His range extended well beyond the orthodox: alongside the classical recordings, he recorded Catalan and Scottish folk songs, Indian music with sitarist Ravi Shankar, and, accompanied by the French harpist Lily Laskine, an album of Japanese folk melodies that was named album of the year in Japan. He also recorded Scott Joplin rags and Gershwin, and collaborated with French jazz pianist Claude Bolling. The Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano (1975), written by Bolling especially for Rampal, topped the US Billboard charts and remained there for ten years. This raised his profile with the American public even further and led, in January 1981, to a TV appearance on Jim Henson's The Muppet Show, where he played "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark" with Miss Piggy—and, suitably attired, "Ease on Down the Road" in a scene loosely based on the folktale of the Pied Piper.
His range extended well beyond the orthodox: alongside the classical recordings, he recorded Catalan and Scottish folk songs, Indian music with sitarist Ravi Shankar, and, accompanied by the French harpist Lily Laskine, an album of Japanese folk melodies that was named album of the year in Japan. He also recorded Scott Joplin rags and Gershwin, and collaborated with French jazz pianist Claude Bolling. The Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano (1975), written by Bolling especially for Rampal, topped the US Billboard charts and remained there for ten years. This raised his profile with the American public even further and led, in January 1981, to a TV appearance on Jim Henson's The Muppet Show, where he played "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark" with Miss Piggy—and, suitably attired, "Ease on Down the Road" in a scene loosely based on the folktale of the Pied Piper.