Ramsey Lewis, R.I.P.

Shortly after leaving Symphony Hall this evening, I learned of the passing of jazz piano legend Ramsey Lewis at the age of 87. 

Lewis is among the few jazz performers who had crossover success on the pop charts most notably with his instrumental cover of Dobie Gray's "The In Crowd" in 1965 and in early 1970's with "Sun Goddess", a collaboration with Earth, Wind and Fire. I had the pleasure of hearing Lewis perform at Scullers Jazz Club here in Boston in May 2014 and then again in January 2015 at New York City's Blue Note Jazz Club with my Dad. 

It was my Dad who introduced me to Lewis' music in the early 1980's when he bought an eight track cassette of his 1976 album Salongo which featured Earth, Wind & Fire member Maurice White and their producer Charles Stepney shortly before his sudden death. I remember playing it quite a bit when my parents spent the summer of 1983 in Europe. My maternal grandparents who were looking after my siblings and I could not make head nor tail of Ramsey Lewis' music. But I could. It was through his music that I began to appreciate African beats and Latin rhythm in a perfect marriage between jazz and funk on songs like "Brazilica", "Slick" and "Aafu Oodu". 

My favorite song on Salongo was the album's only ballad "Nicole". Needless to say, this was the first song I played upon learning of Ramsey Lewis' passing. R.I.P.