Jazz

Ramsey Lewis was born in Chicago in 1935.  He started playing piano at the age of four.  In his teens, Ramsey Lewis played in local Jazz combos.  Near the age of 21, he formed The Ramsey Lewis Trio in 1955.  They released their first album in 1956.  The Ramsey Lewis Trio released Jazz albums consistently throughout the late 1950s and all throughout the 1960s.  In the mid-1960s, Ramsey Lewis started releasing albums under his own name and has done so up until today.

The original trio consisted of Ramsey Lewis on piano, Eldee Young on bass and Isaac “Redd” Holt on drums.  The Ramsey Lewis Trio hit it big in 1965 with a cover of the song The “In” Crowd.  Other hits soon followed.  In 1966, Young and Holt left to form Young-Holt Unlimited, which had a few Pop hits of their own.

With the success of The “In” Crowd, The Trio was in high demand and became the most successful Jazz group of the 1960s, mainly due to their mission to record Jazz interpretations of current Pop and Rock hits.  These albums proved very successful, especially with the cool, hip “In” crowd.

This CD comes to us from The Verve Music Group, and it is a reissue of The Ramsey Lewis Trio’s Christmas album from 1961, so it features the original trio.  (And some sweet surprises on the second side).  The title remains the same, the cover artwork remains the same, and the track order remains the same.  So far, so good.

The CD cover shows a polished hand bell in front of a red cornucopia with a few ornaments inside.  The background seems to be the back wall of a jazz club.  It is purposely out of focus, so it’s hard to tell, but it looks like the back wall of a room.  The band name and album title are displayed near the top.  At the very top is the word Stereo, repeated twice, and in between is the original label catalog number.

This is an exact replica of the original album cover, albeit a little of the bottom has been cut off.  When I noticed this, I looked at some other covers of this album posted online.  It seems some copies had the bottom chopped off a little, and some didn’t.  This CD cover is an exact duplicate of the ones that had a little of the bottom missing.

The CD comes in a cardboard case.  The back of the CD features a numerical track listing with time signatures.  There is a small endorsement at the top.  The band name and CD title sit off to the right of the track listing.  Below the track listing is a list of the musicians, date of recording and producer credits.  At the very bottom are typical copywrite notices.

The back of the front cover is an exact duplication of the back of the album.  Bonus points there!  The back of the original album features a numerical track listing with writer credits, publishing credits and time signatures.  Below the track listing are notes on the recording of the album, including date, location and personnel.  This is all presented in a square box off to the left.  The rest of the space contains a review / endorsement of the album.  So far, we have the original covers, front and back, and another location of song titles on the back of the CD.

It was just now, doing this review, that I noticed there is a pouch in the cardboard cover of the CD case.  Inside is a two-page booklet that opens along a single fold-out, just like most CD covers do.  The front of this bonus artwork is plain olive green with the band name and CD title.  It is bordered on the left with a lighter green border.

The back of the insert contains a brief history of the Verve Record label.  On the left are a few other Christmas CDs Verve has to offer.  At the bottom are production credits for this CD reissue.

The insert opens and inside on the left, is a near copy of the back of the CD.  The same track listing appears as well as the liner notes below it.  The small endorsement at the top of the CD that is featured on the back is missing and in its place is the band name and CD title.

On the right side of the insert is the same review / endorsement found on the back of the original album, and on the back of the front cover of the CD.  Okay, no new information, but we get all the original information in two different places with the CD.  If you lose the insert, you still have all the original artwork from the album intact.  (It’s interesting how I’ve never seen this insert until now.  It’s still in pristine shape).

Now, on to the music.  There are only 10 songs on the original album and the CD contains just those 10 songs and no bonus tracks.  There is only one traditional Christmas hymn.  Seven of the others are familiar, and a couple that are not so familiar, secular Christmas songs, all from the 20^th century.  There are two original Christmas songs, one by Ramsey Lewis and the other, a group effort.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio is a three-man Jazz group, so the instrumentation is limited to just those three guys.  Until we get to the second side, but more on that later.  I’m not sure if it needs to be said, but all the songs are instrumental Christmas songs.  And with some of the intricate Jazz arrangements, sometimes you need to remind yourself that this is a Christmas album.  (And even look at the CD to see what you’re listening to).

The first song is a Blues arrangement of the Charles Brown Christmas standard, Merry Christmas, Baby.  The bass player and the drummer hold back, while Ramsey Lewis hammers out a syncopated Blues rhythm on the piano.  You will find yourself asking, “This is Christmas music”?  Uh, yes.  Yes it is.  But it’s jazzy Christmas music.

The 2^nd song, Winter Wonderland, features Ramsey Lewis gliding up and down the piano hammering out the melody while the rest of the rhythm section keeps time.

The pace slows down considerably with Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.  Ramsey Lewis applies a soft, lush piano, reminiscent of Ferrante & Teicher, while the rhythm section keeps time.  Nothing unusual about what I just wrote.  That description could be applied to many Christmas songs, but this is Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.  It is usually an upbeat, Novelty arrangement of an otherwise children’s Christmas song.  The three-part Jazz arrangement applied here is otherwise very unique.

