Ray Charles Live In Antibes 1979 – Now Complete

The contents of Ray Charles’ concert on 22 July 1979 in Antibes have so far surfaced in bits and pieces. All footage goes back to four tapes in the the INA archive  (ID numbers CPC79057920, CPC93007107, CPC83052338, CPC90008470), titled Ray Charles N° 1, Ray Charles N° 2, Ray Charles N° 3, and Ray Charles N° 4; each with a duration of 25 to 30 minutes. They aired (probably also in 4 parts) in early November 1979, and again (possibly in the condensed version discussed below) in July 1983, on France 3. The programs were directed by Jean Christophe Averty.

A DVD copy that I watched earlier only contained a series of  ‘expected’ tunes (see below), but INA’s description of Ray Charles N° 3 also entailed a few intriguing titles that weren’t part of this disk: “Ray to minor rag [= Ray Minor Ray], Let the good time[s] roll, I can see clearly now, The jealous king [= kind] medley, Letter to Elise [= Für Elise], A medley of his successes, including What I’d say”.

Today, a friend of this blog let me watch a copy of the show on DVD that – at last – seems to entail the complete contents of the INA tapes:

1. Ray Minor Ray (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos: FS, RJ – ts; TO, CS – tp)

2. Intro

3. Let The Good Times Roll

4. Then We’ll Be Home (Sadies Tune)

5. Georgia On My Mind

6. Some Enchanted Evening

7. She Knows

8. Oh What A Beautiful Morning

9. For Mamma

10. Intro Raelettes

11. I Want Your Love (ft Estella Yarbrough)

12. I Can’t Stop Loving You

13. I Can See Clearly Now

14. Knock on Wood (ft. Trudy Cohran)

15. The Jealous Kind

16. What’d I Say (intro: medley of Für Elise; I’m Gonna Keep On Singin’; Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours)

17. Outro

The concert was also taped by French public radio (INA ID PHY13030098). The recording is largely identical to the televized version, but between #4 and #5, for reasons unknown to me, there’s some serious booing coming from the audience. Then Ray interrupts his intro to Georgia (#5) with a brutish rant (maybe related to the behavior of the audience, or with musicians missing the tempo).

It’s a pity that the Stevie Wonder tune Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours did not get a full treatment – the 40 or so seconds of it as part of the medley (#16) are great.

#1, 2, 4:

The other edit, 42 minutes long, that I saw earlier contained:

• Intro
• Let The Good Times Roll
• Then We’ll Be Home (Sadies Tune) 
• Georgia On My Mind  
• Some Enchanted Evening 
• For Mamma 
• I Want Your Love (with The Raelettes)
• I Can’t Stop Loving You 
• I Can See Clearly Now 
• She Knows 
• Oh, What A Beautiful Morning [tape copy abruptly ends at closing chords of this song]

Personnel*:

Musicians: Johnny Coles, Buddy Gordon, Tim Ouimette, Chase Sanborn – trumpets; John Boice, Bob Braun, Gerard Carelli, Dan Marcus – trombones; Clifford Solomon – alto saxophone, band leader; Brian Mitchell – alto saxophone; Rudy Johnson, Fred Smith – tenor saxophones; Jim Sharpe – baritone saxophone; Eugene Ross – guitar; Curtis Ohlson – bass; Peter Turre – drums;  James Polk – organ. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Pat Peterson, Madelyn Quebec, Estella Yarbrough.

The show was also broadcast on radio (INA ID: PHY13030098).

*Information kindly provided by Joël Dufour.