09-29-2022, 12:00 PM
Two Chicago based musicians. The former gained fame with an instrumental that was even a bigger hit than was its vocal predecessor. The latter ran the gamut from Friend and Lover to Mark Twain.
Ramsey Lewis passed away on September 12 at the age of 87. He was an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. In 1965 he scored a major pop hit with his instrumental rendition of the "The In Crowd" which just a few months earlier was a substantial hit for Dobie Gray, who wouldn't score another hit until "Drift Away" eight years later. When interviewed on American Bandstand Dobie stated that he was so impressed by the Ramsey Lewis version of his hit that he went out and bought a copy. Ramsey's version went on to become an ever bigger hit than the vocal original. He scored a more modest success with "Wade in the Water". He was also artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia, an annual feature at the Ravinia Festival held each summer at a facility just north of Chicago.
Two days later Jim Post, another Chicago legend, left this earth. He was 82. Early in his career he scored a national Top 10 hit with "Reach Out in the Darkness" under the moniker Friend and Lover along with his then wife Cathy. He was a contemporary of such other Chicago music stalwarts as John Prine, Steve Goodman, Tom Dundee, Fred Holstein and Bonnie Koloc. Now the latter is the only one of the bunch still alive. Notably his biggest claim to fame came later with the performing of the character Mark Twain in a one-man show.
Ramsey Lewis passed away on September 12 at the age of 87. He was an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. In 1965 he scored a major pop hit with his instrumental rendition of the "The In Crowd" which just a few months earlier was a substantial hit for Dobie Gray, who wouldn't score another hit until "Drift Away" eight years later. When interviewed on American Bandstand Dobie stated that he was so impressed by the Ramsey Lewis version of his hit that he went out and bought a copy. Ramsey's version went on to become an ever bigger hit than the vocal original. He scored a more modest success with "Wade in the Water". He was also artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia, an annual feature at the Ravinia Festival held each summer at a facility just north of Chicago.
Two days later Jim Post, another Chicago legend, left this earth. He was 82. Early in his career he scored a national Top 10 hit with "Reach Out in the Darkness" under the moniker Friend and Lover along with his then wife Cathy. He was a contemporary of such other Chicago music stalwarts as John Prine, Steve Goodman, Tom Dundee, Fred Holstein and Bonnie Koloc. Now the latter is the only one of the bunch still alive. Notably his biggest claim to fame came later with the performing of the character Mark Twain in a one-man show.