Ramsey Lewis - Complete Recordings: 1957-1960 (2017)

Born in Chicago in 1935, Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr., was already taking piano lessons at the age of four. At 15 he joined his first jazz band, The Cleffs, and later formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with two other members, drummer Isaac ""Redd"" Holt and bassist Eldee Young. The Trio would go on to record 25 albums together by which time, the mid 1960s, they were not just one of the hottest Jazz outfits in the USA but were equally known on the pop charts as crossover singles such as 'Wade In The Water', 'The In Crowd' and 'Hang On Sloopy' all went top 10. Young and Holt left Ramsey around this time to form their own Young Holt Unlimited, while Lewis continued to bring in superlative jazz men such as drummer/vocalist Maurice White (later to form Earth, Wind and Fire) to back him on numerous further records, film soundtracks and in performance. This compilation features Ramsey Lewis' complete recorded output from his first album, 1956's Ramsey Lewis & His Gentle-men of Swing, through to 1960 and An Hour with the Ramsey Lewis Trio. The selection here includes eight complete albums originally released through this golden age for Jazz in general, and Ramsey Lewis in particular, including as it does collaborations with other jazz giants such as Jimmy Woods, Max Roach and Lorez Alexandria.