Recently, we told you about a set of new and exciting releases from our imprint, The MusiQ Department, from our artists Vince Anthony and Bridget Ramsey. We’re tremendously honored to highlight another release from Bridget Ramsey, the warm, dynamic, Philly-centered music video for her interpretation of the jazz classic “Save Your Love For Me.”
Editor’s Note: As we were prepping this story for publication, news broke of the passing of the incomparable Nancy Wilson, whose recording of “Save Your Love for Me” inspired Dr. Ramsey, Bridget Ramsey, and the MusiQology band’s own version of the standard. Nancy Wilson is remembered as a most-capable and skilled singer whose understanding of narrative played out profoundly in her vocal performances and interpretations of the jazz songbook. Her loss is deeply felt, and we dedicate this piece to her memory.
On Jazz Nonstandards, her new EP, Bridget Ramsey re-envisions the jazz canon, making them hers with assured vocals and a respect for tradition. It’s her entry into consideration as a true artist, where she makes the songs her own. The most ear-catching of these tracks, “The Very Thought of You,” inaugurated a new fusion of genres: trap jazz and has rightly generated attention for its obvious new-ness.
“Save Your Love,” however, is at least equally notable for its grandeur—an elegant, sustained study of the track made famous by Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley. Ramsey’s vocal, assured and strong, is a revelation, building as the song does to a dynamic conclusion. And the MusiQology band’s recasting of the song, led by Dr. Guy’s trademark approach to the piano, is a worthy soundtrack for his daughter Bridget’s ascendance.
Narratively, it’s another day for Dr. Guy and the MusiQology band in the studio, with the original Wilson and Adderley vinyl watching over the band as they run through the song. Integrating into the MusiQology family—as an aspirational lover is attempting to do—need be accomplished through musical and cultural appreciation. The rich video, directed by local filmmaker (and MusiQology podcast guest) William Wolf is a lush love letter to Philadelphia, the city that has housed and sustained the Ramsey family for years as they hit a creative high-water mark during the city’s current arts and culture renaissance. The video feels like the Ramsey family’s love letter to Philadelphia—filmed locally at spaces such as South Philly’s recording space Turtle Studios and the record collector haven Brewerytown Beats. The city’s creative arts community is highlighted in the music video, effectively arguing that MusiQology’s presence—as a project of public scholarship—is undeniably a part of the city’s moment.
Further context for the video, its creation, and its connection to the Ramsey family can be found in the Season 2 premier episode of Dr. Guy’s MusiQology podcast, in which Philly educator, activist, and intellectual guest Marc Lamont Hill hosted the podcast, interviewing Guy and Bridget on the creative process of the video and recording. It’s a fun and fascinating conversation, and a worthwhile companion to the video itself.
The podcast is available on the following platforms: iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Also performing on the recording—and continuing the dual themes of Philadelphia’s musical community and jazz-as-connection-across-generations—are well-known local musicians Lucky Thompson (drums), Ken Pendergast (bass), Tony “Big Cat” Smith (trumpet), and Jerry Thompson (organ) alongside Guy Ramsey himself on piano and MusiQ Department artist Vince Anthony on background vocals. The video seems to intentionally highlight a multi-generational group of local musicians, led by the poet and spoken-word recording artist Ursula Rucker, who performs in the track’s introduction before Ramsey’s airy, buoyant vocal grows throughout the recording, taking the casual elegance of the Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley classic and building to a vocal and instrumental crescendo as the band celebrate in the engineers’ booth at Turtle Studios.
“‘Save Your Love for Me’ is one of my favorite records and having the chance to record it with my daughter Bridget was an absolute thrill,” Dr. Ramsey told us. “This video is a visual and sonic record of a musical family, creative community, and dynamic city in concert.”
Many shine brightly here—the band, the city, the arrangement—but Bridget Ramsey’s star turn is noticeable—an artist asserting and assuming her rightful place as one of the city’s vocal talents. She’d been saving this vocal performance, it seems, and as a multimedia experience, the video is an exciting step for her and MusiQology more broadly.
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