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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Ramsey Lewis celebrates 75th birthday with Dave Brubeck and Nancy Wilson at Ravinia - chicagotribune.com

Ramsey Lewis celebrates 75th birthday with Dave Brubeck and Nancy Wilson at Ravinia - chicagotribune.com

he transcendent moment in Ramsey Lewis' 75th birthday celebration at the Ravinia Festival occurred early in Friday night's marathon concert.

As 89-year-old pianist Dave Brubeck exuberantly improvised on his "Blue Rondo a la Turk", Lewis walked discreetly onto the stage, pulled up another piano bench and leapt right in.

To hear– and see – these two major figures playing piano four hands, one musician reacting instantly to the other, was to witness a historic moment for both artists. Though each has enriched the vocabulary of jazz for more than half a century, rarely have they communicated so intimately and spontaneously with one another.

In an often rambunctious duet, Brubeck put down fat chords and glittering lines high up in the keyboard and Lewis answered with bluesy phrases and rumbling octaves down below. More...

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