The tempo begins slowly with Eldee Young’s bass solo on the first of two original Christmas songs on here, Christmas Blues.  While the song starts with the bass solo and sleigh bells, the rest of the Trio jumps in, and the melody starts to swing.  And the pace doesn’t slow down from there.  Ramsey Lewis gets totally lost (hip slang for great improvisation) in his piano solos.  It is a great Jazz instrumental, but because there are no lyrics, you wouldn’t know it to be a Christmas song if not for the title.

Again, you have to look at the title to see what you are listening to.  The 5^th song, Here Comes Santa Claus, features an introduction and melody similar to the song The “In” Crowd, but it would be four years until Ramsey Lewis would record that song.  Yet, the whole arrangement is similar.  The arrangement swings with Ramsey Lewis taking great liberties with his piano solos.  As the song progresses, I guess the bass player and the drummer feel left out, because, of all a sudden, it’s a full-on swinging jam session.  And this is Here Comes Santa Claus!  The melody is familiar, you know what you’re listening to, but there is no other arrangement of this song so unique.

Now things get interesting.  The second side of the original album, and starting with the 6^th song on the CD, The Ramsey Lewis Trio is joined by a string orchestra directed by Riley Hampton.  Imagine everything I’ve already said about the arrangements of the small Trio and now add lush strings.  It makes for Lush, Jazzy Christmas music.

The first of these is the other original Christmas song and group writing effort, and the title of the album, The Sound Of Christmas.  The song opens with lush strings that are reminiscent of Christmas music produced by large symphonies.  There are no brass instruments in this orchestra, just ten string musicians.  The neat thing about the second side of this album is that Ramsey Lewis adds the celesta to his arsenal.  The celesta is a keyboard instrument whose keys strike tuned metal bars, so the sound is like bells.  It’s played like a piano but sounds like someone is striking bells.  It is found in most Christmas songs.  But on this album, from this point on, Ramsey Lewis plays the celesta, not as an accompaniment, but as a featured instrument.  That in itself, is unusual.  The arrangement for The Sound Of Christmas is fast paced.  Ramsey Lewis switches between the celesta and the piano, and as he does, the strings react as well.  All the while, the rest of the Trio swings the rhythm.

The pace slows considerably with The Christmas Song.  Everything about the arrangement is traditional.  The song opens with the celesta again.  Also, the piano plays, so I’m thinking Ramsey Lewis is playing the rhythm on piano with the left hand and playing the melody on the celesta with his right hand.  It could be double tracked, but when both instruments play together, there is only one piano part and one celesta part, so both can be played at the same time.  The melody gains and slows as the song progresses.  The strings add traditional accompaniment.  I like the way one violin sounds like a female choral singer.  It’s very believable.

There is that celesta again.  The 8^th song, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, is the only traditional Christmas hymn featured.  The song opens with light strings that are quickly overcome by the celesta.  Most of the time you hear it, it is played at the top end.  Here, Ramsey Lewis is down in the lower register and the bells toll in a deep resonance.  This goes on for about 45 seconds, and it is just over one minute into the song that the tune becomes familiar.  Even then, the arrangement is barely recognizable.  This is an incredible arrangement of this song!  As the melody becomes familiar, it quickly descends into a jazz fueled jam session that is not even recognizable, all the while the strings provide a lush, yet ominous background.  This must be heard to be appreciated.

The fun continues as the strings open Sleigh Ride.  Once again, the piano gallops and glides through the melody at a fast pace.  The drummer keeps time very well as the song descends into a traditional arrangement yet retains the Trio’s standard swing.  It’s odd to say, but it’s unusual because it does closely resemble most symphonic versions, it’s one of the more traditional, easily recognizable songs on here.

The album, and the CD, closes with the appropriate, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?  The song is easily recognizable and so far, the strings are traditional.  Ramsey Lewis works the scales on the piano, just as he does on all the songs.  The bass and drums are barely discernable, but I know they’re there.  The piano and the strings are doing most of the work.

Overall, this is a terrific Christmas CD.  It is probably not going to be in the first 15 CDs someone might pick off the shelf.  Perhaps they haven’t heard of Ramsey Lewis.  Perhaps they would be scared off because it’s Jazz.  And I would be cautious as to who I played this for.  If you don’t like Jazz, I mean, if you really don’t like Jazz, you won’t like this.  But there’s not anything not to like about it.  These are all unique arrangements of familiar Christmas songs.

This is what is referred to as Lounge music.  You can just see the dimly lit Jazz club with the smoke wafting through the air and a small Jazz trio is on stage performing your favorite Christmas songs.  That’s what this CD is.  It was very hip in 1961 and was a big hit on the charts.  It became so popular, the Ramsey Lewis Trio recorded another Christmas album in 1964, More Sounds Of Christmas.  (Look for a review of More Sounds Of Christmas in this blog’s future).

This would be a fun CD to put on during a Christmas party that features a large playlist.  The songs here are a nice diversion from the same old standard arrangements that are commonly found in most Christmas music.  To hear one of these every half hour or so keeps the mood upbeat.

The best thing about this CD is probably the second half.  Riley Hampton and his string players add a completely infectious accompaniment to the Ramsey Lewis Trio’s jazzy interpretations of Christmas music.

I give this CD :

*****