SONG.REVIEWSChicago jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis's crossover trio, popular through the 1960s for taking soul-jazz instrumentals into pop chart territory. By the 1966 "Wade in the Water" sessions the rhythm section was bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Maurice White — White left in 1970 to found Earth, Wind & Fire. Lewis died in 2022.
The Ramsey Lewis Trio turned a 19th-century spiritual into a 1966 pop-chart jazz single — a genuine crossover achievement that trades some of the original's rawness for polish, and comes with a popular backstory that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
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