Ramsey Lewis Plays the Beatles Songbook

Image for Ramsey Lewis Plays the Beatles Songbook, July 25, 2020.

The amazing cover of Ramsey's album Mother Nature's Son, on which he plays 10 songs from the White Album.

On Saturday, July 25, 2020, Ramsey Lewis played a Stageit show of the Beatles’ music. Titled “Ramsey Lewis Plays the Beatles Songbook,” it was a terrific hour of solo jazz piano from a master. I tuned into to Lewis’ May Stageit show, celebrating his 85^th birthday. That show had some technical difficulties, including about 20 minutes or so where there wasn’t any sound or video. Fortunately, the technical side was much better this time around. I still had to refresh the screen a few times when the sound dropped out, and there was a lot of chatter on the Stageit chat about technical issues.

There’s an intimacy to the Stageit shows that is very appealing. You’re getting to see Ramsey Lewis in his living room, playing the grand piano that he practices on every day. That’s very cool. Lewis played about 10 Beatles songs during Saturday’s show. He opened with “Here, There and Everywhere” and “And I Love Her,” which were given extended treatments. Other songs, like “Lady Madonna” and “Rocky Raccoon,” Lewis just played through once and didn’t really solo on. He was laughing as he made his way through those songs, as though he was surprised by the melodic twists and turns they were taking. That, combined with the fact that Lewis had sheet music in front of him, made me wonder how many times he'd played these songs before. Lewis did record “Lady Madonna” on his 1968 album Maiden Voyage, and he also recorded “Rocky Raccoon” on his excellent Mother Nature’s Son album, on which he played 10 tracks from the White Album, recorded just weeks after the White Album was released. I assume that Lewis is a brilliant enough pianist to play a song through while just glancing at the sheet music, but I’d be interested to know how much he had played some of these songs before Saturday.

Lewis’ song selection was heavily skewed towards songs that were predominately written by Paul McCartney. The only song that was predominately written by John Lennon was “In My Life.” I didn’t take the song selection to be a slight on John Lennon, rather, I think it’s an indication of what a rare melodic genius Paul McCartney is. In addition to the songs I’ve already mentioned above, Lewis played “Hey Jude,” “Let it Be,” “The Fool on the Hill,” “The Long and Winding Road,” and “Michelle.”

The afternoon concluded with Lewis playing a medley of his biggest hits: “Sun Goddess,” “Hang On, Sloopy,” “Wade in the Water,” and “The In Crowd.” It was a fun afternoon spent with a master of the piano.

Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift: Sweet Home Quarantine Week 6-The Beatles

The Beatles in Magical Mystery Tour, 1967.

The 6^th installment of Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift’s at-home concert series, titled “Sweet Home Quarantine,” was an all-Beatles show. It aired on April 22, 2020. Robyn and Emma’s shows can be viewed through the Stageit website. Hitchcock has always been an acolyte of the Fab Four’s psychedelic years, and it was a pleasure to hear him examine their back catalogue. Lest you think that it was all “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and Lennonesque surrealism, the setlist had a few surprises in store.

Robyn and Emma opened with “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” which I certainly wasn’t expecting. It was delightful, and it segued into the second song, the always lovely “Dear Prudence,” a nice match for Hitchcock’s guitar playing and voice. I wasn’t expecting Robyn to play anything pre-Rubber Soul, but he threw in “She Loves You,” which sounded fab and gear. Emma then got her solo turn for a beautiful take on George Harrison’s “Something.” The more I hear Robyn and Emma sing together, the more I’m hoping for a duets album, or a solo Emma Swift album. Or both! 

Robyn did a lovely version of another Paul song, “Things We Said Today,” one of those album tracks that would have been a hit single for a lesser band. Next up was another George song, “Old Brown Shoe,” another one of those hidden Beatle gems. Robyn and Emma sang a lovely version of John’s “Across the Universe,” and then Robyn threw us all a real curveball when he and Emma sang “Band on the Run.” What, Robyn Hitchcock singing Wings? But it worked very well. They also sang another post-Beatles tune, “Photograph,” a big hit for Ringo that he co-wrote with George. Robyn and Emma did “A Day in the Life,” which worked surprising well, even without the orchestral climaxes. I’m so used to hearing “A Day in the Life” end with the big crescendo and that final crashing chord that it was jarring to just hear it suddenly end with Robyn and Emma singing “I’d love to turn you on.” The show closed with “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” It was 50 minutes of excellent music and groovy times.

