PIANIST WON'T HAVE HIS MUSIC-MAKING CATEGORIZED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 10, 1992                   TAG: 9202080318
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TRACIE FELLERS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
PIANIST WON'T HAVE HIS MUSIC-MAKING CATEGORIZED
Ramsey Lewis has never believed in being bound by musical categories or conventions.
In the late 1950s, the pianist put together a trio that went on to record some of the best-selling jazz songs of the '60s. One of those songs, "The In Crowd," won a Grammy in 1965 and became a pop standard for the decade.
In the '70s and '80s, Lewis experimented with a mix of musical forms, from jazz to R&B to classical. He added vocals to some of his records and collaborated with artists including Stevie Wonder and Maurice White, founder of R&B group Earth Wind & Fire, who was also a drummer in Lewis' band in the late '60s.
On one of his most recent albums, 1990's "Urban Renewal," he and son Kevyn, a producer, injected jazz with an urban-contemporary sound.
"[Kevyn] felt that you could take today's urban-contemporary rhythms and mix them with jazz, and you would come up with something very, very unique," Lewis said in a phone interview from Chicago. "That intrigued me, so I said, `OK, let's try it.' And we did try it, and it worked."
Lewis' music has been labeled everything from fusion to rhythm and blues during his career. But he doesn't define what he does by such narrow boundaries.
"I was very fortunate when I was younger because my mother, my father [and] even my music teachers never categorized music," he said. "There were only two types of music . . . good music and bad music, and even that was a matter of taste."
Lewis grew up listening to "all types of music" - blues, pop, R&B, classical, gospel, folk, he said.
"I think there's no pure music. Everything is infused by other things," he said. "Jazz itself is a combination of African influences, European harmonies, Latin influences."
Lewis comes to Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall on Wednesday for a concert with jazz pianist Billy Taylor.
Lewis and Taylor, who is known as a jazz educator as well as a musician, started playing together about four years ago, when Taylor hosted a cable TV show called "Jazz Counterpoint."
When Lewis appeared on the show to do a duet or two with Taylor, "we started playing, and we couldn't stop," Lewis recalled. "The show was a half hour, and we taped enough music for two half-hour shows."
The pair then decided to try playing in concert. After a successful trial show that was as fun for the musicians as it was for the audience, they agreed to tour. Now, "we're up to doing 20 to 25 concerts a year, and every year we add a few more."
Lewis and Taylor also worked together on an album titled "We'll Meet Again."
In addition to touring with Taylor, Lewis tours once a year with his original trio, which includes Redd Holt on drums and Eldee Young on bass. He also travels with his "all-star" quintet: Henry Johnson on guitar, drummer Steve Cobb, Mike Logan on synthesizers and bassist Chuck Webb.
Lewis, 56, also stays busy with hosting a Chicago radio show and "Bet on Jazz," a TV program that airs on Black Entertainment Television.
As if his schedule weren't full enough, by late this summer or early fall, Lewis plans to open a nightclub in Chicago. He plans to play there and hopes it will attract international jazz performers. But the club's main objective will be to "showcase up-and-coming talent."
That goal seems to fit Lewis' musical philosophy. He sees music as a reflection of life, an art form that doesn't speak to the past but to the present.
"I refuse to live in the past, I refuse to try to sustain what was good or popular in the '50s, '60s and '70s or even the '80s," he said. "I like to sit down with myself and see what I'm all about in the '90s."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB