Let Me Love You

Single (A): ABC 11213, April 1969, b/w I'm Satisfied.
Compilation album: Singular Genius, Concord Records, 15 November 2011.

Let Me Take Over

Album: My World, Warner Bros 26735 (CD), WE 833 (vinyl), March 1993.

Recorded at Rat Cherokee, House of Soul, Capitol, Summa, Studio Ultimo, Clinton Recording Studio B, and Peter Rafelson Studio. For the names of the session musicians, follow the link to the album description, above.

Let No One Hold You (By Margie Hendricks, With The Vocals, Ray Charles On Piano)

Single3 (A), Tangerine TRC 940, 1964, b/w A Lover’s Blues.
Compilation album: The Raelettes, Hits And Rarities, Titanic Records TR-CD 4422, 1993.

Written by Margie Hendrix. The Vocals: Lamonte McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Harry Elston, and Floyd Butler.

Read an excellent sketch of Margie's life (1935 - 1973) and discography here. This single was released the year after she stopped performing as a Raelette.

Let The Good Times Roll

Album: The Genius Of Ray Charles, Atlantic 1312, October 1959.
Single: Atlantic 2047, December 1959, b/w Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'.

It's fun to see how the  writer, Louis Jordan, performed his song:


Quincy brilliantly adapted Louis Jordan's song to a magnificent big band chart for the Genius album.

Ray Charles - piano and vocals; Clark Terry - trumpet; Ernie Royal - trumpet; Joe Newman - trumpet; Snookie Young - trumpet; Marcus Belgrave - trumpet; John Hunt - trumpet; Melba Liston - trombone; Quentin Jackson - trombone; Thomas Mitchell - trombone; Al Gray - trombone; Frank Wess - flute, alto saxophone and tenor saxophone; Marshall Royal - alto sax; Paul Gonsalves - tenor sax; Zoot Sims - tenor sax; Billy Mitchell - tenor sax; David Fathead Newman - tenor sax; Jose Mangual (bongo drums on #3).

After its first recording, it was one of the few numbers that Ray kept on playing through the decades.
Ray always sang Let The Good Time [singular] Roll.

Genius 1960:


It also worked out fine with just his septet - Antibes 1961:


'84 LC Warsaw (#4):


In 2001 at the Kennedy Center Ray & Stevie honored Quincy with this spectacular performance:


Live:
'60 LC Newport - Released
'61 LC Antibes - 4x - Released
'61 LC Paris - 2x - Released
'62 LC Paris - Released
'65 FI Ballad - Film
'65 FI TNT
'70 TV Humperdinck
'72 LC Paris - 2x
'72 LC Tel Aviv - Released
'73 LC Nassau
'73 LC Germany
'73 LC Arbor
'73 LC Stockholm
'73 LC Paris
'74 TV Cotton Club
'75 LC Japan - Released
'76 LC Antibes
'79 LC Antibes
'79 LC Viareggio
'80 LC Northsea
'81 LC Prague
'82 LC Antibes
'84 LC Warsaw - Released
'85 LC NewHaven
'90 LC Tokyo BB
'90 LC Dresden BB
'90 LC Italy
'90 LC Milan
'90 LC Rome
'91 LC Montreux
'95 LC Tramps
'96 LC London
'97 LC WolfTrap
'01 TV Kennedy - With Stevie Wonder, for Quincy Jones

Let The Good Times Roll (With Bono, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones)

Album3: Quincy Jones, Q's Jook Joint, Quest/Warner/WEA 9362-45875-2, November 1995.

Q's Jook Joint was Quincy Jones' fourth concept album in a quartet (with Body Heat, The Dude and Back On The Block).
The concept is based on the juke joints that served as makeshift nightclubs in the South. Quincy establishes his own juke joint in track 1, with Ray's Let The Good Times Roll (Bono and Stevie supporting).
In 1959 Quincy had penned the chart for the first studio recording (for the album The Genius Of Ray Charles, 1960). Q's Jook Joint also has a 0'56" track: Let The Good Times Roll (Reprise), with Quincy and Funkmaster Flex. Ray also contributed to this album's version of Stuff Like That.

Let Your Love Flow

Album: Wish You Were Here Tonight, Columbia 38293, March 1983.

Recorded between 1981 and 1983 with uncredited session musicians in Nashville, finished at RPM in Los Angeles.

Arranged by Sid Feller (the demo tape that Ray used to brief Feller has survived).

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

Album: Just Between Us, Columbia 40703, September 1988.

Recorded at RPM International with uncredited members of the Ray Charles Orchestra (i.e. Mark Curry, Jeff Helgesen, Ted Murdock, Jeff Kaye - trumpets; Mike Christianson, Armin Marmolejo, Steve Sigmund, Charlie Schofner - trombones; Al Jackson, Chris Lega, Ricky Woodard, Rudy Johnson, Leroy Cooper - saxophones; Ernest Vantrease - keyboards; Kenny Carr - guitar; Anders Swanson - bass; Paul Kreibich - drums).

Let's Get Away From It All

Unreleased

This Tommy Dorsey tune (from 1941) was part of Ray's repertoire for 'symphony gigs'. He never made a studio recording.

