August 22, 2026 — Chicago-born pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis spent more than six decades bringing jazz to audiences far beyond its traditional boundaries. Known for his warm, accessible blend of jazz, soul, gospel, R&B and funk, Lewis recorded more than 80 albums, earned three Grammy Awards and became one of the most commercially successful jazz artists of his generation.
In 1965, the Ramsey Lewis Trio transformed Dobie Gray’s R&B hit “The ‘In’ Crowd” into an instrumental soul-jazz classic. The track reached the Top 5 on the pop chart, climbed to #2 R&B and helped earn Lewis the first of his Grammy Awards.
Eight years later, Lewis revisited the song live for German television with Cleveland Eaton on upright bass and Morris Jennings on drums. The 1973 performance finds the Trio stretching out on the familiar melody, with Lewis’s bluesy, gospel-inflected piano riding atop Eaton’s deeply syncopated, call- and-response bass lines and Jennings’s snare-snapping beat. It is jazz at its core, but with enough soul and R&B in its DNA to make sitting still nigh impossible.
More than anything, however, the clip captures the pure joy of musicians making music together. All are smiling, moving and responding to one another, with Eaton simply unable to contain his delight as Lewis pushes the performance forward. Indeed, it is difficult to decide who is having more fun: Eaton, Ramsey or those of us lucky enough to watch!
Enjoy.
By Robb Patryk