Concert Review: Peter Asher at the Dakota Jazz Club: "A Musical Memoir of the 1960's and Beyond"

Peter Asher at the Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis, January 14, 2020. (Photo taken by my better half.)

Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, 1960's.

Last week my wife and I saw Peter Asher at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. He was performing his show, “A Musical Memoir of the 60’s and Beyond.” I’ve seen Asher perform this show twice before, once in 2012 and again in 2017. I also saw Asher perform at the Dakota with Albert Lee last summer. (However, I missed seeing him and Lee open for Leo Kottke at the Guthrie in November.) 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Peter Asher, I’ll give you a brief rundown on his musical career. Asher was part of a successful pop duo, Peter & Gordon, with his schoolmate Gordon Waller. Peter & Gordon scored 10 Top 40 singles in the US, including the number one smash “A World Without Love,” and the top ten hits “I Go to Pieces” and “Lady Godiva.” After Peter & Gordon split up, Asher moved into record production, becoming head of A&R at the Beatles’ Apple Records. Asher discovered a talented young American singer/songwriter. Asher became this guy’s manager and produced his first album for Apple Records. His name? James Taylor. Asher also managed Linda Ronstadt, and has been one of the most in-demand record producers since the 1970’s. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year. 

Asher may not be a household name himself, but he has connections with anyone who’s anyone in music. In his show, he tells his life story, and how he went from child actor to pop star to mega-producer. Peter & Gordon mixed many different musical influences, and they were originally envisioned as a sort of folk duo. But while recording their first album, they came in with “A World Without Love,” a Lennon/McCartney song that the Beatles weren’t going to record. How did this unknown vocal duo score such a coup? Well, Paul McCartney, the song’s author, happened to be dating Jane Asher, an up-and-coming young actress who happened to be Peter’s sister. Asher had heard McCartney play the song and asked him if he and Gordon could record it. McCartney said sure, and after some badgering by Asher, finished off the bridge of the song “in something like seven minutes,” according to Asher. “A World Without Love” went to Number One in both the UK and the US, and it was the first British Invasion single by a group other than the Beatles to hit the top spot in the US. 

Asher was involved in many other Beatle-related adventures during the 1960’s, including the Indica bookstore and art gallery. Asher helped organize a show at the Indica art gallery in November of 1966. It was a show by a Japanese American artist named Yoko Ono. And, of course, it was at a party for the opening of this exhibit that Yoko met a certain Beatle named John. 

If you’ve listened to Asher’s radio show From Me to You, on the Beatles’ Sirius XM channel, you know that Peter Asher is a highly engaging storyteller, and his tales are full of British self-deprecating humor. I’ve listened to Asher’s show a lot, partly because I’m a huge Beatles fan, and because my 5-year-old son only wants to listen to the Beatles every time he’s in the car. Asher even addresses his physical appearance in the 1960’s being an influence on Austin Powers’ signature look. (Red hair, thick Buddy Holly glasses, bad teeth.) I also appreciated that at the end of the show Asher made a plug for contemporary music—he basically said, there’s still lots of good music being made today. I appreciated hearing that coming from a 75-year-old who has been in the music industry since 1964. The point of his show isn’t to tell us about how wonderful everything was back in the day, and how everything now is just crap. 

On a slight digression, I think it’s amazing how much the music and culture of the 1960’s is still with us today, 50 years after that decade ended. Sure, that’s partly due to the continuing influence of the Baby Boomer generation on pop culture. But think about how prevalent the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, to name just three artists, are in pop culture today. Now think about going back 50 years into the past, and if the same thing were happening then. It would be as if the musical stars of the 1910’s were still household names in the 1960’s. That wasn’t the case. It’s remarkable that this music has lasted for so long. Obviously, it’s a testament to the quality of that music, but I think it’s fascinating how this music and culture has survived and thrived through the decades. 

Back to the show! Asher performed with Jeff Alan Ross on piano and Jennifer Jo Oberle on bass guitar. They did a great job of making the songs sound good. I didn’t miss not having drums at all. Ross, a former touring member of Badfinger, got a solo spot when he sang the group’s lovely song “Day After Day.” Oberle soloed on “Blue Bayou,” the Roy Orbison song that Linda Ronstadt had a big hit with, and she did a great job, offering up a soulful vocal. 

If you go see Peter Asher, be warned that there’s a lot of talking in between the songs, and he doesn’t really play that many songs during the evening. Still, you’ll get to hear some great Peter & Gordon songs and some fantastic stories. The show we saw was the last one of the tour, and Asher held court for about 2 ½ hours!