Ivory

Known for the elegance and complexity of their decorative art, Marquesan artists were described by Paul Gauguin as possessing "an unheard of sense of decoration" in all they created. The extraordinary ways in which Marquesans adorned their world are reflected in virtually every type of object they made and used—from sacred figures of gods and ancestors to items that were purely functional. Long admired by artists, writers, and scholars, the art and culture of the Marquesas Islands have until recently been unfamiliar to larger audiences. …

The title says it all - this is an absolutely dreamlike collection of tunes, both funky and straight ahead, written and performed by a masterful ivory tickler. After an illustrious career as mostly a sideman and/or musical director for R&B biggies like Anita Baker and Al Jarreau, this release established Lyle as a solo star, and rightfully so. Lyle's R&B background is more than apparent on the best of these eight cuts like Baker's "Been So Long," the funky "Loco-motion," and the airplay winner "Tropical."

Its hard to think of another jazz musician, outside of George Benson, who has released as many high level pop jazz recordings as Ramsey Lewis. Ramsey is probably one of the top pianists of the modern jazz era, but he has always been more of a crowd pleaser than an adventurer, but that doesn’t mean his playing is light weight at all. “Ivory Pyramid”, released in 1992, is typical of Lewis’ repertoire with masterful renditions of tunes he wrote plus a few covers.