Now, A Jazz Moment...

MUSIC: "The In Crowd" CD: Ramsey Lewis's Finest Hour, Verve 314 543 763-2 (cut 1)

2007 NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis's roots are firmly secured in jazz, but he's appealed to audiences far beyond. He remembers when his popularity exploded with his 17 th album. Not everyone was receptive...

Ramsey Lewis: The jazz police loved us throughout our first 16 albums. Guys would come and check us out. "Hey you guys are great, you guys are really gonna make it big one day." The 17th album and thereafter, the jazz police disowned us. But hey, everybody to his own opinion. During that same period of time, Duke Ellington, he came to see us and would pat us on the back. Oscar Peterson, Clark Terry, I can't name the musicians who came by and put their arms around us and said, "You know, you guys, you got somethin unique. Stick with what you have!"

MUSIC: up and fades

This Jazz Moment with pianist Ramsey Lewis was created by the National Endowment for the Arts.