Tunes
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November 17, 2014
Behind Closed Doors
Read moreUnreleased. One of Brother Ray’s last masterpieces, performed during the CMT 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music Concert, recorded at Nashville’s Gaylord Entertainment Center on June 9th, and aired on June 13th, 2003.
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November 17, 2014
Believe In Yourself (With Elmo & Sesame Choir)
Read moreUnreleased*. Ray sang Believe In Yourself on Sesame Street, in episode #3491, aired on April 1, 1996. The central message of this song of encouragement is that you can be or do anything you want if you just believe in yourself – even when other people doubt you. * On the DVD The Best of Elmo 2, for some […]
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November 17, 2014
Bess, You Is My Woman Now (With Cleo Laine)
Read moreAlbum: Porgy & Bess, RCA 1831, November 1976. Cleo and Ray recorded together from 20 to 23 April 1976 at RCA Recording Studio in Hollywood. Joe Pass on Guitar. For the further line-up, click on the album’s link.
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November 17, 2014
Between An Old Memory And Me (With Travis Tritt)
Read moreUnreleased. A marvelous duet from CMT Crossroads, taped on 10 September 2002, and first aired on 6 December of that year. Ray Charles (ep, vo); Travis Tritt (g, vo); Aubrey Haynie (vln); John Jarvis (o); Dan Dugmore (pedal steel g); Brent Mason, Reggie Young (g); Mac (Lyman Corbitt) McAnally, Jr. (ac-g); Glenn Worf (b); Greg Morrow […]
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November 17, 2014
Big Bad Love (With Diana Ross)
Read moreAlbum: Genius And Friends, Rhino/WEA, 20 September 2005. The tune has also been part of several Diana Ross compilations. Big Bad Love is a duet with Diana Ross, recorded in ’91 [or was it ’94?]. It was used for the soundtrack of The Favor, a 1994 film directed by Donald Petrie.
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November 17, 2014
Big Legged Woman
Read moreUnreleased. The first-ever, slow, raw performance of Big Legged Woman (written by Johnnie Temple) was recorded at the 1976 Stuttgart concert. Just as in the 1978 Boston show it was used as an intro to What’d I Say. The song is best known in Freddie King’s version, but Ray stayed much closer to the slow version of Muddy Waters, giving […]
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November 17, 2014
Bill (The Ray Charles Orchestra)
Read moreUnreleased. Unfortunately, this Onzy Matthews composition was only captured once, on an ‘audience tape’… You can listen to it here (track #3). Chuck Parrish, Jeff Helgesen, Ted Murdock, Jeff Kaye – trumpets; Armin Marmolejo, Steve Sigmund, James Romanek, Charlie Shofner – trombones; Chris Lega, Al Jackson, Mike Karn, Rudy Johnson, Scott Frillman – saxophones; Jeff Ballard – […]
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November 17, 2014
Bill for Bennie (By David Fathead Newman, Ray Charles On Piano)
Read moreAlbum: Fathead, Atlantic 1304, 1960. Recorded on November 5, 1958 at the Atlantic Recording Studio, New York. Ray Charles (p), David Newman (as), Marcus Belgrave (tp); Hank Crawford (bs), Edgar Willis (b), Milt Turner (ds). Arranged by Hank Crawford. Recording engineer: Tom Dowd.
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November 17, 2014
Birth Of A Band (With The Ray Charles Orchestra)
Read moreAlbum (DVD): O Gênio, Rhino/WEA, 16 November 2004. This was one of the charts donated by Quincy Jones to the book of the new Ray Charles big band in 1961. Don’t miss the tenor chase with Fathead and Tina Brooks in the O Gênio clip, from 1963. The full line-up in São Paulo: Musicians: Oliver Beener, Roy Burrows, […]
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November 17, 2014
Birth Of The Blues
Read moreAlbum: Genius + Soul = Jazz, Impulse 2, February 1961. The album was recorded at the Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, on 26 and 27 December 1960. Ralph Burns wrote a triumphant chart for this Roy Henderson composition; Ray’s organ playing was brilliant. With John Frosk, Jimmy Nottingham, Philip Guilbeau (solo), Clark Terry, Joe Wilder […]
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November 17, 2014
Black Coffee
Read moreAlbum: The Great Ray Charles, Atlantic 1259, August 1957. Recorded on 30 April 1956 at the Atlantic Recording Studios in New York. Session personnel: David Newman – tenor saxophone; Emmott Dennis – baritone saxophone; Joe Bridgewater, John Hunt – trumpet; Roosevelt Sheffield, Oscar Pettiford – bass; William Peeples, Joe Harris – drums.
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November 17, 2014
Blackjack
Read moreSingle (A): Atlantic 1076, October 1955, b/w Greenbacks.Album: Yes Indeed, Atlantic 8025, October 1958. Recorded in Atlanta on 18 November 1954 with Joe Bridgewater, Charles Whitley – tp; Don Wilkerson – ts; David Fathead Newman – bs; Glenn Brooks – d; Wesley Jackson – g; Jimmy Bell – b.