title: Urban Knights II
text: # 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
  
  Professional ratings :
  
  | Review scores ||
  | - | - |
  | Source | Rating |
  | Allmusic | |
  | Los Angeles Times | |
  | Jazz Times | (favourable) |
  | Sun Herald | (favourable) |
  
  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
  
  Album :
  
  | Chart (1997) | Position |
  | - | - |
  | Billboard Heatseekers Albums | 48 |
  | Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums | 5 |
  
  ## 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
  