One thing I have learned in my musical career is that predictions about hit records often do not come true. The songs you work the hardest on and have the highest hopes for often do not live up to those hopes. At the same time, the songs you least expect to become top-sellers are the ones that resonate the strongest with the public. This was the case with “Sun Goddess.”

In the mid 70s I was working on a Ramsey Lewis Trio album for Columbia Records. I was recording along with Morris Jennings on drums and Cleveland Eaton on bass at PS Recording, a little studio on East 24th Place in Chicago. I had written some new material. We did a version of Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City.” The album was shaping up nicely but it took on a whole new character after I heard from my friend Maurice White from Earth Wind & Fire.

Maurice was the drummer for the Ramsey Lewis Trio in the late 60s. After a few years in the trio he came to me and explained an idea for a new group he was forming that blended jazz, R&B, on-stage magic and theatrics, dance and other influences from all over the musical and performing arts spectrum. To be honest, I thought he was crazy and I think I told him, “Take a couple of aspirin and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Fortunately, he ran with his idea and by the mid-70s they were one of the most popular groups in the world. Maurice called from New York to tell me he written a new tune for me. He said it “will make ‘The In Crowd’ look like a pimple.” We met back in Chicago soon after. Maurice brought along his brother Verdine White to play bass, Donald Myrick to play tenor sax, guitarist Johnny Graham and Earth Wind & Fire vocalist Philip Bailey. Since we all thought this new tune was destined to be the next big hit, we spent three solid days on it. Maurice is a brilliant drummer and an equally brilliant songwriter and producer. We perfected every nuance of the song. At the end of the those three days, it was a recording we were proud of and we knew it was “hot.” In fact, that’s what we called it: “Hot Dawgit.”

After those three days of polishing and perfecting, Maurice mentioned that he had another song that might be fun to record. It was a tune that was good for “blowing” as musicians say: a song with a relatively simple form conducive to improvised solos. We spent all of six hours recording this “fun little song.” As promised, it was perfect for “blowing.” Donald Myrick played wonderful saxophone and I had some fun playing Fender Rhodes. The song sounded like it needed voices, but there were no lyrics. Again with little planning and perfecting, Maurice and Verdine White along with Philip Bailey harmonized on some wordless vocals that went “way-oh, way-ay oh, bop-bop way-oh.” After that the song was complete, except for the title. Someone asked Maurice while he was on his way out of the studio, “What should we call this one?” His response was, “I don’t know…how about ‘Sun Goddess?’”

We liked the title well enough that we called the entire LP Sun Goddess. “Hot Dawgit” was released as the debut single, leaving “Sun Goddess” as an album track. “Hot Dawgit” did reasonably well as a single. It received a little bit of airplay, but nothing like the smash we were sure it was destined to be. At the same time, the full-length LP was selling much better than expected. Columbia Records did a little research and found that the moderate airplay “Hot Dawgit” received was not responsible for this. It was something unexpected: word of mouth. People were talking about another song they loved on the new LP. They were walking into record stores and asking where they can find this new song that goes “way-oh, way-ay-oh, bop-bop-way-oh.”

We were delighted to find out people were connecting with this song and pleasantly surprised it was this “fun little tune” we did almost as an afterthought to the big hit single. Columbia Records edited the original seven-minute recording of “Sun Goddess” down to a four-minute radio friendly version and that became a hit single in its own right. Later that year, I went on the road with Maurice and the rest of Earth Wind & Fire as their opening act. I found out what it was like to play for 20-thousand seat arenas. Up until that time, my trio was playing in clubs, theaters and festivals. Yes, it was the mid-70s and we were on tour with Earth Wind & Fire, so we had to wear clothing to keep up with their very prominent stage presence. That was the first and only time I wore a fringed leather jacket on stage, which was not my favorite look upon looking at old pictures. But it was a wonderful period that brought my music to a larger audience. Fortunately, the fringed leather jacket is no longer required to play “Sun Goddess,” but the fans I have been fortunate to have kept and made since the mid-70s still consider this “fun little tune” to be among their favorites.

