Customer Reviews

The In Crowd

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Recorded live at The Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., "The 'In' Crowd" is The Ramsey Lewis Trio at the peak of their eclectic but popular sound. It has the intimacy and spontaneity of music recorded live, but the precision of music played by those who have talent. A bit bluesy, a bit groovy, swinging, boppy jazz. It's good music for driving, for cooking dinner, as background at a party, and, most importantly, for listening to. There is a generous selection of samples on this site. Try the title track...if you don't like it, you won't like this CD. But if you do, keep going with the Tennessee Waltz, Love Theme from Spartacus, or Come Sunday. I defy your toes not to tap, you to not at least add this to your wish list.

'THE IN CROWD' IS BY FAR THE VERY BEST OF RAMSEY LEWIS. THE STYLE SET FORTH IN THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN COPIED MANY TIMES BUT THE ENTHUSIASM HAS NEVER BEEN DUPLICATED. RAMSEY HAS TRIED OTHER STYLES BUT WHEN THIS ALBUM WAS RECORDED WITH THE TRIO HISTORY WAS MADE. IT IS AS FRESH NOW AS IT WAS OVER 30 YEARS AGO.

If Ramsey should pull a Grover Washington Jr. today, he would forever be known for this album and "Sun Goddess" with Earth Wind & Fire.This truly a classic. The grand piano he plays comes flowing out of my Bose speakers with so much soul and inspiration.Eldee Young's bass and cello solid to the core.Like the brother wrote the book with Ray Brown. Red Holt's drumming is right there every time you expect it to be.A must have for the collection. Jazz at it's best.

This was a hugely successful jazz album that crossed over in the 60's. Undoubtedly a lot of my parent's generation are familiar with this one.

I find about half of this cd/album is really upbeat and moving. Very danceable. I can definitely see how this brought new converts into the world of jazz. This is very soulful playing. Dancing. Hands clapping. Feet moving. Head nodding.

Then there's the slower songs which are a little too slow for my tastes, and serve to bring the album down a bit for me.

Overall though, a good upbeat solid feel-good album.

I personally like Ramsey's Greatest Hits on MCA/Chess as a good starting place for people new to jazz.

Ramsey Lewis is just about the the most eclectic and accessible musician I know. Whether commercial circumstances demand gospel-inflected funk, bluesy jazz, electronic fusion music with a disco beat, or most recently "jazzed-up" versions of Bach and Puccini, he serves up the kind of music a sizable portion of the public wants to hear. Whether it's jazz or not is quite another question. If the audience that grooves to "The In Crowd" or applauds "Nessun Dorma" finds as much of value in the music of Bud Powell and Bill Evans, give Ramsey his due. Frankly, I don't hear anything of the musical revolution produced by Bird and Diz in Ramsey's playing. To my ears he's a variant on Don Shirley, a versatile pianist who was more an "interpreter" of jazz, pop, and classical styles than an exponent of any one of them.

Since Ahmad Jamal is another pianist who eschews the language of bebop and constrains himself to playing the most accessible music for the largest number of listeners, some comparisons seem inevitable. Whereas Ramsey practices great musical discipline to stay out of trouble, Ahmad applies equal restraint to avoid overwhelming his listener, always holding extra in reserve. Ramsey has a fluid, facile piano touch at times suggestive of Tatum's; Ahmad, always the dramatist, alternately produces sonic thunder and extracts crytalline, singing tones from the instrument. Ramsey can get the crowd involved in a responsive group dynamic, whereas Ahmad addresses the individual listener, constantly keeping him off balance with repetition nad variation, tension and release, even hypnotizing and transporting him into exotic rhythmic and tonal worlds.

"The In Crowd" probably represents the "real" Ramsey Lewis better than any of his other recordings. After Charlie Parker's death in 1955, musicians like Silver, Blakey, and Cannonball sought out larger audiences by making the music more bluesy, religious, and down to earth. Ramsey Lewis took it a step further, showing that music can be as basic as church hymns and still be identified by its listeners as "jazz." One thing is inarguable: for 45 years he's performed for a relatively stable congregation of listeners and, given the tricks up his sleeve, its membership is likely to keep growing.

I bought this CD because I really like listening to Ivory Pyramid, which I borrowed from the library, and because I heard and knew I liked the original version of "The "In" Crowd" on Pure Jazz Encore. The problem with that version is it seems like the sound is fading in and out, and I thought that owning the original would solve that problem. Unfortunately, it sounds exactly the same. Since this CD was recorded live over a three day period, it is really difficult to tell if the sound is fading out because that was the effect Lewis was trying to achieve, or if there is just something wrong with the recording itself. Given the high level of ambient noise of the (often over exuberant) crowd, I'm thinking it has to be the latter, but I don't know. Maybe the crowd really did grow absolutely quiet when the quiet part came around. Anyway, long story short is, this is a typical mid-sixties, live jazz recording, so the sound is not all that good. What makes this worthwhile is that Lewis and his team were helping to define piano trio jazz at the time, but in a completely unique style and direction of their own, so there is a lot of depth to the music. The mix of tunes is eclectic and the introductions and vamps have a bluesy feel without stomping down into a unidirectional "cellar" of one kind of musical wine. They stay light and flexible, allowing Lewis to do what he wants with them, sometimes in response to the other musicians, sometimes in response to the crowd, and sometimes, whatever the heck he feels like. That makes this recording a lot more vibrant and dynamic which helps compensate for the ragged recording quality. Ramsey Lewis is still, for the most part, hard for me to figure out which jazz niche he falls into, but his music is mostly upbeat and his style is original, so I find him fun to listen to. I guess I just have to admit that I've become a bit of a recording quality snob, and I don't have as much interest in these old rough recordings as I probably should. Still, jazz piano enthusiasts and serious jazz music collectors will need to consider adding this one to their collection, as will any jazz fan of the blues who can tolerate the 1960's level of recording technology.

I am sixty one years old. First saw Ramsey Lewis at the London House in Chicago when I was 13 years old. First jazz I ever heard in my life and I got hooked. In Los Angeles there used to be a radio station 105.1 KBCA jazz 24 hours a hour. There was a show Rod McGrew and the Lion's Den. The show always started with The Love Theme From Spartacus rendition by Yusef Lateef from Eastern Sounds. This has become one of my favorite music renditions. Then I went back and revisted Ramsey Lewis's version of this song and it blew me away. The whole album brought back many great memories. Highly reccomend if you are an old geezer like me or enjoy good jazz.

The In Crowd sound is as fresh today as it was when it first came out. Ramsey Lewis has his own unique sound in the field of jazz.

By far his best work. Unfortunately, his later work did not mimic the style of this song and this album.

I've heard about this album for many years but never got around to listening to it let alone purchasing it. I've remedied this recently and I'm so glad I did. If you're a jazz fan you must have this in your collection. I read all the reviews before purchasing it and I agree with several of the reviewers. Get the original cd issue from 1990 from MCA. It has the two bonus cuts the recent re-issues do not. This is a relaxed gig from the Ramsey Lewis Trio from 1965 and an extremely enjoyable recording. I know some reviewers say the sound quality is not very good. But I have to say I don't agree with that. It's fine. In fact it's better than some other recent jazz re-issues. It's swingin' and relaxin' and one you will listen to over and over.