Urban Knights / Urban Knights II

The history of Urban Knights, one of the greatest Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis leading all star contemporary jazz fusion project, was started when the fist project album was released in 1995 with Maurice White (Earth Wind & Fire) as the producer. On the first project members were Ramsey Lewis, Grover Washington Jr., Victor Bailey and Omar Hakim and the album was very successful in terms of chart action, that is to say, reached the top five on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. In 1997, Lewis released the second album of the project again produced by Maurice White with other familiar names; Najee, Gerald Albright and Jonathan Butler. Before 2005, Lewis constantly released Urban Knights project albums III (2000), IV (2001), V (2003) and VI (2005) with different musicians each album. The 84 years old Lewis came back the seventh Urban Knights album in 2019, which was surprising gift to music lovers.

Release: 24 March, 1997
Label: GRP Records, USA (GRD9861 ) / MCA Victor, Japan (MVCR-248)

Tracks:
1. Scirroco
2. Get Up
3. Come Dance With Me
4. South African Jam
5. Brazilian Rain
6. Interlude #1
7. Summer Nights
8. Tell Me Why
9. Urban Paradise
10. Drama
11. Step By Step
12. The Promise
13. Interlude #2
14. Dawn*

* Bonus Track only for Japanese Edition

Producers: Maurice White, Frayne T. Lewis
Executive Producer: Carl Griffin

Urban Knights:
Ramsey Lewis: Piano
Gerald Albright: Sax
Jonathan Butler: Vocals, Guitars
Najee: Sax, Fluteand
Sonny Emory: Drums

- Musicians -
Guitars: Sheldon Reynolds
Bass: Morris Pleasure, Chuck Webb, Verdine White
Drum Programming: Jimi Randolph, Lambert Anthony
Keyboards: Mike Logan, Kevin Randolph, Frayne Lewis, Bill Meyers
Percussion: Tony Carpenter, Paulinho Da Costa
Duet Lead Vocals: Maggie Brown (on the track "Come Dance With Me")
Background Vocals: Karen Boyd, Theresa Davis, Chrystle Barrett, Maulice White, Bill Meyers, Sheldon Reynolds, Valerie Pinkston Mayo, Carl Carwell

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