Moscow 2000 (track # 4 at 8'15):


Live:
'96 LC Atlantic City
'96 LC Warsaw
'98 LC Charlotte NM
'00 LC Moscow

Let's Get Back To Where We Left Off (With Peggy Scott-Adams)

Album: Would You Believe? Warner Bros 26343, October 1990.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles. Musicians remained uncredited; Rich Cason produced the synthesizer parts.

In an interview, Peggy later stated:

“One of the highlights of my career was being able to work with Ray. He and Jimmy [Lewis] had been friends and worked together over the years. They were looking for material for Ray’s upcoming album, which Jimmy was co-producing with him. When I first came to California and met Jimmy back in 1985, I demoed some songs, and then Ray played this song Let’s Get Back to Where We Left Off. Ray wanted to know who it was. They called me from Hawaii and told that Ray had a commitment to do a duet with jazz singer Diane Schuur.* He wanted to know if I would be willing to come in and do a guide vocal for her. I did the vocals for the track, and when I got home from the studio I had a message on my answering machine. It was Ray. He just couldn’t stop listening to the track that we had just laid down and he had made up his mind that it would be Ray Charles and Peggy Scott.
He was a beautiful human being, funny to the bone... so hilarious. After that song [...], which did good to him, he called me to do a second song (If You Give Me Your Heart), which was on his subsequent album.
I was not a big Ray Charles fan. I loved the genius of his work, but he was not one of my favourite singers. But the fact that he thought enough of my talent to bring in little ole me, when he was surrounded by other superstars... then I became a real big fan after that [laughing]".

* If the duet with Schuur happened, it unfortunately wasn't recorded.

Let's Go

Album: Genius + Soul = Jazz, Impulse 2, February 1961.
Single (B): Impulse 200, February 1961, b/w One Mint Julep.

Ray composed the theme; it was based on the NBC chimes.

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, on 26 or 27 December 1960.

Ray Charles - organ; John Frosk, Jimmy Nottingham, Phil Guilbeau (solo), Clark Terry, Joe Wilder - trumpets; Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Keg Johnson, George Mathhews - trombones; George Dorsey, Earle Warren - alto saxophones; Budd Johnson, Seldon Powell - tenor saxophones; Haywood Henry - bariton saxophone; Sam Herman - guitar; Joe Benjamin - bass; Roy Haynes - drums. Arranged by Ralph Burns.

(Track #4):


Live:
From 1961 to 1964 the tune was on the band's concert repertoire; no live recordings have surfaced.

Let's Go Get Stoned

Album: Crying Time, ABC/Paramount/Tangerine 544, January 1966.
Single (A): ABC 10808, May 1966, b/w The Train.

Recorded the second fall session in 1965 at RPM International in Los Angeles.
Ray may have* listened to Ronnie Milsap's interpretation before he taped his own.

With The Raelettes. Billy Preston on organ. Bass and drums uncredited. Carole Kaye remembers that Rene Hall played guitar and Earl Palmer played drums (Don Peake also remembers playing guitar - was he overdubbed?).
Bobby Hutcherson remembered that his sister Peggy was one of the singers backing Ray (and even that she was a Raelette at that time). Vermettya Royster has also declared that she backed Ray during this session.

* Here is proof!



Live:
'67 LC Berlin
'68 LC Bluesthing - Released
'68 LC Bakersfield
'73 LC Arbor

Let's Have A Ball (aka Here Am I, By Myself; All Alone Again)

Re-issue. Note variant titles, Maxin/Maxim Trio, and Swing Beat as label name.

Single (A): Down Beat 212, b//w Rockin' Chair Blues.
Compilation album: The Way I Feel, Proper, 22 Oct 2007.

Recorded in Seattle, February 1949. First released as a single under the name of Maxin Trio: Ray Charles, voc, p; Gosady McKee, g; Milton S. Garred, b.

Letter To My Girlfriend (aka Prison Blues) (By Guitar Slim, Ray Charles On Piano)

Single3 (B): Specialty 490, April 1954, b/w Story Of My Life.

Recorded in New Orleans at Cosimo's Studio on 27 October 1953.

With Lloyd Lambert's band (including Charles Burbank, Joe Tillman, and Gus Fontenotte - saxophones, Frank Mitchell - tp, Lambert - b, Oscar Moore - ds) backing him up with special guest Ray Charles, arranging the song, filling in on the piano, producing the recording. Engineered by Cosimo Matassa.

Lewis Boogie (With Fats Domino & Jerry Lee Lewis)

Album3: Fats & Friends (German  LP: Exclusive Records, 1987; VHS: Atlantic/WEA, 28 May 1991; DVD: Time Life Records, 6 March 2007; German DVD: High Planet Entertainment, 8 September 2004, titled Rockin' Pianos).

In a medley-ish jam with Jambalaya, from the TV show Fats & Friends, recorded on 5 June 1986 at the Storyville Jazz Hall, in New Orleans.

With Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis - piano; Ray Charles - keyboards, vocal; Sugar Blue - harmonica; accompanied by Paul Shaffer, Ron Wood, Roy Gaines, Harold Cowart, Steve Jordan.

