Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. was born on May 27, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois and began taking piano lessons at the age of four. By 15 he joined his first jazz band, The Cleffs. The seven-piece group provided Lewis his first involvement with jazz and he would later join Cleffs drummer Isaac “Redd” Holt and bassist Eldee Young to form the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

The trio started as primarily a jazz unit and released their first album, Ramsey Lewis And The Gentlemen of Swing, in 1956. Following their 1965 single hit “The In Crowd” that reached #5 on the pop charts and the album #2 they concentrated more on pop material. Young and Holt left in 1966 to form Young-Holt Unlimited and were replaced by Cleveland Eaton and Maurice White.

By 1966, Lewis was one of the nation’s most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts in addition to “The In Crowd” with Hang On Sloopy” and “Wade In The Water”. All three singles each sold over one million copies and were awarded gold discs. Many of his recordings attracted a large non-jazz audience and in the 1970s, he often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and using an additional keyboardist in his groups.

In addition to recording and performing, Lewis hosted a syndicated morning show on Chicago “smooth jazz” radio station WNUA. His weekly syndicated Legends of Jazz, featured recordings from artists such as David Sanborn, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau and Miles Davis.

Ramsey has appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, his Ramsey Lewis Morning Show became part of Broadcast Architecture’s Smooth Jazz Network, his Legends of Jazz became a television series, he is the artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia, serves on the Board of Trustees for the Merit School of Music and The Chicago High School for the Arts. His Ramsey Lewis Foundation helps connect at-risk children to the world of music. He continues to perform, record and tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

George Auld was born John Altwerger on May 19, 1919 in Toronto, Canada but lived in the U.S. from the late 1920s. He was most noteworthy for his tenor saxophone work Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Al Porcino, Billy Eckstine, Tiny Kahn, Frank Rosolino and many others.

Primarily a swing saxophonist, he did many big band stints in his career, and led several big bands, including Georgie Auld and His Orchestra and Georgie Auld and His Hollywood All Stars. Auld also played some rock´n roll working for Alan Freed in 1959.

George can be heard playing sax on the 1968 Ella Fitzgerald album “30 by Ella” and in 1977 he played a bandleader in “New York, New York” starring Liza Minelli and Robert DeNiro and also acted as a technical consultant for the film.  The tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader George Auld died in Palm Springs, California at the age of 71 on January 8, 1990.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jim McNeely was on born May 18, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois he moved to New York City in 1975. By ’78 he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, spending six years as a featured soloist.

In 1981 Jim joined Stan Getz’s quartet and for the next four years served as pianist/composer. The early part of the ‘90s he held the piano chair with the Phil Woods Quintet, and from 1996 to the present day McNeely holds the position as pianist/composer-in-residence for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

Jim has been the chief conductor for the Danish Radio Big Band in Copenhagen, Denmark, is currently artist-in-residence with the HR Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany and continues to appear as guest with many of Europe’s leading jazz orchestras such as The Metropole Orchestra in The Netherlands and The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra in Sweden.

The Grammy award winning jazz pianist, composer and arranger has recorded more than a dozen CDs under his own name, earning nine Grammy nominations between 1997 and 2006. In 2008, he was awarded a Grammy with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra for their album Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard.

Grammy-winning pianist Jim McNeely leads his own tentet, his own trio, and appears as soloist at concerts and festivals worldwide while serving on the faculties of The Manhattan School of Music, William Patterson University and is musical director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Redd Holt was Isaac Holt born on May 16, 1932 in Rosedale, Mississippi. His interest in drums and percussion began as a child and he bought his first drum set when he was a sophomore at Crane Technical High School. Graduating from high school in 1951, he attended the Cosmopolitan School of Music in Chicago and then received advanced musical instruction at the Chicago School of Music.



Between 1954 and 1966 Holt was part of the original Ramsey Lewis Trio that spawned the classic hit singles “Hang on Sloopy” and “In Crowd.” He was co-founder and leader of Young-Holt Unlimited from 1966 to 1974, creating another hit, “Soulful Strut,” and the successful single, “Wack Wack”, used in the movie Harriet the Spy and various other movies and commercials.



Redd has directed the Gumption Performing Artists Workshop, received the Jazz Master Award from the Midwest Arts, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Indianapolis Radio Sounds of Jazz, and the Grand Master of Time Award from the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the DuSable Museum of African American History.

As a jazz educator drummer Redd Holt has been active for many years in Urban Gateways, a nonprofit organization providing multicultural performing, and visual and literary arts programs. He continues to perform his percussion and vocal skills at jazz clubs, festivals, theaters and concerts around the world.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Julian Joseph was born May 11, 1966 in London, England.  As a jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger and broadcaster he has worked solo, in his all-star big band, trio, quartet, forum project band or electric band.

Joseph’s style combines a respect for the modern developments in jazz piano with its history and works in both contemporary and traditional situations with his music. He is also active in jazz education helping to form the jazz syllabus for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in Great Britain.

Starting with his first album The Language of Truth in 1991, Julian has a total of seven albums to date, one single, and a soundtrack to his credit, and a baker’s dozen as a sideman. He has focused on live performance such as, at the London Jazz Festival, also broadcasting as he hosts several radio shows on BBC Radio 3, including Jazz Line-up and the celebrated Jazz Legends as well as composing and teaching.

He has also made two jazz television series for Meridian, a jazz series for Sky TV’s Artsworld Channel and the documentary A Festival of Jazz Piano for the BBC in Wales directed by Celia Lowenstein. He continues to perform and record.

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