of the ‘In’ Crowd: Ramsey Lewis Keeps Grooving with a Saturday Afternoon Tradition

Ramsey Lewis can tell you the precise moment he knew it was time to quit…

Still Part of the ‘In’ Crowd: Ramsey Lewis Keeps Grooving with a Saturday Night Tradition

Ramsey Lewis can tell you the precise moment he knew it was time to quit…

Vinyl Watch, November 2020: Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone & More

Vinyl is back! Each month on “Vinyl Watch,” we list some of the most noteworthy…

Cameron Graves, Ella Fitzgerald, Marquis Hill & More: The Week in Jazz

The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz…

Archie Shepp, Fred Hersch, Ramsey Lewis & More: The Week in Jazz

The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz…

JAZZIZ Occasions: Thanksgiving Playlist 2019

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for the good things in our lives. If you’re…

JAZZIZ Weekly Discover: September 16, 2019

Pianist Ramsey Lewis (pictured) has released a new track from his forthcoming album Urban Knights…

Dinner and a Playlist: Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta and Sumptuous Soul-Jazz

Rich and tangy, this Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta with Arugula is the perfect dish to prepare as you soak in the sounds of our Sumptuous Soul-Jazz playlist,

JAZZIZ Occasions: Thanksgiving Playlist

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for the good things in our lives. If you’re…

Ramsey Lewis announces retirement

Pianist and funk fusion pioneer Ramsey Lewis has announced that he is to retire from…

A short history of … “The ‘In’ Crowd” (Billy Page, 1964)

The cutoff point for jazz standard would appear to be the 1970’s. Very few jazz…

The cutoff point for jazz standard would appear to be the 1970's. Very few jazz tunes written since then have, in fact, emerged as widely-played jazz standards. On the other hand, jazz also has a rich history of reinterpretations of pop and rock songs that, as a result, have gained jazz standard status. Such is the case of songs like The Beatles' "Yesterday" and Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," among many others. One of the most well-known examples of this type of 'musical appropriation' is the cover of Dobie Gray's "The 'In' Crowd" by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. The song, originally written by Billy Page in 1964 and recorded by Gray on his album Dobie Gray Sings for 'In' Crowders that 'Go Go.' It was also released as a single, which peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 20, 1965. That same year, the Ramsey Lewis Trio - featuring pianist Lewis, bassist Eldee Young, and drummer Isaac Holt - recorded a live album at the Bohemian Caverns, a Washington, D.C. night club. They opened their set with a cover of "The 'In' Crowd," which was released as a single and became an overnight success. In fact, it was the first jazz song to meet commercial success in a pop market that had been dominated by rock and roll for decades; it sold over a million copies and won a Grammy Award for best small-group instrumental recording of the year. Time Magazine also promptly labeled Lewis "the hottest jazz artist going." "That first hit record will stay with me until the day I die," remembered Lewis. "In a period of two months, we went from earning fifteen hundred dollars a week to three thousand dollars a night." The In Crowd was included in The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in 1000 Best Albums. Its entry reads: "If its status with jazz fans is less secure than, say, Ahmad Jamal's legendary Pershing Lounge recordings from the previous decade, then the reason is probably contextual rather than intrinsic to the music. Lewis' hit came at a time when pop - and particularly the invasion of America by British bands - was at its peak, and Lewis's music reflected that."

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