Ray Charles 2x At La Salle Pleyel In Paris (1971)

So far, I had 1971 only covered by one professionally recorded live concert – the one at the Turin Jazz Festival on August 8, known from the oddly titled bootleg CD Blues Connotation. But I’ve just listened to two concerts (i.e. the after-intermission parts) from Ray Charles’ yearly visit (during the late 1960s and the 1970s) to La Salle Pleyel in Paris, on 1, 2 and 3 October. The band probably performed six times. These two shows were recorded by Europe-1, but it’s unclear on exactly what day they were taped, and if and/or when they were broadcast. The setlists were:

Concert A:

1. Tears Inside (With Ray Charles Orchestra)
2. The Bright Lights And You Girl
3. Georgia On My Mind
4. Hallelujah I Love Her So
5. Yesterday
6. Feel So Bad
7. The Long And Winding Road
8. Introduction Raelettes
9. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers
10. I Can’t Stop Loving You
11. Look What They Have Done To My Song, Ma
12. Indian Love Call (ft Susaye Greene)
13. Falling In Love All Over Again (ft Dorothy Berry)
14. What’d I Say

Concert B:

1. Introduction Ray Charles
2. Tears Inside (With Ray Charles Orchestra)
3. Hallelujah I Love Her So
4. The Sun Died
5. The Bright Lights And You Girl
6. Georgia On My Mind
7. Feel So Bad
8. The Long And Winding Road
9. Leave My Man Alone (ft Vernita Moss)
10. I Can’t Stop Loving You
11. Look What They Have Done To My Song, Ma
12. Indian Love Call (ft Susaye Greene)
13. Falling In Love All Over Again (ft Dorothy Berry)
14. What’d I Say
15. Outro

Coll. André Monnot.

Listening to the audience response, everybody in Paris once again was happy with the concerts, but they didn’t entail anything exciting. Tears Inside is also know from the 1971 Torino bootleg. Even Falling In Love All Over Again (#13 on both setlists), the only known live recordings of this tune, sounded flat.*

Personnel:
Musicians: Marcus Belgrave, Tommy Cortez, Frank Szabo, Jack Walrath – trumpets; Glenn Childress, Jules Rowell, Mayo Tiana – trombones; Dana Hughes – bass trombone; James Clay, Jay Cloyd Miller – alto saxophones; Andy Ennis – tenor saxophone, flute; David Newman – tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper – baritone saxophone, band leader; John Perrett – drums; Ralph Byrd – guitar; Edgar Willis – bass; Charles Costello – organ. The Raelettes: Dorothy Berry, Susaye Greene, Mable John, Vernita Moss.

*This Dorothy Berry song was penned by Jimmy Holiday and Jackie DeShannon, and originally released by Tangerine Records (#1020) in 1971: