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

 * 1) "Scirroco" (Meyers, White) – 4:03
 * 2) "Get Up" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 3:47
 * 3) "Come Dance with Me" (Boyd, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:01
 * 4) "South African Jam" (Butler) – 4:51
 * 5) "Brazilian Rain" (Emory, Pleasure) – 4:19
 * 6) "Interlude #1" (Lewis) – 0:35
 * 7) "Summer Nights" (Meyers, Randolph, White) – 5:32
 * 8) "Tell Me Why" (Butler, Meyers, Williams) – 4:19
 * 9) "Urban Paradise" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:23
 * 10) "Drama" (Cornwell, Guillaume, Hawkins, Jones) – 3:47
 * 11) "Step by Step" (Lewis, Lewis, Randolph) – 4:01
 * 12) "The Promise" (Meyers, Vannelli, White) – 4:10
 * 13) "Interlude #2" (Lewis) – 2:02
 * 14) "Dawn" (Randolph) – 4:38

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