Life Is Suicide (By Percy Mayfield, Ray Charles On Organ)

"Life Suicide".

Album: Percy Mayfield, My Jug And I, Tangerine TRCS 1505, 1966.
Single (B). Tangerine 927, 1963, b/w Never Say Naw.

Possibly the saddest sample of Percy's fantastic body of song lyrics.

Life Is Suicide Recorded in Los Angeles in 1962.

Percy Mayfield - vocals; Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Newman - tenor saxophone; Ray Charles - organ; Sonny Forriest, guitar. Arrangement by Gerald Wilson.

Lift Every Voice And Sing

Album: A Message From the People, ABC/Tangerine 755, April 1972.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles in 1972.

Ray may have played the organ on this one. The musicians remained uncredited (but follow the link to the album for the identified session players).

The Raelettes contributing to the Cavett shows were Vernita Moss, Susaye Green, Mable John, Dorothy Berry, and Estella Yarbrough. All five, but surely the first four were also involved in the album recording.



Cavett 1972:


Live:
'72 TV Cavett

Light Out Of Darkness

The genesis of the song, as described
in a (c. 1965) concert souvenir
brochure.

Album: Country And Western Meets Rhythm And Blues (aka Together Again), ABC/Paramount 520, August 1965.

Ray wrote this wonderful song in '64 for the film Ballad In Blue. Arranged by Sid Feller.
The - longer - album version was delivered with strings and choir, and was recorded at the United Studios in Hollywood in January 1965 (Rene Hall on guitar, Earl Palmer on drums).
When and where was the - different - film version recorded?



Ballad In Blue 1964:


Live:
As concert souvenir programs from the period show, the song was on the playlist of the band between 1966 and 1968.

Lil' Darlin' (With The Ray Charles Septet)

Compilation album: Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, Atlantic/WEA, 20 September 2005 (DVD with Newport 1960 concert).

"An unusually slow instrumental from the Basie Book", warned Willis Connover in his introduction to the 1960 performance of the tune.

With Ray Charles - piano; Phil Guilbeau - trumpet, John Hunt - flugelhorn; Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Fathead Newman - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Edgar Willis - bass; Milton Turner - drums.
Solos by Ray Charles - p, John Hunt - flh, Phil Guilbeau - tp, David Newman - ts, Hank Crawford - as.

The same line-up (with only Milt Turner replaced by Brono Carr) performed the tune as brilliantly at all four concerts in Antibes, in July 1961. It's still a riddle to me how the camera men succeeded in missing it all four times.

Newport 1960:


Live:
'60 LC Newport - Released
'61 LC Antibes - 4x

Listen Up (With Quincy Jones A.O.)

Promotional CD, liner notes.

Single3: Quincy Jones, Listen Up, Warner Bros/Quest Records, 7 September 1990 (CD single: Warner Bros, 14 September 1990).

Vinyl release.

The exact release history is totally unclear to me, but this maxi single was part of a multimedia package with the documentary and "book with music" Listen Up - The Lives Of Quincy Jones, "a Warner Bros. motion picture", available with cassette or CD. It obviously was also released on vinyl. The maxi single contains 7 remixes of Quincy's composition Listen Up.

The core track features: Tevin Campbell, Siedah Garrett, Karyn White, Ice T, Al B. Sure!, The Winans, James Ingram, El DeBarge, Big Daddy Kane, Melle Mel, Ray Charles. Keyboards Programming: Eric Kupper and Mac Quayle. Arranged by: Arthur Baker and Arif Mardin.

Raw Dance Mix:


On YouTube several other mixes have been uploaded.

Distored video (tune starts at 4:15):


The whole film (VHS: Warner Home Video, 1990; DVD: Warner Bros, 27 January 2009):

Listen, They're Playing My Song

UK single.

Single (B): ABC 11133, August 1968, b/w Sweet Young Thing Like You.
Compilation album: Singular Genius, Concord Records, 15 November 2011.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles in February 1968.

With strings, harp, choir (enhanced by Ray's own 'second' voice), and probably a rhythm section with studio musicians (all uncredited, but possibly with Carol Kaye on bass). Arranged by Sid Feller.

Little Drummer Boy

Album: The Spirit Of Christmas, Columbia 39415, January 1986.

The tracks of this album were recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles - almost all of them with members of the Ray Charles Orchestra - in the fall of 1984.

The one exception was this tune, which was recorded "off season" (i.e. in a hiatus between tours, maybe in early 1985 before Ray hit the road again) with a few LA session musicians, amongst whom James Gadson.

Arranged by Ray Charles and Larry Muhoberac.

Ray had toyed with the idea of a Christmas album for many years. Proof of that can be found in a documentary item produced by the ABC news magazine 20/20, aired on 12 November 1981  - with a few seconds where you can see Ray working in his studio, experimenting with a recording of Little Drummer Boy (in a radically different arrangement).



Gospel concert 2002:


Live:
'88c TV Christmas - With orchestra tape
'02 LC Gospel - Released

Little Hotel Room (With Merle Haggard)

Album: Friendship, Columbia 39415, February 1985.
Single (B): Columbia 5575, August 1985, b/w Two Old Cats Like Us.            .

