Blackstone To Publish GRAMMY® Award-winning Pianist and NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis’ Memoir

Blackstone Publishing is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Grammy Award-winning pianist and NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis’ memoir, in which one of the world’s most acclaimed and distinguished jazz musicians fully tells his story. The deal was negotiated by Rick Bleiweiss, Head of New Business Development at Blackstone, with Brett Steele of Steele Management, representing Ramsey Lewis, for world all languages rights. The memoir, which Lewis will co-write with award-winning jazz journalist and author Aaron Cohen, is scheduled to publish in October 2023.

Lewis reflected, “I would like to leave behind something that tells my story. Who I am, where I’ve been, what I think, what I feel. Something for my kids, grandkids, great grandkids and everyone. So that thirty years from now people will say, ‘Let me check his book out, my mom and dad used to talk about him.’ Through this book, I would like readers to come away with how commitment and honesty are combined to make your life what you want it to be.”

Bleiweiss commented, “I have been a fan of Ramsey’s music since I first heard his earliest recordings, and now that I know more about him, I have become a huge fan across all of his endeavors. This is going to be a superb book laden with colorful anecdotes encompassing a plethora of celebrities and detailing Ramsey’s extraordinary life. I am so very pleased to have acquired it.”

For 60 years, Ramsey Lewis has been one of the most popular pianists in jazz. He has more than 80 albums to his name and regularly performed at some of the world’s largest and most prestigious concert halls and festivals. A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Top 10 hitmaker and winner of three Grammys, Lewis has also hosted popular television and radio shows that honor this music’s history. His influence not only reaches today’s younger jazz artists but the beats he created decades ago can also be heard across R&B and hip hop. Through it all, Lewis has remained grounded, never leaving behind his roots in Chicago. In this autobiography, Lewis will tell his story about how it all happened.

Lewis’ memoir describes how his hardworking family provided him with music and supported his earliest aspirations. This book will also include the story behind his 1965 smash hit, “The In Crowd,” and the formidable aftermath that followed its success. Through it all, he kept moving forward. He hired and mentored drummer Maurice White and advised him before his fame with Earth, Wind & Fire. Other collaborators ranged from Stevie Wonder to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Through it all, he tells his story
with warmth, gentle humor and commitment. This is the story of an artist whose talent, ideas and determination brought him from challenging beginnings to global fame. All of which came from his distinctive musical vision: He embraces traditions from around the world while hewing closely to the ideals he experienced in his close-knit neighborhood while he was growing up. He has always blended class with funk.

As his good friend and former president, Barack Obama said, “Ramsey Lewis is a man who has touched all of our lives. Not everybody finds their calling in life as a four year old boy sitting at a piano in the living room, but ever since he did he’s filled our lives with music and with joy.”

RAMSEY LEWIS has been an iconic leader in the contemporary jazz movement for over 50 years with an unforgettable sound and outgoing personality that has allowed him to crossover to the pop and R&B charts. The Ramsey Lewis Trio, with bassist Eldee Young and percussionist Redd Holt, became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, releasing their debut album, Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Jazz, back in 1956. Lewis earned his first gold record, as well as a Grammy award for Best Jazz Performance, for their swinging version of Dobie Gray’s hit “The In Crowd.” He returned to the pop charts in 1966 with versions of “Hang On Sloopy” and “Wade In The Water.” After Young and Holt left Lewis’ trio to form their own group, the pianist hired a new rhythm section with Cleveland Eaton on bass and Maurice White on drums. When White left the band to form Earth, Wind & Fire, Morris Jennings signed on as the trio’s new percussionist. White returned to produce Lewis’ 1974 smash album entitled Sun Goddess, in which Lewis first experimented with electronic keyboards and featured members of Earth, Wind & Fire on the album. In 1983, Lewis returned to the studio with Young and Holt for the album Reunion. Throughout his illustrious career, Lewis who is a NEA Jazz Master, has also joined forces with countless other artists to create new and innovative music. In 1984, he collaborated with Nancy Wilson on The Two of Us, in 1988 he recorded with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra for the album A Classic Encounter, and in 1989 Lewis and Dr. Billy Taylor cut a set of piano duets in We Meet Again. In 1997, Lewis added disc jockey to his resume, hosting a popular show on Chicago’s WNUA-FM that ran until 2009. Ramsey will release his new record “The Beatles Songbook” this fall via Steele Records. He lives in Chicago with his wife Jan.

AARON COHEN teaches humanities at City Colleges of Chicago and writes for numerous publications, including the Chicago Reader and Chicago Tribune. He is the author of Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power and Amazing Grace. Cohen has been a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, DownBeat editor and a two-time recipient of the Deems Taylor Award for outstanding music writing from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He lives in Chicago with his wife Lavonne.

BLACKSTONE PUBLISHING
Founded in 1987, Blackstone Publishing is an independent, privately owned company headquartered in Ashland, Oregon. Offering a growing catalog of over 17,000 titles in print, e-book, and audiobook formats, the authors we publish are as varied as the books themselves, including works by Gabriel García Márquez, Ayn Rand, Ian Fleming, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Karen Slaughter, and many more. Blackstone is home to a vibrant and eclectic community of storytellers and story lovers, providing superior content and offering hundreds of new titles each month.