Love Ramsey Lewis and always have, but my collection - a few singles apart - is a tad poor.

I'm especially fond of the mid career stuff he recorded with a full orchestral backing, eg Hurt So Bad. There's just something so moody and atmospheric about almost anything that came out of Chess at that time.

Question is this; which albums should I look out for from that period and in that style, as opposed to the groovy trio recordings? Are they on CD?

Thanks

Colin

Can't help you with the albums, Dayo. But I love 'Hurt so Bad' and will always be grateful to Ramsey Lewis for making other jazz accessible. Without Ramsey, I wouldn't have been able to get into Lee Morgan, Clark Terry, Eric Dolphy, Ted Curzon etc etc.

'Jade East' fantastic record.......love it.

Regards - Mark Bicknell

Love Ramsey Lewis and always have, but my collection - a few singles apart - is a tad poor.

I'm especially fond of the mid career stuff he recorded with a full orchestral backing, eg Hurt So Bad.  There's just something so moody and atmospheric about almost anything that came out of Chess at that time.

Question is this; which albums should I look out for from that period and in that style, as opposed to the groovy trio recordings?  Are they on CD?

Thanks

Colin

link

Try the "Mother nature 's son " album on chess - all Beatles covers - great record

Maiden Voyage is great..... features the track 'Les Fleur' which was used in the recent Bileys advert....

Love his version of Hurt So Bad, was it a 45, and was it ever played out?

Get the Wade In The Water album. It was Ramsey's first with a big band backing. As well as the classic title track it has the first outing for Hurt So Bad and not a dud track in sight. Sound quality is terrific, as good as the 45s I'd say. You can get the original album for less than a tenner off ebay even from the USA. I even found a CADET postcard in mine inviting me to send in for a CADET catalog & newsletter to the legendary 2120 South Michigan address. Hurt So Bad was not issued as a 45 in the USA but was in the UK!

SLIM

Thanks for all the tips everyone