Recorded at the Eleven Eleven Studios and the Soundshop Studio in Nashville, and the Pedernales Studio in Spicewood, with c&w veteran Billy Sherrill. Ray finished things off at the RPM studio in Los Angeles.

The session musicians working on the album were: Hargus Pig Robbins, Robert Ogdin, Bobby Wood - keyboards; Jose McElhiney, Bill McElhiney - trumpet; Billy Sanford, Reggie Young; Henry Strzelecki, Robert Wray II - bass; Pete Drake, Buddy Emmons, Dale Sellers - acoustic guitar; Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Kennedy - acoustic guitar; Jerry Douglas - dobro; Terry McMillan - harmonica, percussion; Ron Snake Reynolds - percussion; Jerry Carrigan, Kenneth Malone, Jerry Kroon - drums. Bill McElhiney - arranger.

Little Rock Getaway

Compilation album: Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, Atlantic, 2005 (1952-1959), Disk 7.

From the rehearsal session with Ahmet Ertegun, on 10 May 1953, in New York.

Living For The City

Album: Renaissance, Crossover 9005, June 1975.
Single (A): Crossover/Atlantic 981, July 1975, b/w Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune).

The album was recorded in late 1974 and early 1975 at RPM International in Los Angeles.

Ray later explained, "I do it a lot differently than Stevie; I cut out a lot of the musical flourishes and I put that long rap in the middle, talkin' ‘bout the rats and roaches." The song earned Ray a Grammy Award in 1975 in the Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male category.

The album was taped with The Ray Charles Orchestra, The Raelettes, on a few tracks also with some alumni of the band and other session musicians.
The band members were: Jeff Conrad, Bob Coassin, Phil Guilbeau, Jack Evans - trumpets; Wally Huff, Ken Tussing, Glen Childress, Steve Davis - trombones; Andy Ennis, Clifford Solomon, Ed Pratt, James Clay - saxophones; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone, band leader; Joe Harris - bass; Tony Matthews - guitar; Ernest Vantrease - keyboards. James Gadson - drums. The precise line-up of The Raelettes is uncertain.

Complete album (this is track #1):


The only thing better than one genius is...

50 Years show (1991) with behind-the-scenes footage:


Live:
'75 TV Midnight NM
'75 LC Japan - Released
'75 TV Cher
'76 TV Douglas
'91 LC 50 Years - With Stevie Wonder - Released
'94 TV World 

Living Without You

Album: Would You Believe? Warner Bros 26343, October 1990.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles. Musicians remained uncredited; Rich Cason produced the synthesizer parts.

Lonely Avenue

Single (A): Atlantic 1108, August 1956, b/w Leave My Woman Alone.
Album: Yes Indeed, Atlantic 8025, October 1958.

Recorded on 16 May 1956 in New York with Joe Bridgewater, John Hunt - tp; David Newman - as, ts; Emmett Dennis - bs; William Peebles - d; Roosevelt Sheffield; The Cookies - backing vocals.

Lonely Boy (aka I'm Just A Lonely Boy)

Swing Time 250-A.

Single (A): Swing Time 250, b/w Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand.
Compilation album: The Way I Feel, Proper, 22 Oct 2007.


Recorded in Los Angeles, on November 24, 1950.

Released as by the "Ray Charles Trio": Ray Charles, voc, p; cel; Oscar Moore, g; Johnny Miller, b.

Lonesome Blue Yodel [Partial]

Album (Laserdisk): Ray Charles Live - In Concert With The Edmonton Symphonie, Optical Programming Associates 74-612 LV, 1982 (also on VHS: MCA, 1982; and on DVD: Eagle Rock B0002WZTHA, 21 September 2004).

Around 1980 Ray briefly quoted the tune - penned by Hank "The Yodeling Ranger" Snow - as a part of his intro to What'd I Say.

Edmonton 1981 (starts at 37'10):


Live:
'79 LC Austin
'81 LC Edmonton - Released
'81 LC Prague

Lonesome Mood (By The Vocals, Ray Charles On Piano)

From Los Angeles Sentinel, Sep. 15, 1964.

Single3 (A): Tangerine TRC 938, 1964, b/w Look Out For Love.

The Vocals' line up: Lamont McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Harry Elston, Fritz Baskett and Lawrence Summers.

Look Out For Love (By The Vocals, Ray Charles On Piano)

Single3 (B): Tangerine TRC 938, 1964, b/w Lonesome Mood.

The Vocals' line up: Lamont McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Harry Elston, Fritz Baskett and Lawrence Summers.

Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma

Album: A Message From The People, ABC/Tangerine 755, April 1972.
Single (A): ABC 11329, June 1972, b/w America The Beautiful.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles in 1972.

The musicians remained uncredited (but Donnie Eubank played congas on this one, and Carol Kaye was on bass; follow the link to the album to see a list of other identified session musicians).

Ray pushed the song like crazy (putting it out on a single as the A-side of America The Beautiful, and singing it on every TV-show he was booked for). It peaked at #65 on Pop and #25 on R&B.