This is an insight into the new CD Songs from the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey.  Each track below gives my personal story behind the original compositions that comprise this new collection.  I hope you enjoy listening!

Ramsey

Click to purchase from Amazon.com

Track 1: “To Know Her Is To Love Her”

Track 2: “Touching, Feeling, Knowing”

Track 3: “Clouds in Reverie”

Track 4: “The Spark”

Track 5: “Conversation”

Track 6: “The Way She Smiles”

Track 7: “Exhilaration”

Track 8: “The Glow of Her Charm”

Track 9: “Rendezvous”

Track 10: “Long Before She Knew”

Track 11: “Sharing Her Journey”

Track 12: “Watercolors”

The Wall St. Journal recently published an article on the state of jazz in America today. They were kind enough to publish my response…
(the original article by Terry Teachout is below)

Miles Davis once said that “jazz is folk music” – a music enjoyed by folks for entertainment, inspiration and even sometimes provoking thought. It was Miles’ music and overall persona that people found entertaining. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were once performing together in a ballroom in Harlem and Diz was overheard telling Bird that “we better be careful ’cause it seems like less people are dancing than before.” Even then there was a desire by some jazz musicians to become artists and forsake entertainment. Some musicians, however, found a way to do both without sacrificing their integrity. But alas, not enough of us. The art of talking to and interacting with one’s audience does not cost an artist any loss of respect. On the contrary, it adds to the audiences’ overall experience of the music.

Here are some ideas for ways jazz can be saved right now. Artists need to reach out and touch their audiences; unusual and interesting pairings of performers would introduce audiences to a more varied palette of music; interaction between the musicians no matter how subtle is always appealing. Themed shows would create wider appeal. These are some things that can help to make jazz more interesting right now, I am sure there are many others.

I will take some musicians to task respectfully if I might . . . about wardrobe. Too many individuals and groups (not only in jazz) dress in such a way that it seems they don’t care about their appearance and the impression they make on stage to their audience. That lessens the enjoyment their audience could experience if it looked like the musician took pride both in his appearance and his music. Also audiences want to and should once again be able to leave a jazz performance feeling inspired and moved in some emotional way and not like they have just witnessed a class in advanced music theory or a garage jam session.

In my opinion, as important as any job before us, is the job of continuing to educate our youth with outreach programs, including involving parents. After all, it is the music we hear at home that also influences us. I would encourage record companies to donate relevant CDs to music classes for students to take home to enhance not only their but their family’s learning experience as well. And why not invite, free of charge, students and parents to special concerts in venues where once again donated CDs could be passed out to take home?

Jazz is too important an art form to let slide into obscurity.

Ramsey Lewis

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This is the original article:

Can Jazz Be Saved?
The audience for America’s great art form is withering away

By TERRY TEACHOUT

New York

In 1987, Congress passed a joint resolution declaring jazz to be “a rare and valuable national treasure.” Nowadays the music of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis is taught in public schools, heard on TV commercials and performed at prestigious venues such as New York’s Lincoln Center, which even runs its own nightclub, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.

Here’s the catch: Nobody’s listening.

No, it’s not quite that bad—but it’s no longer possible for head-in-the-sand types to pretend that the great American art form is economically healthy or that its future looks anything other than bleak.

The bad news came from the National Endowment for the Arts’ latest Survey of ­Public Participation in the Arts, the fourth to be conducted by the NEA (in participation with the U.S. Census Bureau) since 1982. These are the findings that made jazz musicians sit up and take ­notice:

• In 2002, the year of the last survey, 10.8% of adult Americans attended at least one jazz performance. In 2008, that figure fell to 7.8%.

• Not only is the audience for jazz shrinking, but it’s growing older—fast. The median age of adults in America who attended a live jazz performance in 2008 was 46. In 1982 it was 29.

• Older people are also much less likely to attend jazz performances today than they were a few years ago. The percentage of Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 who attended a live jazz performance in 2008 was 9.8%. In 2002, it was 13.9%. That’s a 30% drop in attendance.

• Even among ­college-educated adults, the audience for live jazz has shrunk significantly, to 14.9% in 2008 from 19.4% in 1982.

