Thursday was Ramsey Lewis Day in Chicago.

At least 8,500 concertgoers likely already thought of it as such when they gathered in Grant Park for a concert tribute to the great genre-crossing pianist, composer, radio host and educator who died last September. But halfway through the concert, a proclamation from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events — made from the stage while Lewis’s widow Janet (nee Tamillow) and sons Bobby and Frayne looked on — made it official.

Much touted in the “whereases” and many recollections over the course of a heartfelt, unforgettable, and talent-packed evening: Ramsey Lewis was many things, and “proud Chicagoan” was very much among them. His star rose early and quickly, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard pop chart in 1965 with his trio’s instrumental version of “The ‘In’ Crowd.” It remained at that lofty height for the rest of his career, finding the kind of broad-based commercial appeal almost unheard of for a jazz musician. But between all the albums (more than 80), Grammy Awards (three) and tours (too many to count), Lewis always made his home in Chicago, spending his later years in Streeterville, just a mile away from where he grew up in Cabrini-Green.

“Although he traveled the world, he never felt compelled to live anywhere else. … He would have loved this,” Janet said in her address to the audience, her voice breaking.

Emceed by Sirius XM host Mark Ruffin, Thursday’s concert honored Lewis not only with the music he created but through the music that shaped him. Lewis long traced his music’s funkiness to his upbringing in the church, with his father leading a choir at an AME church near the Cabrini homes.

That devotional spirit was well-stoked throughout the night. Santita Jackson — the eldest daughter of Rev. Jesse Jackson, also in attendance, and a one-time neighbor of the Lewis family — sang a smoldering “Come Sunday,” captured on another early trio recording of Lewis’s, her performance blazing into glorious fires by its end. Near the end of the evening, pianist Monty Alexander, in a trio set both incandescent and rowdy, reprised it in a virtuosic solo piano version.

Gospel composer, producer and singer Donald Lawrence shared fond memories of the man he called “Sir Ramsey Lewis” in his comments from the stage, then honored him with a heart-stopping set with his chorus. Their rendition of “Don’t Forget to Remember” — which Lawrence and Lalah Hathaway recorded with Lewis in 2004 — piped in Lewis’s original, serene solo, the live rhythm section deferentially ducking down its sound for Lewis from beyond the grave.

As Thursday made plain, the sounds of Lewis’s past influenced not just his own future but that of others. Trumpeter Orbert Davis, who played on five albums with Lewis, credited the classically trained pianist with showing him that a musician could marry “classical and jazz in one body.” That philosophy still undergirds his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, now in its 20th season. Davis unveiled a lush, string quartet-padded arrangement of “Les Fleurs,” twice recorded by Lewis and co-composed by frequent collaborator Charles Stepney.

For the last 25 years of his career, Lewis mentored musicians in Chicago Public Schools as cofounder of the Ravinia Festival’s Jazz Scholars program — musicians like Thaddeus Tukes, now one of the great rising vibraphone players not just here but anywhere. With drummer Jeremy Warren and bassist James Wenzel, Tukes jumped from piano to vibes for a joyous rendition of “Oh Happy Day,” which Lewis recorded in 2005 with the choir of the J.W. James Memorial AME in Maywood, Illinois, a church cofounded by his older sister Lucille.

Another Jazz Scholar alum, bassist Joshua Ramos, went on to join Lewis’s all-star Urban Knights group. Many Knights were on hand Thursday in a nine-piece “Ramsey Lewis Legacy Band” convened for the occasion: guitarist Henry Johnson, drummer Charles Heath and keyboardists Mike Logan and Tim Gant, both usually heard alongside Lewis on synthesizers but here trading off his vaunted seat behind the grand piano.

Their set wove through major milestones in Lewis’s musical life: the first release under the Urban Knights banner (“The Rose” and “Hearts of Longing,” Johnson evoking Grover Washington Jr.’s saxophone solos with Wes Montgomery-esque fretwork), Lewis’s warm relationship and collaborations with Stevie Wonder (“Living for the City”), and, at evening’s end, a rousing performance of “Sun Goddess,” Lewis’s runaway hit with Earth, Wind & Fire. Tukes and Davis joined the Legacy Band in this final number, taking valedictory solos.

Afterward, Ruffin returned to the stage to give one more callout to members of the Legacy Band. “Orbert Davis! Thaddeus Tukes! Henry Johnson! Mike Logan!” And, as if he, too, were taking a bow behind the piano: “Ramsey Lewis!”

It might as well have been. He was doubtlessly there, through sounds, stories and a whole lot of spirit.

Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic.

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