Tel Aviv 1972:


Barbra 1973:


Live:
'71 LC San Carlos
'71 LC Paris - 2x
'72 TV Flip
'72 TV Burnet
'72 LC Newport - 2x
'72 LC Copenhagen
'72 LC Paris
'72 LC San Carlos
'72 LC Tel Aviv - Released
'72 TV Cosby
'73 LC Nassau - Stream here
'73 LC Germany
'73 LC Arbor
'73 LC Stockholm
'73 LC Paris
'73 TV Barbra - With Barbra Streisand
'75 TV Davis NM
'75 TV Cher - With Cher
'87 TV Vegas
'91 LC Montreux

Losing Hand

Single (A): Atlantic 1037, August 1954 b/w Don't You Know.
Compilation album: Ray Charles,  Atlantic 8006, June 1957.

Taped in New York on 17 May 1953 with Jesse Drakes - tp; Sam Taylor- ts; Dave McRae - bs; Connie Kay - ds; Mickey Baker - g; Lloyd Trotman - b.

Louise

Album: Come Live With Me, Crossover 9000, January 1974.
Single (A): Crossover/Atlantic 974, March 1974, b/w Somebody.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles. Arranged by Sid Feller.

This one was with The Raelettes (did they also do the whistling?) and the band.

The live version was marvelously churched up.



Live:
'73 LC Arbor
'73 TV Follies
'74 TV TS

Love Has A Mind Of Its Own

Album: My World, Warner Bros 26735 (CD), WE 833 (vinyl), March 1993.

Recorded at Rat Cherokee, House of Soul, Capitol, Summa, Studio Ultimo, Clinton Recording Studio B, and Peter Rafelson Studio.

For the names of the session musicians and singers (a.o. Mavis Staples), follow the link to the album description, above.

Love Is Here To Stay

Album: I'm All Yours Baby, ABC/Tangerine 675. February 1969.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles with uncredited musicians incl. strings. Produced (and arranged?) by Sid Feller.

Love Is What We Need (With The Raelettes)

Unreleased.

You can listen to the performance of the tune during the 1988 Oklahoma concert here (lead by Trudy Cohran).

Who knows more about the origin of this song?

Live:
'78 LC Antibes - 2x
'80 LC Northsea
'82 LC Capital
'82 LC Beacon
'82 LC Washington
'88 LC Oklahoma
'89 LC Osaka

Love Is Worth The Pain

Album: From The Pages Of My Mind, Columbia 40388, September 1986.

Recorded in Nashville, and mixed in Los Angeles, at RPM International.

The session musicians working on the album were: Bobby Odgin, Timmy Tappan - piano; William Puett - horns; Hargus Pig Robbins, Bobby Wood - keyboards; Pete Bordonali, Pete Drake, Jerry Kennedy, Weldon Myrick, Dale Sellers - guitar; Billy Sanford, Henry Strzelecki, Bob Wray II - bass; Terry McMillan - harmonica, percussion; Kenny Malone - drums; The A Strings - strings. Backing vocals: Louis Nunley, Judy Rodman, Diane Tidwell, Hurshel Wiginton. Bill McElhiney - arranger and conductor.

Love Makes The Changes (With Toots Thielemans & Michel Legrand)

The French 7" single.

Philips released a 7-inch (# 872936-7) in France, in 1989 (I've also seen a 7" promo single from Ost, 1989).
The DVD of the movie was released by Seven 7, on September 23, 2003.

Cinq Jours En Juin is a film from 1989, directed by Michel Legrand, who also composed this song (lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman).



The recording of the song was filmed, resulting in a great music clip. Toots playing harmonica, Ray singing and (together with Legrand) playing piano. It was aired on February 29, 1989 in Le Monde est à Vous, an Antenne 2 show presented by Jacques Martin, where Legrand was invited to promote the film.

Love Me Or Set Me Free

Album: Ain't It So, Crossover/Atlantic 19251, September 1979.
Single (B): Crossover/Atlantic 3634, November 1979, b/w Just Because.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles with uncredited members of the Ray Charles Orchestra, The Raelettes (probably) and session musicians.

Love Me Tonight (Turn Out The Lights And ---)

Album: Ain't It So, Crossover/Atlantic 19251, September 1979.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles with members of the Ray Charles Orchestra and session musicians.

Love Of My Life

Album: Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, Columbia 38990, July 1984.

Recorded in Nashville and RPM International in Los Angeles. With Buddy Emmons - steel guitar; Fred Newell, Bucky Barrett, Phil Baugh, James Capps - guitar; Terry McMillan - Harmonica; Hoot Hester, Buddy Spicher - Fiddle; Matt Morris - Bass; James Gadson - drums. Arranged by James Polk.

Love On My Mind (With Milt Jackson)

Album: Soul Meeting, Atlantic 1360, February 1961 (1957 - 1958).

Recorded on April 10, 1958 at the Atlantic Studio in New York City.

Milt Jackson - vibraharp; Ray Charles - piano; Kenny Burrell - guitar; Percy Heath - bass; Art Taylor - drums.

Love Train (Ft Dorothy Berry, Ray Charles On Keyboards)

Album3: (Ray Charles Presents The) Raeletts, Yesterday... Today... Tomorrow, Tangerine 1515, 1972.

