The In Crowd (Verve By Request) [LP]

"Verve By Request Series": remastered from the original analog tape, audiophile 180-gram vinyl by Third Man Pressing/Detroit. An extraordinary jazz bestseller! Pianist Ramsey Lewis, who died last year, was one of the first icons of grooving soul jazz in the mid-1960s. His greatest success came in 1965 with the album "The In Crowd", which reached number 1 in the R&B charts in the USA and number 2 in the Billboard Top 200 album charts in the same year. Highlights of the lively live album include the bluesy "Since I Fell For You", a groovy version of "Tennessee Waltz" and, of course, the infectious title track. McCoy Tyner recorded his first three studio albums for Impulse! with different, but always top-class classical trio line-ups. The pianist only deviated from this pattern when he recorded the material for "Today And Tomorrow" in two sessions in 1963/64. While he once again performed one half of the program with a trio, he can be heard in the other half in a sextet with three wind players. His former partners from the legendary John Coltrane Quartet were also involved in the sessions: Bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.