Ramsey Lewis Trio - The Sound Of Spring
Released 1962
Recording and Session Information
Ramsey Lewis Trio
Ramsey Lewis, piano; Eldee Young, bass; Isaac (Red) Holt, drums
United Studios, Hollywood, February 14, 15 1962
11522 Sound of spring
11523 Spring can really hang you up the most
11524 Blue spring
11525 Spring is here
11526 Spring will be a little late this year
11527 Spring fever
11528 It might as well be spring
11529 Soft winds
11530 There'll be another spring
11531 Truly, truly spring
Track Listing
| Sound Of Spring | Ramsey Lewis | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most | Tommy Wolf | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Blue Spring | Ramsey Lewis | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Spring Is Here | Hart, Rodgers | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year | Frank Loesser | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Spring Fever | Ramsey Lewis | February 14, 15 1962 |
| It Might As Well Be Spring | Hammerstein | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Soft Winds | B. Goodman | February 14, 15 1962 |
| There'll Be Another Spring | Lee, Wheeler | February 14, 15 1962 |
| Truly, Truly Spring | Eldee Young | February 14, 15 1962 |
Liner Notes
Spring has never been at a loss for musical representation. Throughout the centuries it has been interpreted in a broad range of sounds. This diversity of concepts is reflected in the vernal viewpoint of Ramsey Lewis, ranging from the gentle rustle of strings on the first side to the diversified rhythms of the trio on the second.Because this album may bring him a substantial accumulation of new followers, some of whom may be unfamiliar with the men's backgrounds, a few vital statistics may be worth repeating. Born in Chicago May 27, 1935, Ramsey studied privately from the agc of six, later attending Chicago Musical College and De Paul University. ("However," he says, "I credit most of my musical accomplishments to Miss D, Mendelsohn, my instructress.' Music has been the focus of his life from the start: with a mother who sang in the church choir a father who directed it, as well as two sisters who studied piano extensively; he never considered the possibility of any other career. He was an early aåmirer of Art Tatum and Bud Powell, but considers John Lewis and Oscar Peterson his main influences.
Eldee Young, also Chicago-born (January 7, 1936) has a similar background. His father played guitar and mandolin. Eldee studied guitar with his brother, Carl; played guitar and bass in high school, and studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He began his professional career early, going on the road with rhythm-and-blues singer Chuck Willis in 1954.
Isaac (Red) Holt, born May 16, 1932 in Rosedale, Mississippi was raised in Chicago and was a childhood friend of Ramsey and Eldee, playing with them in a teenage band. Red studied at Crane Tech., later playing in an Army band in Germany, in 1955.
Riley Hampton, a virtual fourth wheel who makes the trio move on Side 1, is best known for his skillful backgrounds for Etta James, and was previously associated with Ramsey in the Sound of Christmas album. The instrumentation here includes seven violins, three violas, two cellos and the trio. It is to Hampton's credit that instead of bogging the trio down in a mollsses-like wasteland of sirupy sounds, he has used the instrumentation to provide coloristic contrasts and orchestral variety.
The opening title number offers a striking demonstration of this mood manipulation. The piano states the theme in orthodox fashion, with obbligato comments from the strings. In the second chorus Ramsey takes over ad lib, and suddenly it swings.
Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most is one of those rare tunes that managed to become a standard Without ever having been a hit. Tommy Wolfe wrote it in 1952, and for the first couple of years couldn't even get record on it. Ramsey and Riley use this exceptional melodic vehicle in an effective wedding of piano and strings.
Ramsey's own Blue Spring impressively meets the challenge of the paradox inherent in the juxtaposition of funky blues and dignified strings. The side concludes with two durable ballads, Richard Rogers' Spring Is Here from I An Angel, and Frank Loesser's wistful Spring Will Be A LIttle Late This Year, which dates back to 11944.
The string-sectionless side is inaugurated lustily by Ramsey's attractive Spring Fever, with gospel-funk overtones as Well as Latin touches, deftly accented by the remarkable work of Red and Eldee. It As Well BeSpring, another child of spring-expert Rodgers, is notable for the contribution throughout of Eldee, from the arco introduction through the intriguing lines during the chorus, with a repeated use of four eighth notes followed by a pause.
Soft Winds has been familiar to jazzmen ever the Benny Goodman Sextet, with Christian and Hampton, cut it in 1939. This, it seems to me, is the most unremittingly swinging track of the album, with expert work by Ramsey and unflagging support from his rhythm team.
Hubie Wheeler's lovely melody There'll Be Another Spring, for which Peggy Lee wrote lyrics (and which she introduced in an album co-starring with George Shearing) is given a gentle, graceful treatment. The final track, Truly Spring, reveals that Eldee is making rapid strides as a cellist, inspired no doubt by his bass and cello favorite, Ray Brown. Eldee's composition is charming, his solo work light and nimble as if he were playing guitar, and the whole treatment, complete with tambourine effects, has an element of humor. This is a welcome quality in these sometimes unduly pompous days.
Samuel Butler once remarked that youth, like spring, is an overpraised season, "more remarkable for biting east winds than genial breezes." This was just his nineteenth century way of pointing out that it can really hang you up the most. These sides, though, prove how wrong he was. The case for youth is well served by Lewis, Young and Holt; spring is no less handsomely attended by the swinging winds of this rhythm section and the supple (even genial) zephyrs of the strings. The result is an album that will offer easy listening throughout the four seasons.
Leonard Feather