The Raelettes (probable line-up): Vernita Moss, Susaye Green, Mable John, Dorothy Berry and Estella Yarbrough. Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles, with uncredited members of the Ray Charles Orchestra (and maybe some session musicians).

Album 1972:


Madrid 1975 (also with Dorothy Berry-Durr):


Live:
'72 LC San Carlos
'73 LC Arbor
'75 LC Paris
'75 LC Madrid
'76 LC Stuttgart

Love Walked In

Album: Ray Charles Invites You To Listen, ABC/Tangerine 595, June 1967.

A beautifully intense interpretation of the Gershwin song, and a world record falsetto singing. Recorded at RPM International in 1966 or 1967.

With The Ray Charles Orchestra, and a strings section. Arrangement by Sid Feller.

Lover's Blues (By The Raelettes, Ray Charles On Piano)

Single (B), Tangerine TRC 976, July 1967, b/w Into Something Fine.
Album3: The Raelettes, Souled Out, Tangerine 1511, 1971.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles, with members of the Ray Charles Orchestra.

The Raelettes (probable line-up): Merry Clayton (lead), Clydie King (contralto), Gwen Berry (alto) and Alex Brown (tenor). Ray Charles on piano.

On the compilation album Hits And Rarities (Titanic TR-CD 4422, 1993) the song was mistitled as It's Alright.
Not to be confused with A Lover's Blues by Margie Hendricks and The Vocals (Tangerine 940, 1964).

Love's Gonna Bite You Back

Compilation album: Rare Genius – The Undiscovered Masters, Concord Records, 25 October 2010.

Recorded with uncredited (band and session?) musicians at RPM International in Los Angeles in March 1980.

Love's Gonna Live Here

Single (B): ABC 10700, June 1965, b/w I'm A Fool to Care.
Compilation album: Singular Genius, Concord Records, 15 November 2011.

Ray stayed close to the original Buck Owens song. The backing vocals sound as if The Raelettes were dubbed over the slick (Jack Halloran?) studio singers who were featured in most of Ray's country song recordings in the Sixties.

Low Society Blues

Compilation album: Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, Atlantic, 2005 (1952-1959).

From the rehearsal session with Ahmet Ertegun, on 10 May 1953. Released on Disk 7 (3 tracks) of the Pure Genius box set (titled Low Society).

Ray knew the tune from Lowell Fulson, probably by performing it with him in the period they toured together.

Luvbug (With Susaye Greene & Scherrie Paine)

Album3: Susaye Greene & Scherrie Paine, Partners, Motown M7-920R1, 1979.

Susaye and Ray were lovers when she was a Raelette, from 1968 to 1975. After that she became part of The Supremes.
After The Supremes disbanded in 1977, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene released their debut album, Partners.

Guest vocals: "The Great Ray Charles As The Luvbug". Susaye wrote the tune. Ray hardly sang on it, but created a funky 'voice bed' for Susaye's melody.

Ma (She's Making Eyes At Me)

Album: Have A Smile With Me, ABC/Paramount 495, June 1964.

Recorded in New York in the first week of May 1964.

With the Ray Charles band: Curt Miller, Oliver Beener, Floyd Jones, Philip Guilbeau, John Hunt, Roy Burrowes, Wallace Davenport - trumpets; Henderson Chambers, Julian Priester, Keg Johnson - trombones; Danny Turner, Harold Geezil Minerve, Bill Pearson, Hank Crawford - alto saxophones; David Fathead Newman, James Clay - tenor saxophones; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone;  Sonny Forriest, Al Hendrickson - guitar; Wilbert  Hogan, Irving Cottler, Bob Thompson (drums). Arranged by Benny Carter.

Makin' Whoopee

Sings.

Album: Live In Concert, ABC/Paramount 500, 1964.
Single (A - vocal; B - piano): ABC 10609, November 1964.

Ray Charles - piano; Don Peake - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Wilbert Hogan - drums.

Shrine 1964:

Plays.

Live:
'64 LC Copenhagen
'64 LC England
'70 TV Humperdinck
'91 LC Montreux

Making Believe

Album: Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music Volume 2, ABC/Paramount 435, October 1962.
Single (B): ABC 10481, August 1963, b/w Busted.

Recorded on 7 September 1962 in Hollywood. Arranged by Marty Paich. Musicians not credited.



Live:
'70 TV Glen
'81 TV Hee Haw

Mama Caleba's Blues

Album3: In The Heat Of The Night, United Artists Records 1C 064-82 893, 1967.
?

Ray never sounded better on piano. Quincy Jones remembered that "the microphone was placed behind the piano, to create a somewhat 'surreal' echo effect".

Ray Charles - piano; Billy Preston - organ; ?Ray Brown? - base; ?Don Elliot? or ?Earl Palmer? - drums; ?Toots Thielemans or Buddy Lucas? - harmonica).

Many Rivers To Cross (The Raelettes, Ray Charles on keyboards)

Single (B): ABC 1015, March 1971, b/w Booty Butt.
Album3: The Raelettes, Hits And Rarities, Titanic TR-CD 4422, 1993.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles, with uncredited members of the Ray Charles Orchestra.

The girl singing solo sounds most like Dorothy Berry.

