Urban Knights II
Urban Knights II is the second studio album by the jazz group Urban Knights released in 1997 on GRP Records. The album reached No. 7 on the US Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart and No. 24 on the UK Top Jazz Albums chart.
Critical reception
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." 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, 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
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
- Maggie Brown – female vocal on “Come Dance with Me”