Ray Charles Interviewed In Brussels (1962)

Video still.

The Sonuma archive has published* an early news report on a Ray Charles show, with some great shots of Ray, band members and the audience. It includes an interview with Ray. The item was shot at the Paleis der Schone Kunsten/Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. Sonuma mentions 1 June 1962 as the first air date, but that should be some days later, possibly on the 4th of June, the day after the concert took place.
Later that month the local correspondent from Billboard reported that the “[…] program […] was a failure as a result of a bad sound system in the theater. Ticket prices were much too high”.

This must be the oldest Ray Charles interview on the web. BTW – Sonuma, also recently, added some early ‘Belgian’ clips with Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and Armstrong (search for “jazz”).

* Many thanks to Irene Terrani for tipping me off on this one!