Urban Knights II

Urban Knights II is an album by the Urban Knights which was issued in 1997 on GRP Records. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart.

Critical reception

Jazz Times stated "With moods playful to passionate and players in a relaxed goodtime frame of mind, it’s a perfect party disc." Don Adderton of the Sun Herald wrote "When you surround a master artist with a strong supporting cast, usually great things happen. On this second outing, Ramsey Lewis scores big on Urban Knights II (GRP)." Adderton added "Still the master craftsman, Lewis leads this all-star aggregation rampaging into funk, jazz, rhythm-and-blues and Latin-flavored ballads." Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times found that "The music that results can perhaps best be described as rhythm & jazz--bits and pieces of improvising from Lewis and the horn players juxtaposed against insistent, funk-driven rhythms. South African Butler, especially on the tracks in which he sings (“South African Jam” and “Brazilian Rain,” especially), brings a seductive world-music ambience to the proceedings." Jonathan Widran of Allmusic called the album a "Maurice White-produced exercise in easy funk and potent, machine generated urban grooves."

Track listing

"Scirroco" (Meyers, White) – 4:03

"Get Up" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 3:47

"Come Dance with Me" (Boyd, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:01

"South African Jam" (Butler) – 4:51

"Brazilian Rain" (Emory, Pleasure) – 4:19

"Interlude #1" (Lewis) – 0:35

"Summer Nights" (Meyers, Randolph, White) – 5:32

"Tell Me Why" (Butler, Meyers, Williams) – 4:19

"Urban Paradise" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:23

"Drama" (Cornwell, Guillaume, Hawkins, Jones) – 3:47

"Step by Step" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:01

"The Promise" (Meyers, Vannelli, White) – 4:10

"Interlude #2" (Lewis) – 2:02

"Dawn" (Randolph) – 4:38

Charts

Personnel

Gerald Albright – soprano saxophone

Najee – flute, saxophone, soprano saxophone

Frayne Lewis – keyboards

Ramsey Lewis – piano, electric piano

Mike Logan – keyboards

Bill Meyers – synthesizer, backing vocals, Fender Rhodes

Jimi Randolph – synthesizer

Kevin Randolph – keyboards, synthesizer bass

Jonathan Butler – guitar, vocals, backing vocals

Sheldon Reynolds – guitar, backing vocals

Morris Pleasure – bass

Chuck Webb – bass

Verdine White – bass

Sonny Emory – drums

Tony Carpenter – percussion

Paulinho Da Costa – percussion

Karen Boyd – backing vocals

Carl Carwell – backing vocals

Theresa Davis – backing vocals

Valerie Mayo – backing vocals

Maurice White – backing vocals

References

1997 albums

Albums produced by Maurice White

Urban Knights albums

GRP Records albums