These numbers indicate that the audience for jazz in America is both aging and shrinking at an alarming rate. What I find no less revealing, though, is that the median age of the jazz audience is now comparable to the ages for attendees of live performances of classical music (49 in 2008 vs. 40 in 1982), opera (48 in 2008 vs. 43 in 1982), nonmusical plays (47 in 2008 vs. 39 in 1982) and ballet (46 in 2008 vs. 37 in 1982). In 1982, by contrast, jazz fans were much younger than their high-culture counterparts.

What does this tell us? I suspect it means, among other things, that the average American now sees jazz as a form of high art. Nor should this come as a surprise to anyone, since most of the jazz musicians that I know feel pretty much the same way. They regard themselves as artists, not entertainers, masters of a musical language that is comparable in seriousness to classical music—and just as off-putting to pop-loving listeners who have no more use for Wynton Marsalis than they do for Felix Mendelssohn.

Jazz has changed greatly since the ’30s, when Louis Armstrong, one of the ­supreme musical geniuses of the 20th century, was also a pop star, a gravel-voiced crooner who made movies with Bing Crosby and Mae West and whose records sold by the truckload to fans who knew nothing about jazz except that Satchmo played and sang it. As late as the early ’50s, jazz was still for the most part a genuinely popular music, a utilitarian, song-based idiom to which ordinary people could dance if they felt like it. But by the ’60s, it had evolved into a challenging concert music whose complexities repelled many of the same youngsters who were falling hard for rock and soul. Yes, John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” sold very well for a jazz album in 1965—but most kids preferred “California Girls” and “The Tracks of My Tears,” and still do now that they have kids of their own.

Even if I could, I wouldn’t want to undo the transformation of jazz into a sophisticated art music. But there’s no sense in pretending that it didn’t happen, or that contemporary jazz is capable of appealing to the same kind of mass audience that thrilled to the big bands of the swing era. And it is precisely because jazz is now widely viewed as a high-culture art form that its makers must start to grapple with the same problems of presentation, marketing and audience development as do symphony orchestras, drama companies and art museums—a task that will be made all the more daunting by the fact that jazz is made for the most part by individuals, not established institutions with deep pockets.

No, I don’t know how to get young people to start listening to jazz again. But I do know this: Any symphony orchestra that thinks it can appeal to under-30 listeners by suggesting that they should like Schubert and Stravinsky has already lost the battle. If you’re marketing Schubert and Stravinsky to those listeners, you have no choice but to start from scratch and make the case for the beauty of their music to otherwise intelligent people who simply don’t take it for granted. By the same token, jazz musicians who want to keep their own equally beautiful music alive and well have got to start thinking hard about how to pitch it to young listeners—not next month, not next week, but right now.

We created one of these PhotoPodcasts earlier this summer when the “Proclamation of Hope” performance was taking place (you can see that one along with my last posting). Here’s a new one covering my latest musical activity. Enjoy!

Ramsey

2009 is proving to be a remarkable year.  Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States began his term of office.   This present day event   would not have happened if it were not for someone who existed many years ago: Abraham Lincoln.  Coincidentally, 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and there are celebrations across the country.  I was approached last year to compose music to help celebrate the occasion, which lead to a wonderful experience for me artistically.  I have been busy composing and rehearsing “Proclamation of Hope: a Symphonic Poem.”   This is a large-scale work consisting of the Ramsey Lewis Trio plus a 22-piece band, including a vocalist accompanied by visual images from a range of sources.  The movements of this piece were all motivated by historical events from Abraham Lincoln’s life and work.  The premiere is Friday, June 12th at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois.

This project required many hours at the piano composing, writing and arranging.  It also required a great deal of time researching, reading, and contemplating Abraham Lincoln’s life.   My feelings and observations about him will be expressed in the form of that live performance next month.  I also wish to share some of those feelings and observations on Abraham Lincoln’s life here in this forum.   Many things I learned about Lincoln are qualities we can all aspire to and involve habits we can cultivate in our daily lives.  Even though he was born in 1809 and died in 1865, the way he lived his life is still relevant in 2009. We can all become happier, more fulfilled human beings by following his example.

