Ray Charles Live In Viareggio (1984)
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| Video still from Eleanor Rigby. |
This article in the newspaper Unita suggests that this concert in Viareggio was taped for TV in July 1984. In another source I found that Raidue aired it on August 3, 1985, as a #1 in a series of six live concerts broadcast by that network.
…But I’m not entirely sure about this provenance. Other sources also mention a concert in the Bussola Domani series at the Palcoscenica in Versilia on 1 November 1984 (the Bussola Domani logo is prominently visible in this TV program as well; also see this article).* The TV recording was directed by Goffredo Scagnoli.
I wrote before that I feared that the TV footage got lost, but last week a copy landed in my inbox. The soundtrack of the video that I saw was marred by heavy rumble, but a separate better version of that same soundtrack is also circulating on the Web, as a torrent.
The tracklist was:
- Intro
- Riding Thumb
- Busted
- Georgia On My Mind
- Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
- I’ve Got News For You
- For Mamma
- We’re Gonna Make It (The Raelettes)
- Shameless (ft Estella Yarbrough)
- Eleanor Rigby
- I Can’t Stop Loving You
- Knock On Wood (ft Trudy Cohran)
- 3/4 Time
- Born To Love Me
- What’d I Say
- Outro
Ray gave #12, Knock On Wood, an unusually long, funky intro. Sources: here and here.
The personnel was probably exactly the same as at the Warsaw Jamboree concerts:
Musicians: Robbie Kwock, Mark Curry, Jim Seeley, Jeff Kaye – trumpets; John Boice, Dan Marcus, Dan Weinstein, Dana Hughes – trombones; Brian Mitchell, Clifford Solomon (band leader), Ricky Woodard, Rudy Johnson, Louis Van Taylor – saxophones; Bobby Floyd – organ; Dennis Nelson – guitar; Roger W. Hines – bass; Ricky Kirkland – drums. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Anne Johnson, Janice Mitchell, Elaine Woodard, Estella Yarbrough.
* Is there anybody out there who can explain to me how “Viareggio” and “Versilia” relate to each other?
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