Top Artists – Ramsey Lewis

Great in Stereo, Bad in Mono. What Else Is New?

Hot Stamper Pressings of Jazz Piano Recordings Available Now

On this record, we say stick with stereo.

This album is much more common in mono than stereo, but we found the sound of the mono pressing we played deeply unsatisfying.

Where is the wall to wall space of the live club?

It has been shrunken down into the area between the speakers.

Much of the ambience disappeared with it, destroying the illusion the album was trying to create, that you are actually there with Ramsey and his rhythm section.

In mono, you really aren’t.

For albums that actually can sound sound good in mono, so good they can win shootouts, click here.

(more…)

Ramsey Lewis – For Some Titles We Go 17 Years Between Shootouts

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • Sun Goddess is back and sounds better than ever on this vintage Columbia pressing with incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades from start to finish – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • The sound is huge, spacious, lively, transparent and punchy – this is jazz fusion that really rocks
  • The last time we reviewed this album was all the way back in 2005!
  • “Sun Goddess is also something of a stealth Earth, Wind & Fire album, as it features most of the key players from that band, and bears echoes of EW&F’s jazzier, more atmospheric side”
  • 4 stars: “Pianist Ramsey Lewis first came to fame as the purveyor of swinging soul-jazz in the mid-’60s [but] Sun Goddess…is miles away from the finger-snapping supper club sounds of “The In Crowd.” Lewis had transformed himself into a jazz fusion funkateer, riffing on electric piano and synthesizer amid arrangements that meld jazz with funk, R&B, and yes, even touches of progressive rock.”

Ramsey Lewis meets Earth Wind and Fire.

This is a bright recording and it’s supposed to sound that way, just like EWF’s recordings. The music is full of energy and lots of fun. This isn’t real jazz; it’s pop jazz. It’s produced by Maurice White and it even has Phillip Bailey on vocals.

You can’t get much more Earth, Wind and Firey than that.

(more…)

Robert Brook Digs Deep and “Gets” Down to Earth

Hot Stamper Pressings of Jazz Featuring the Piano

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to the review he has written for a record we had very much enjoyed while doing the shootout for it a few years back, Down to Earth.

Lately we have been writing quite a bit about how pianos are exceptionally good for testing your system, room, tweaks, electricity and all the rest, not to mention turntable setup and adjustment.

DIGGING DEEP Into The Ramsey Lewis Trio’s DOWN TO EARTH

Other records that we have found to be good for testing and improving your playback can be found here.

(more…)

The Ramsey Lewis Trio – More Music From The Soil

More Ramsey Lewis

Yet Another Record We’ve Discovered with (Potentially) Excellent Sound

  • More Music From The Soil makes its Hot Stamper debut with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from first note to last on this early Argo stereo LP
  • This pressing stood head and shoulders above the pack, with the kind of big, present, full-bodied sound this top piano trio demands (which is precisely where the Modern Heavy Vinyl reissue fails so spectacularly, most notably in the areas of size and presence)
  • Hard to imagine we could find another copy with sound this good and vinyl this quiet – not many Ramsey Lewis records from this era did survived with audiophile quality playing surfaces the way this one did
  • “This is a typically enjoyable and accessible early Ramsey Lewis Trio recording. The pianist, bassist Eldee Young, and drummer Red Holt swing their way through…”

(more…)

The Ramsey Lewis Trio – Down To Earth

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • Down To Earth finally makes it to the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • A truly superb recording with huge, spacious, dynamic, lively sound – Tubey Magical richness is a big plus too
  • As soon as the needle hit the groove on a copy we had picked up locally we knew the sound was top notch – the excellent music was a plus as well (!)
  • 4 stars: “Their concise interpretations (only two songs are longer than 3:15) feature swinging solos by Lewis and respect for the melodies. The music is quite accessible while still being jazz oriented. Worth picking up.”

(more…)

Ramsey Lewis Trio – Maiden Voyage

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • This copy of Lewis’ 1968 release boasts outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound, or close to it, from first note to last – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • A wonderful sounding record and all but Forgotten Classic, with Ramsey Lewis and his Trio at the top of their game 
  • Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire fame was Ramsey’s drummer back in the day
  • “The remarkable Charles Stepney production and arrangement and the brilliant rhythm section means this album is not just another jazz covers record. Highly recommended.” 

(more…)

Ramsey Lewis / Sun Goddess – Reviewed in 2005

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

Ramsey Lewis meets Earth Wind and Fire.  

This Original CBS pressing has much better sound than the reissues I’ve heard. This is a bright recording and it’s supposed to sound that way, just like EWF’s recordings. The music is full of energy and lots of fun. This isn’t real jazz; it’s pop jazz. It’s produced by Maurice White and it even has Phillip Bailey on vocals. 

You can’t get much more Earth, Wind and Firey than that! (more…)

Ramsey Lewis Trio – The In Crowd

More Ramsey Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • A KILLER copy of Ramsey’s breakthrough live album from 1975, with both sides earning nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades
  • It may have taken us years, but finally Lewis’s bestselling In Crowd album arrives with exceptionally good Hot Stamper sound
  • If you want to know what jazz at an intimate nightclub would have sounded like in 1965, play this record – this copy has that sound
  • AMG raves “…this is the moment where Lewis shined the brightest, the “in crowd” at the club was verbally into it, and the time for this music was right.”

This original Cadet Stereo pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in a real jazz club, this is the record for you. It’s what Vintage Records are known for — this sound. (more…)