@POWERPLANTRECORDS | PowerPlantRecords.com | Leave a positive Google review! Title: The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Country Meets The Blues Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1962, Soul Jazz, Cool Jazz, Jazz Blues, Chicago, Illinois 9/26 Matrix #: LPS 701 Condition: VG+++ (LM) | Members: Ramsey L (35' - 22'), Eldee Y (36' - 07'), Redd H (32' - 23') | Producer: Ralph Bass Cultural Facts:
Church Kid to Jazzman: Ramsey Lewis started piano lessons at four and was playing for his father's gospel choir by age nine. He originally dreamed of becoming a classical concert pianist and was already highly trained before a fellow church musician introduced the teenager to actually playing jazz.
The Korean War Made the Trio: Lewis, Eldee Young and Redd Holt originally played in a larger Chicago group called the Clefs. When several members were pulled away by military service during the Korean War era, Chicago DJ Daddy-O Daylie encouraged the three remaining musicians to stay together as a trio, then helped connect them with the Chess Records family.
Country Meets Chicago: Recorded in New York in August 1962, Country Meets The Blues deliberately crossed musical worlds, putting Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart" beside songs associated with W.C. Handy, Willie Dixon and Ivory Joe Hunter. The arrangements went beyond the usual piano trio too, with future jazz heavyweight Oliver Nelson arranging reeds and Lew Douglas arranging strings.
