Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, is back with 'Saturday Salon' and on Bandcamp, part of the technological in crowd

“It’s all about the music. It’s not about me running my mouth,” said composer, jazz pianist and former radio personality Ramsey Lewis. The celebrated musician, who has recorded more than 80 albums and hosted the “Ramsey Lewis Morning Show” on WNUR in Chicago, said “retired life” is everything he’s always wanted. But his love of music, and specifically, of playing the piano, has not gone away.

Last month, Lewis launched season two of his surprise hit livestream series, “Saturday Salon” on StageIt. This yearlong series takes place on the last Saturday of every month and features Lewis playing a selection of tracks in an hourlong set. A portion of all proceeds benefits the Jazz Foundation of America.

It’s not every day that an 85-year-old man makes the decision to pivot from live shows to livestreaming. But Lewis is not like most other 85-year-old men. And while other musicians continue to navigate the muddy waters of the streaming world, Lewis has embraced the medium wholeheartedly.

It all goes back to his love of piano. Lewis, who began playing the instrument when he was around five years old, describes the instrument as his “buddy” and “girlfriend.”

“Throughout my life, I’ve been a quiet soul. Now, I love to laugh and get down, but I don’t need to be around people. I don’t need to laugh and get down. I just need to know that the piano is tuned,” said Lewis by phone during a rehearsal for his January show. “I pull out Bach, I pull out Beethoven, I pull out Chopin. I pull out Duke Ellington and then I have compositions of my own. I just like the sound and the feel of a Steinway grand piano. I sit here for hours in my living room. I just enjoy playing the piano.”

The performance medium (a video stream) matters less to Lewis than returning again and again to the instrument he’s always known. “I learned early on that it’s me and the love of the piano whether I’m live streaming or whether I’m playing at Carnegie Hall or whether I’m playing a nightclub,” he said. Of course, formalizing his new performance style took a little convincing from the people around him, specifically his wife, who first recorded Lewis playing his beloved piano as the pandemic began and sent it to his manager. Lewis’s manager realized that there was something there and thus the first season of “Saturday Salon” began.

Back then, Lewis largely stuck to less-structured show formats. For this new season, each show will focus on a specific theme. For the month of February, Lewis will play selections from the musical “West Side Story.” Other upcoming themes include his greatest hits, songs from “The ‘In’ Crowd,” and the Beatles’ songbook.

“The main thing when I prepare for a show is I want my chops — my fingers and my hands — to be in shape, so no matter what comes to mind, I can execute it,” Lewis said about his creative process. “I prepare by pulling out Chopin, by pulling out Bach. And playing scales and arpeggios and getting my hands loose and ready to play the piano, so that when I’m performing, no matter what idea comes to me, I don’t have to think about, ‘Can I play it or should I play it?’”

His methods seem to be working. Lewis has found success across the globe for his efforts, something that still takes him by surprise, nearly a year into his show. “I used to have to get on an airplane for people to check me out from London or wherever. Or go down to a TV studio,” Lewis began. “But you’re saying I can sit here in my living room and people check me out from all over the world? It’s not all bad.”

And as the world continues to change and cities begin to open up, Lewis is excited to continue sharing his gifts with the world from the comfort of his home. “It makes me feel good that at 86 years old, we’re talking and I can sit here in my living room and play to a crowd of people in London, in Tokyo, in Paris,” Lewis joked. “Hey lady, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

___

When: 2 p.m. EST Feb. 27 (shows take place on the last Saturday of every month)

Tickets: $20, StageIt.com/RamseyLewis

___