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 "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 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 References 1997 albums Albums produced by Maurice