Ray charles genius and friends plus#
Ray charles genius and friends series#

Ray was one of the inventors of thematic record albums, but this album was overly theme- less.

But I would have appreciated it if the compilers had made their selection criteria much more clear. In itself the release of unknown tracks was good news, of course. Recently, Rare Genius вЂ“ The Undiscovered Masters (2010) was another post mortem album release. Combining Charles with Basie in this way, to my taste, came dangerously close to the lack of respect and integrity that more recently infuriated Pat Metheny so much in another case of over the grave-artistry. The new arrangements lacked balls, and the ensemble lacked the personality of Charles' best orchestra line-ups (a Ray Charles All Stars band and any choice of the historical Raelettes would surely have done a much better job). Charles was singing his guts out (his voice was probably never better than in the mid 1970s!), but adding the Basie b(r)and to this production was just a marketing trick. Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006) combined archival vocal recordings (taped during a European tour in September 1973) with new performances by a current (2006) Count Basie (Show) Orchestra.

Ray charles genius and friends series#

Pure Genius from 2005 was almost everything a Ray Charles aficionado could dream of when it comes to a compilation: an abundant overview of his work for this label, liner notes with a reasonable quality, a series of lovingly compiled raw studio outtakes from his Atlantic period, and a great video bonus (the Newport 1960 concert) вЂ“ all in a carefully designed box set. But it also had a great surprise for hardcore fans, where it also entailed three new studio takes, film dub tracks for which no other appropriate recordings existed (marvelous), and also sequences where Ray accompanied Jamie Foxx on piano (documentary value).

Ray charles genius and friends plus#

It contained some more film tracks that were left off of the first collection (okay), plus some non-movie songs said to inspire the film (odd). The relevancy of More Music From Ray, the latter album's sequel, was less clear. What even was better, was that Ray worked on both projects while he was still alive, and - as far as I know - consciously approved, or at least endorsed, the end results. And Ray, the soundtrack, was a neat and relevant selection from his best work. Genius Loves Companywas a triumph at Starbucks outlets, on the charts and at the Grammys.

The questions they usually (have to) ask themselves are: Should we issue these songs, although the artist didn't explicitly approve any release? Should we (re)mix those tunes to our own tastes, since the artist didn't finish them himself? Should we release these finished tapings, although the artist didn't think they were good enough for a release? Should we delve through our vaults, to see if there are any outtakes that are worth a release вЂ“ although they were never meant for that?ДЄfter Ray Charles' death, all kinds of good, some questionable and incidental bad things happened with his musical legacy. When a recording artist dies, their record company always gets squeezed between their (and the artist's heirs') commercial interests and their integrity.