Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles

Brother Ray "An Icon In Americana Song"

Alright I am a jazz guy.But I listen to just about everything from Jerry Lee Lewis to Liszt.But think about true icons in American music and the list would be short.Sinatra?Elvis?Johnny Cash?The most amazing thing about Ray is that he is by far the greatest exemplar of AMERICAN music EVER!From his secularized gospel crossed with R&B that invented Soul he enjoyed playing and excelling in every from except for maybe Opera.R&B,Country,Jazz he did it all.

Here is a early killer LP that was arranged by Quincy Jones and has long time cohort David "Fathead" Newman AND Paul Gonsalves (the band was poached mainly from Ellington and Basie) to latter avant garde,soul jazz,straight ahead master Marcus Belgrave on trumpet.Here they play:
1 Let the Good Times Roll Moore, Theard 2:49
2 It Had to Be You Jones, Kahn 2:41
3 Alexander's Ragtime Band Berlin 2:50
4 Two Years of Torture Mayfield, Morris 3:33
5 When Your Lover Has Gone Swan 2:47
6 Deed I Do Hirsch, Rose 2:23
7 Just for a Thrill Armstrong, Raye 3:21
8 You Won't Let Me Go Allen, Johnson 3:16
9 Tell Me You'll Wait for Me Brown, Moore 3:21
10 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin' Greene 3:42
11 Am I Blue Akst, Clarke 3:35
12 Come Rain or Come Shine Arlen, Mercer 3:40
And it's all killer.As often it's a synthesis of styles and showmanship.
It's funny.When I listen to other artists like Jerry Lee Lewis say "Live At The Star Club In Hamburg" (given to me by a friend who said,perhaps correctly "This is the greatest rock concert EVER" (he may have been right) I am happy to listen.Then when I listen to his soulful country LP's from late 60's early 70's I dig them (can't stand what passes for "Country today BTW) I am satisfied.But when I listen to Brother Ray I find that I often feel strangely distracted and aware that there is no perfect LP.On a five point score he might have more 4.5 LP's than anybody I can think of like "Live At Newport" or "Genius+Soul=Jazz" etc there is at certain times something wrong (like the abysmal string arrangements and singers on the Country LP's).But maybe it's that his cannon covers so many styles of music and had so many great hits you can't concentrate and think of something else where it's being sung.It's hard not to have strong emotional sense memories of "I Got A Woman" to "Georgia" or even "America The Beautiful" (Is there a better version of that ever put down that brings that level of emotion???That hits you in the gut that way???) well I sometimes can't stay focused on one song or LP beacause I want to pull the next LP out.That is rare.If anybody deserves the term "encompassing it all" and truly Sui Generis it was Brother Ray.If you haven't listened in while and are a jazz fan look up his list at[...] and pick what fits your mood and keep buying.This is great place to start if young and new but you wouldn't go wrong with "Yes Indeed" which is not so jazz oriented is an explosive soul LP that will knock your socks off if your an American or a Czech.Liberal Conservative.Jazz or Country.You only need to be a person who can feel.
Cheers
Chazz


November 18, 2008

Music Genius, Re-mastering Not

BUYER BEWARE: To date (June 2008), this is the only review for this particular product. The other reviews pasted in here by Amazon refer to the original version of this CD. If you want to spend more for an inferior product, then by all means, purchase this !

This is vintage Ray Charles, recorded at age 27. The music itself gets 5 stars for sure. It's clearly oriented toward the jazz/blues side of things, rather than Ray's better known R & B side. The first 6 songs are big band arrangements, with a nice variety of tempos (including a couple of wonderful ballads). The last 6 songs are all ballads, with simple, but lush orchestral arrangements with strings and background vocals. Naturally, Ray's vocals are featured throughout, and he's in top form. I love most of these songs, especially the ballads.

I've owned the original 1990 Atlantic CD for several years, but always thought the album could really benefit from re-mastering. Thus, I ordered this 2005 import, which turned out to be in the Atlantic Masters series (made in Europe). I own a few other CDs in this series, and have been quite pleased with the audio quality. I WISH I could say the same about this one, but IT AIN'T SO. While there IS improved detail and clarity, some of the dynamics and warmth has somehow been lost. Overall, I like the original CD version better than this new one. Hopefully someday this classic recording will undergo a better re-mastering.

April 20, 2007

Soulful ballads from Ray Charles's breakthrough album

Ray Charles passed away today and the reason everybody is talking about him as the creator of soul music is because no other musician did more to develop the form. There is no argument that other singers, such as Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, were influential in pioneering soul music but it was Ray Charles who merged 1950's R&B with gospel-powered vocals into a new form of black pop music. This 1959 album produced by Atlantic Records lives up to its title, but you have to remember that this was originally a record album. That is not because "The Genius of Ray Charles" sounds old but because there are clearly two distinct sides to the album.

The "A" side has the Ray Charles band being complemented by members of the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington (such as David "Fathead" Newman and Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet) playing a half-dozen songs arranged by Quincy Jones. "It Had to Be You" and the old Irving Berlin standard "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are the most familiar songs, but the two best on the first half of the album are "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Deed I Do."

The "B" side consists of six ballads, arranged by Ralph Burns with the backing of a string orchestra. The two standout tracks here are "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'" and the final track, the truly outstanding version of Mercer & Arlen's "Come Rain or Come Shine." With all the orchestration Charles' piano playing is lost in the mix but what stands out is his voice. In terms of the vocal phrasing he displays on these ballads this is really a breakthrough album in terms of the singing.

How good is "The Genius of Ray Charles"? Well, listen to the classic saloon songs of Frank Sinatra's 1958 album "Only the Lonely," and Charles doing "Come Rain or Come Shine" does not suffer in comparison. Of course the fact that Ray Charles was that good is not news to anybody who loved listening to that man sing for almost fifty years. There are lots of hit collections that you can pick up to honor his memory, but there is something to be said for complete albums and in that regard "The Genius of Ray Charles" would be on anyone's short list. June 11, 2004

The peak

This album boldly declares Ray Charles' genius. I've never heard anybody argue with the appelation. When this came out, he was established as a brilliant R&B singer, songwriter and performer. Here he hooks up (on what was side one) with an all-star jazz big band, featuring players from both Basie and Ellington, to make music that is hard to categorize as anything other than Ray. His piano envelopes the whole group in his R&B style, so while it's a lot of jazz players displaying their jazz chops, the result is something else. Then, on what was side 2, he takes another turn, playing with a small combo and a huge orchestra--pointing the way, with cuts like "You Won't Let Me Go" toward his brilliant take on country & western, and toward his (recently-unearthed) collaboration with Jimmy Scott on his timeless version of "Come Rain or Come Shine."

You can't really review this album, because it puts to shame all the other 5-star ratings I've given on Amazon. Every cut on here is a classic, a pathbreaker, a rich emotional experience, and a swinging time will be had by all. July 28, 2003

One of his best

Several great musical traditions flow through this album. How many albums have songs by Percy Mayfield as well as Irving Berlin, or big band arrangements by Quincy Jones as well as strings arranged by Ralph Burns? Nobody could bring it all together like Ray Charles; in his hands, it's all just great American music. December 22, 2001

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