A defining characteristic of Abraham Lincoln from an early age was the determination to make something of himself. We have all heard the saying, “You can be whatever you want to be, despite your circumstances.”   We also all are familiar with the simple surroundings in which he grew up in rural Illinois.   He never finished high school.  Still, he was determined to educate himself.  Even though a formal education was not readily available to him, he decided he wanted to become a lawyer.  As a young man he was determined to pass the Illinois Bar Exam.  He put in many hours of study.  Keep in mind that law school takes three years today and students have the benefit of professors and teachers guiding them and challenging them along the way.  He studied on his own without that guidance.  And he passed the exam on the first try!   What can we learn from this?   Know what you want to accomplish, put in the time, no matter how tedious it may seem, and you can accomplish that goal.  He lived in a time and place with few luxuries, little formal education  and tough circumstances but through his will and hard work, he made something of his life and changed those circumstances.

This ties in to another aspect of his character: Abraham Lincoln saw his life as his own creation. He saw learning as a lifelong process; something that one can be engaged in as long as they are on this earth.  He was always reading, studying, learning, and growing.  He appreciated the arts.  He read books on calculus.   He read Shakespeare.  He read the Bible cover to cover.   He approached life as an opportunity to enrich his existence through learning and to exist harmoniously with other human beings.

Abraham Lincoln was a sensitive man who was in tune with his emotions. He was a wartime president and the death of soldiers was an everyday occurrence.  He understood this.  He dealt with it not with machismo or a ‘toughen up’ attitude, but in a much different way.  He dealt with it as a thoughtful, caring human being.  In many cases he cried.  That was his reaction upon receiving the news of the death of soldiers – even in groups they were still individuals.  His presidency spanned a time of great tragedy facing the confusion and difficulty of war.  Through it all he was not afraid to stare that harsh reality in the face and respond in a way that is sometimes perceived as showing weakness or fear.   Neither of those attributes applies to Lincoln.  This was a man of great strength who was not afraid to show his emotions.

Abraham Lincoln accepted disagreement and understood its value. Yes, he had the courage of his convictions.  He believed what he believed and knew the principles for which he stood.  At the same time, he understood the importance of listening to both sides of an issue.  If someone did not agree with him, he did not just turn his back or respond negatively.  Disagreement was not seen as an attack.  Disagreement was an opportunity to stimulate healthy discussion, to see another point of view, and to understand each other as human beings.   He wouldn’t necessarily change his mind or change the other party’s mind through these healthy debates and discussions, but he understood their value nonetheless.  Sometimes just being listened to is all that is needed.  Sometimes getting a clearer picture of the other side of an issue causes one to consider decisions more carefully.  As a politician, disagreement was a common experience for Lincoln.  Not only did he thrive on the healthy discussion and understanding that can be brought on by disagreement, but he had great respect for many of those who disagreed with him.  Several people who ran against him for public office ended up in his cabinet when he was elected President.

Abraham Lincoln knew that humor was a key to a harmonious existence with other human beings. Every book I read about him describes his sense of humor.  While it is rare to see a photograph of him smiling, the man understood the value of laughter and taking a lighter approach to life, when appropriate.  He was a fountain of funny stories and humorous anecdotes – this too in a time of great tragedy.  His appreciation of humor did not detract from those tragedies and hardships, but instead made them bearable as he guided this nation past slavery and the Civil War.  Without his sense of humor that guidance would not have been nearly as enduring or effective.

Will we all become as historically significant as Abraham Lincoln if we follow these principles?  Probably not.  However, by approaching life in this way: having the determination to make something of ourselves despite our circumstances, seeing our lives as our own creation, being in tune with our emotions, understanding the value of disagreement, and the importance of humor in the face of tragedy, we can all be more fulfilled, happy human beings.   Lincoln made the world a better place while he was alive and those changes resonate today, 200 years after he was born.  We all have the power to make our world a better place right now in 2009 if we follow his example and approach our lives the way he did his.