The Raelettes (probable line-up): Vernita Moss, Susaye Green, Mable John, and Dorothy Berry.

Margie

Album: Dedicated To You, ABC/Paramount 355, January 1961.

Recorded at the United Studios in Hollywood on August 23 or 24, 1960.

John Hunt - trumpet; Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Fathead Newman - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Martin Banks, Bill Pittman - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Irving Cottler - drums. Marty Paich - arranger, conductor.

Studio 1960:

Shrine 1964:


Live:
'61 LC Zurich
'61 LC Paris - 3x - Released
62 LC Berlin - Released
'62 LC Paris
63 LC Gênio - Released
'64 LC England
'64 LC Comblain
'64 LC Shrine - Released
'68 LC Amsterdam NM
'68 LC Fresno
'68 LC Paris
'95 LC Tramps - 2x

Marie

Album: Dedicated To You, ABC/Paramount 355, January 1961.

Recorded at the United Studios in Hollywood on August 23 or 24, 1960.

John Hunt (trumpet); Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Fathead Newman - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Martin Banks, Bill Pittman - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Irving Cottler - drums. Marty Paich - arranger, conductor.


Live:
'62 LC Paris - Released
'68 TV TS
'70 LC Paris
'70 LC Geneva
'72 LC San Carlos
'72 LC Tel Aviv - Released
'78 LC Antibes
'95 LC Tramps

Mary Ann

Single (A): Atlantic 1085, January 1956 b/w Drown In My Own Tears.
Compilation album: Ray Charles, Atlantic 8006, June 1957.

Recorded in New York on 30 November 1955 with Joe Bridgewater, Joshua Willis - tp; Don Wilkerson - ts; Cecil Payne - bs; Panama Francis - ds; Paul West - b.

The theme must have sounded familiar to T-Bone Walker fans:

Mary Ann (With Poncho Sanchez)

Album3: Poncho Sanchez, Out Of Sight, Concord SACD-1031-6, 9 September 2003.
Album: Genius Loves Company, Concord, August 2004.

Ray reviving his 1956 tune with some extra cha-cha soul!

Personnel for the Out Of Sight album: Pancho Sanchez, David Torres, Tony Banda, George Ortiz, Sal Vasquez, Serofin Aguilar, Scott Martin, Francisco Torres, Dale Spauding, Francisco Aguabella.

Looking at this EPK for the album, it seems safe to conclude that Ray added his dub at RPM International in LA:

Maybe It's Because Of Love

Album: Ray's Moods, ABC/Paramount/Tangerine 550, 1966.

A nice, brassy arrangement of Percy Mayfield's song, recorded during the first fall session in 1965 at RPM International, in Los Angeles.

With woodwinds (uncredited - probably session - musicians) and a rhythm section (also uncredited, including Rene Hall on guitar and Earl Palmer on drums).

Maybe It's Because Of Love (By Percy Mayfield, Ray Charles On Piano)

Album3: Percy Mayfield, My Jug And I, Tangerine TRCS 1505, 1966.
Single (B): Tangerine 941, 1964, b/w Stranger In My Own Home Town.

Recorded in Los Angeles on January 20, 1964.

Percy Mayfield - vocals; Ray Charles - piano; Edgar Willis - bass; Other personnel unidentified. Arranged by Gerald Wilson.

Maybe It's Nothing At All

Album: Country And Western Meets Rhythm And Blues (aka Together Again), ABC/Paramount 520, August 1965.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles. The Raelettes took care of the backing vocals.

Arranged by Onzy Matthews.

Mean to Me (By David Fathead Newman, Ray Charles On Piano)

Album3: Fathead, Atlantic 1304, 1960.

Recording Date: November 5, 1958 at the Atlantic Recording Studio, in New York.

Ray Charles (p), David Newman (as), Marcus Belgrave (tp); Hank Crawford (bs), Edgar Willis (b), Milt Turner (ds). Arranged by Hank Crawford.

Meditation (By Rita Graham, Ray Charles On Piano)

Album: Rita Graham, Vibrations, Tangerine TRCS 1507, 1969.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles, with uncredited musicians. Arranged by Sid Feller.

Memories Of You

Album: I'm All Yours Baby, ABC/Tangerine 675. February 1969.

Recorded with lots of strings and a few horns at RPM International in Los Angeles.

Memory Pain (By Percy Mayfield, Ray Charles On Piano)

Single (B): Tangerine 935, 1964, b/w You Don't Exist No More.
Album3: Percy Mayfield, My Jug And I, Tangerine TRCS 1505, 1966.

Recorded in Los Angeles in 1962.

Percy Mayfield - vocals; Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Newman - tenor saxophone; Ray Charles - piano; Sonny Forriest, guitar. Arrangement by Gerald Wilson.

Merry Christmas Baby

Album (VHS, France): Ray Charles Live, Cinéthèque VCV 402, S.a.

A great rendition of the Charles Brown song, from the TV show Christmas In Ettal - A Black Ceremony at a Monastery in Germany, taped (most probably) in 1976, on Christmas Eve.
The VHS erroneously titled the song Santa Claus Blues.

