LP-645

An Hour With The Ramsey Lewis Trio

Released 1959

Recording and Session Information

Ramsey Lewis, pianoi; Eldee young, bass; Redd Holt, drums
Chicago, April 22 1959

9275 C. C. Rider [See See Rider]
9276 Blues for the night owl unissued
9277 Chant x
9278 Don't blame me unissued
9279 Softly, as in a morning sunrise
I had the craziest dream
I know why
9282 It ain't necessarily so
9283 The more I see you unissued
9284 Summertime unissued 9285 Pug's delight unissued 9286 Angel eyes
9287 The ruby and the pearl
9288 Love for sale
9289 Little Liza Jane unissued
9290 The way you look tonight
9291 The other maras unissued
9402 Song of India
9403 I love Paris
9404 Consider the source x
9408 The walls of Jericho
9409 Jumpin' Jaque unissued
9410 The run unissued

Track Listing

Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise	Romberg, Hammerstein III	April 22 1959
C. C. Rider	Arr. Lewis, Young, Holt	April 22 1959
Love For Sale	Cole Porter	April 22 1959
I Had The Craziest Dream / I Know Why	Warren, Gordon/Morgan, Davis	April 22 1959
It Ain't Necessarily So	George and Ira Gershwin	April 22 1959
I Love Paris	Cole Porter	April 22 1959
The Way You Look Tonight	Ker, Fields	April 22 1959
Song Of India	Arr. Lewis, Young, Holt	April 22 1959
Consider The Source	Arr. Lewis, Young, Holt	April 22 1959
The Ruby And The Pearl	Evans, Linvingstone	April 22 1959
Walls Of Jericho	Arr. Lewis, Young, Holt	April 22 1959
Angel Eyes	Dennis	April 22 1959

Liner Notes

This album was recorded under the most ideal studio conditions imaginable.

The engineer got a good balance on the trio, then just sat back while we played. Occasionally he'd leave the control booth and let the tape run.
There was no one else in the studio or the booth. We were free to play as long (and whatever) we wished.

And so this entire hour of music resulted from one five-hour recording session. (Ed. Note: It customarily takes nine hours of recording time to get in the usual half-hour album.)

The fact that we knew a one-hour LP was to result from the date gave us a chance to stretch out when we felt like it and freed us from being conscious of any time limits.

It closely approached the atmosphere of a club, except there was no audience present, and no one to shout, "Play Melancholy Baby.

And just as you often find yourself going onstage at a club without having planned anything to play but the first tune, so did we do this date. We wanted to record Ruby And The Pearl because we get a lot of requests for it, but other than that we thought we'd let the session take shape naturally.

And it did — sometimes so much so that we painted ourselves into musical corners that were hard to get out of.

Take Consider The Source, for example. It is a mixture of an eight-bar blues pattern commonly heard in jazz and a similar eight-bar chordal pattern used for many years in the type of church music I have heard since I was a child. The trouble was, when w€ started it I didn't tell El Dee Young, the bassist, the chords we'd be playing or anything. As a result, you might notice a few places where we clash a little, but I'm pleased with the overall feeling we got on it.

C. C. Rider is an old folk blues that we had all heard before, but never played. And because we had never played Walls Of Jericho, Ain't Necessarily So, and Source before as a group, no one had any idea of what was going to happen on the Spontaneous cadenzas at the end of those things.

Because the recording studio atmosphere was so informal, we played everything just once, then went on to something else. A few days later we listened to it all and began selecting the things we were happiest with for this album.

We think it comes closer than anything we've yet done to give an idea of how the group sounds in person at a jazz club.

Ramsey Lewis

This record is, in many ways, an experiment. For one thing, we've put about twice the usual amount of material on the disc. For another, we have abandoned several of the conventional steps in record making which we feel interfere with the musical values Of the material. Since most of these things are involved in the mastering of the record, perhaps some explanation is in order.

There are many ways to cut a master disc. There are fast ways, slow ways, easy ways, and hard ways of doing what would seem to be a simple task — transferring sound from a master tape to a master laquer disc from which recordings will be made.

It is not, however, simple. There are rules to be observed. Not too loud, or the pickup cartridge will distort. Not too soft, or the record noise will be louder than the music. Not too many grooves per inch, or the pickup arm will skip grooves. Not too few, either, or you won't get enough time on the record.

Argo recordings are mastered by Douglas Brand. Doug is an engineer who knows the methods and rules so well he doesn't believe all of them anymore. This is important.

It is more important to know that Doug Brand is a musician. He plays no instrument, he holds no union card, but he is a musician nonetheless. He plays knobs. When the accepted methods and rules interfere with what he wants as a musician, he goes over, under, around, or through them. This record is an example of circumvented rules.

There is a rule that says you must limit. Limiting makes loud notes softer and soft notes louder. The music on this record is not limited. Limiting takes punch out of recorded music, and we don't think that's good.

Another rule says rhat if you put more than 22 minutes of music side you must cut a very low level master to keep the grooves from touching at the loud passages. Doug made a 30-minute side by skillful use of variable pitch mastering, made possible by the fact the Ramsey Lewis trio plays softly more often than it does loudly. On soft passages Doug cut 340 grooves per inch, on loud passages, 160. The average is 290, as compared to the standard 240. To our knowledge, this is the first time AVP mastering has been carried this far on a jazz record.

A third unusual thing about this LP is that it was "cut flat." It is standard practice to boost bass or midrange, or cut down on some of the highs when making masters. This process goes by the misleading name of "equalization." No "equalisation" was used here.

The tape is as close to the sound of the trio in the studio as I could get it, and the pressings are very nearly indistinguishable from the tape.

In short, this LP is an hour of music, presented as naturally as possible.

Malcolm Chisholm
Chief Engineer