Hang On Ramsey! – RAMSEY LEWIS TRIO****

A Hard Day’s Night/All My Love Belongs To You/He’s A Real Gone Guy/And I Love Her/Movin’ Easy/Billy Boy-Hi Heel Sneakers (Medley)/The More I See You/Satin Doll/Hang On Sloopy

Hang On Ramsey! was a live set jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis recorded at the Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California in October 1965. Other members of the Trio are Eldee Young on bass and Isaac 'Red' Holt on drums. The single Hang On Sloopy was a US No. 11 hit. (US:15)

"Considering that this album was an obvious follow-up to The In Crowd, it is surprising that the music is not more commercial; that would happen in the near future. As it was, pianist Ramsey Lewis had another big hit in Hang On Sloopy and the set (as with the previous one) was recorded at a club before an enthusiastic crowd. This was the final full length recording by the group before Young and Holt left to form their own band."

"Hang On Ramsey, with just the trio playing, seems in retrospect the crossover album to Wade. This has two great Beatles songs A Hard Days Night and And I Love Her plus the balance being a mix of other contemporary favourites (the best being a crowd rousing Hang On Sloopy) and older show songs and standards (notably Ellington's Satin Doll)."

"From here on it was only going to get better across the 60s, at least for this great musician."

"The soul jazz combo, with its funky yet heavy swinging gospel meets jazz approach, managed to find its way to the juke boxes. Ramsey Lewis's treatment of Hang On Sloopy served as the epitome of this and, like most of the tunes on this album, are essential acid/soul jazz listenings."

"I think Ramsey stood above many of his compatriots, mainly in his willingness to not only be a jazz pianist, but tackle real chart busting pop tunes that weren't even R & B in his repertoire. This is where his genius came in. Today we have 'smooth jazz'. Jazz to most people now-a-days is soft music. Ramsey represented a school that was quite the opposite. Instead of taking pop tunes and playing them smooth he said, 'I'm going to take the jazz and make it even funkier than it was before'. He did and the public embraced it because then, like today, dance music sells."