With Sal Nistico - tenor saxophone; Carmell Jones, Benny Baily - trumpet; Slide Hampton - trombone; Jimmy Jackson - Hammond; Carl Preacher - piano; John C. Marshall - guitar; Bert Thompson - bass; George Green - drums; Lamont Hampton - percussion.



Live:
On 19 December 1977, at an Atlantic Records sponsored concert in Avery Fisher Hall, Ray played the tune as an encore, live with Milt Jackson. If it was recorded, the taping didn't survive.

Mess Around

Nuggy = Ahmet Ertegun.

Single (A): Atlantic 999, July 1953 b/w Funny But I Still Love You.
Compilation album: Ray Charles, Atlantic 8006, June 1957.

Taped in New York on 17 May 1953 with "his orchestra": Jesse Drakes - tp; Sam Taylor- ts; Dave McRae - bs; Connie Kay - d; Mickey Baker - g; Lloyd Trotman - b.

The song peaked at #3 in the R&B chart.

There are some strong similarities with Pinetop Smith's Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (1928). The tune was also quite similar to Paul Gayten's Cow-Cow Blues, which had been released by Okeh records 6982 in 1952. Ray may have heard it played live at the Brass Rail in New Orleans, where Gayten led the house band. Read this.

Rehearsal session with Ahmet Ertegun:


The 'same' scene in the biopic Ray:



Legends 1988:


Live:
'88 LC Ballet
'88 TV Legends - Released
'89 LC Ballet - 2x
'98 DM BluesAwards NM

Metamorphosis (The Ray Charles Orchestra)

Album: The Ray Charles Orchestra, My Kind Of Jazz Part 3, Crossover 9007, October 1975.

Recorded with the Ray Charles Orchestra in late 1974 and early 1975 at RPM International in Los Angeles.

Solos: Clifford Solomon - as; Phil Guilbeau - tp; Ernest Vantrease - p. Arranged by Roger Neumann.

Johnny Coles, Jack Evans, Phil Guilbeau, Bob Coassin - trumpets; Ken Tussing, Glenn Childress, Steve Davis, Wally Huff - trombones; Eddie Pratt, Clifford Solomon - alto saxophones; James Clay, Andy Ennis - tenor saxophones; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Ernest Vantrease - piano, electric piano; Edgar Willis - bass; John Bryant - drums. Ray didn't play.



Live:
'75 LC Japan - Released
'76 LC Antibes
'78 LC Antibes
'80 LC Northsea
'88 LC Masson
'90 LC ArtPark
'90 LC Antibes
'93 LC Newport
'94 LC Moscow

Midnight

Album: Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music Volume 2, ABC/Paramount 435, October 1962.

The Chet Atkins song brilliantly jazzified with special bass trombone FX. Recorded on 5 September 1962 in New York. Arranged by Gerald Wilson. Musicians not credited.

Ray also sang second voice.

Milk Cow Blues (With Willie Nelson)

Unreleased.

Willie taking the lead on this Sleepy John Estes song (1930), recorded for the TV show Willie Nelson, Texas Style, first broadcast by CBS on 5 March 1988.

Misery In My Heart (aka Going Down To The River; aka Givin' It Up; aka I'm Going To Drown Myself)

Swing Time 326-A+.

Single (A): Swing Time 326, 1953, b/w The Snow Is Falling.
Compilation album: The Way I Feel, Proper, 22 Oct 2007.

Recorded in Los Angeles, in 1951.

"With Orchestra": Ray Charles - voc, p; arr; Billy Brooks, Fleming Askew - tp; Marshall Royal, Earl Brown - as; Stanley Turrentine, Maurice Simon - ts; Charles Waller - bs; Frank McClure - b; Eddie Pipper - ds.

Release reviewed in Billboard, March 7, 1953.

Mississippi Mud

Album: Album: Genius Hits the Road, ABC/Paramount 335, 1960-07.

Recorded at the Capitol Studios in New York on 29 March 1960.

'Arranged and conducted by Ralph Burns', according to the liner notes. In reality, the tune was probably charted by Bob Brookmeyer.

With John Hunt, Marcus Belgrave, Martin Banks - trumpet; David Newman - tenor saxophone, Hank Crawford - alto saxophone, Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Milt Turner - drums; Edgar Willis - bass.

(Track #4):


Leverkusen 1993:


Live:
Remarkably, the tune turned up in playlists in 1961 (as published in souvenir programs of the time), but then it took Ray 36 years to 'find it back'.

'87 TV TS
'87 LC Antibes
'88 LC Masson
'88 LC Saratoga
'89 LC Paris - 2x
'89 LC Osaka
'90 LC ArtPark
'90 LC Antibes
'90 LC Lloret
'90 LC Dresden BB
'90 LC Italy
'90 LC Rome
'90 LC Tokyo
'91 LC BlueNote
'92 LC Antibes
'93 LC Leverkusen
'93 LC Newport
'94 LC ValleyForge
'94 LC Moscow
'95 LC Greenville
'95 LC Tramps - 2x
'95 LC Marciac
'96 LC London
'96 LC Lugano
'97 LC WolfTrap
'97 LC Saratoga
'97 LC Montreux - Released
'99 LC Glasgow
'00 LC Basel
'02 LC Pasadena