Mercury Records Collection: EmArcy SR-80029: Down To Earth

SR-80029: Down To Earth / Ramsey Lewis Trio

Label Type :	blue Mercury/EmArcy type D (large oval)
Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	SR_80029_A FR1 A1 I
	SIDE-B	SR_80029_B ~~SR_60080_B~~ FR1 A1 I

Comments

Equivalent release: EmArcy MG-36150 (mono).

Later reissued as Mercury MG-20536 (mono) and Mercury SR-60213 (stereo).

Inside The Groove

Very earth piano trio album heavily based on Blues emotion.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

The Ramsey Lewis Trio had recorded so many earthy albums from 1956 to 1971 on Argo/Cadet label (Chess Records' subsidiaries), and most of the albums sold very well. This EmArcy/Mercury album, recorded in 1958 and released in 1959, was an exception for the trio. This was probably because that the EmArcy's producer/supervisor Jack Tracy did close relationship with Argo/Cadet recording sessions.

Earthy, funky and blues-oriented Jazz performance. Whether you like this kind of sound or not, the group has definitely original sound of their own.

Yet another finest Ramsey Lewis album in the 1950s-1960s. If you like his other Argo/Cadet albums, you'll like this one too.

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

8 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-A
A-1	JB214 (15294)	Dark Eyes (Arr. by Lewis)	2:31
A-2	JB212 (15199)	Come Back To Sorrento (Arr. by Lewis)	3:10
A-3	JB213 (15293)	Soul Mist (Lewis)	3:00
A-4	JB281 (16588)	John Henry (Arr. by Lewis - Young - Holt)	2:26
A-5	JB215 (15295)	Greensleeves (Arr. by Lewis)	4:29
SIDE-B
B-1	JB284 (16591)	We Blue It (Lewis - Young - Holt)	5:01
B-2	JB211 (15198)	Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (Arr. by Lewis)	2:10
B-3	JB282 (16589)	Suzanne (Arr. by Lewis)	3:15
B-4	JB283 (16590)	Billy Boy (Arr. by Lewis)	2:37
B-5	JB285 (16592)	Decisions (Young)	2:06

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

The Ruppli's discography says the recording was made at Universal Recording Studios, Chicago, IL. However on the back cover of the original issue, there is a mention that the recording was made at “Ter-Mar Recording Studios, Chicago, IL with Malcolm Chisholm at the engineering controls”, and it should be correct. The sound on this LP surely is different from that of Universal Recording Studios, I think.

Ramsey Lewis (p), El Dee Young (b), Red Holt (ds).
Recorded at Ter-Mar Recording Studios, Chicago, IL on November 6 & December 4, 1958.

Engineered by Malcolm Chisholm.
Supervised by Jack Tracy.