Appearances
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April 1, 2014
Ray Charles Attending A Count Basie Concert In Juan-Les-Pins (1961)
Read moreListening to Basie, with gf Raita Johnson. Photo by J.-P. Leloir. For the history of contemporary music, INA, the media archive of the public French broadcasting organization, is an unsurpassed treasure trove. A diamond in their collection is the set of Ray Charles’ concerts in Antibes (Juan-les-Pins) in 1961. These concerts are known from film […]
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February 26, 2014
Ray Charles In Paris (1963)
Read moreFrom 22 to 28 May 1963 Ray Charles was back at the Olympia Theater for a new series of concerts*. For all seven days the venue was totally sold out. “Members of the Hot Club de France distributed pink fliers at the theater hailing Mr. Charles as a true jazz artist in the tradition of […]
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February 24, 2014
Ray Charles Band Augmented By Moscow Symphony Ork (2000)
Read moreThe band with a string section at the Hollywood Bowl in ’61 (from a ’62 concert souvenir brochure, photo by Howard Morehead; coll. T. Sunseri). On September 10, 1961 Ray Charles played with an ‘extra-augmented’ orchestra (57 musicians, including strings) and The Raelettes at the Hollywood Bowl, at a special “Salute To Genius” concert. Unfortunately, […]
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February 19, 2014
Ray Charles Sings Ring Of Fire At Opening Of New Ole Opry (1974)
Read moreVideo still. In 1974 the Grand Ole Opry moved from the Ryman Theatre in downtown Nashville to the new Grand Ole Opry House, several miles to the east of the city. To carry on the tradition of the Ryman, a six-foot circle of oak was cut from the center of the old theater’s stage and […]
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January 31, 2014
Ray Charles Live In Maribor (1996)
Read moreIn July 1996 the Ray Charles band played at the Lent Festival in Maribor, Slovenia. Barbara Morrison opened the show with the Orchestra. The concert (without Morrison’s part) was recorded for SLO1, the first net of Radiotelevizija Slovenija (presented by Eva Stavbar, directed by Petar Radović). I’ve seen a reasonably good video copy with the […]
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December 24, 2013
A Second Version Of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (1994)
Read moreSanta Claus Is Comin’ To Town was part of Ray Charles’ The Spirit Of Christmas album, recorded in the Fall of 1984, and officially released in early 1986. Today, hearing this – radically different – version came as a big surprise: This rendition was produced for the movie Miracle On 34th Street (1994). Ray almost […]
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November 25, 2013
Ray Charles & His Orchestra Live In Zurich (1961)
Read more“Begleitzettel” (recto) of the tapes. The Ray Charles Big Band’s First Concert In Europe (1961) was recorded by Radio Basel (now part of Radio SRF 2 Kultur). My inquiries at their archives have resulted in the discovery of a set of 2 edited tapes with parts of this “Jazzkonzert” by the “Ray Charles Big Band” […]
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September 11, 2013
Ray Charles Live At The Deep Hollow Ranch (1996)
Read moreT-shirt (detail; coll. P. Turre). From Jet magazine, Sep. 1996. On 19 August 1996 the Ray Charles band played at the Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk for Paul Simon’s 7th annual Back to the Ranch benefit. (Their performance was followed by James Brown’s). You can listen to a low quality audience taped recording of the […]
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September 2, 2013
Ray Charles 6 Times Live At Tramps, NYC (1995)
Read moreRay Charles at Tramps. David Hoffman in the background. Photo by Rahav Segev. In 1995, from September 7 to 9, Ray Charles and his band were booked for Tramps’ 20th Anniversary Celebration in New York. I posted before about one – bootlegged – concert in these series (identical to show #5, below). But recently Wolfgang’s […]
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August 29, 2013
An Incomplete Audio Of Ray Charles’ 2nd A Fool For You Ballet-Concert Series (1989)
Read moreMay 12, 1989 Wolfgang’s Concert Vault can’t be praised enough for sharing their huge catalog of American live music with their internet audience. Their only flaw is that they often don’t know exactly what they’re publishing. A recent file of a Ray Charles performance at the “ST Theatre” in New York, taped on 12 May […]
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August 18, 2013
Ray Charles In PSA For Glaucoma Research (1998)
Read moreIn 1998 Ray Charles recorded this 30-second public service announcement for the GRF, promoting glaucoma awareness:
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July 6, 2013
Ray Charles Live At The Wolf Trap (1997)
Read moreOn June 21, 1997 Ray Charles gave a concert at the Wolf Trap in Vienna (VA). An audience-taped recording, with a very reasonable quality has survived. Woody ‘n’ Bu (The Ray Charles Orchestra); solos KS – tp, RJ – ts, EV – p Unidentified instrumental* (The Ray Charles Orchestra); solos AW – ts, TM – […]