Oh, What A Beautiful Morning

Album: True To Life, Crossover/Atlantic 19142, October 1977.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles, with a mix of road musicians from his Orchestra, The Raelettes, and studio musicians.

Roger Neumann wrote the chart. Bass player Cliff Hugo* remembers: "I did play on Oh ,What A Beautiful Morning [... with] Harold Mason on drums. I did a bunch of sessions for [Ray] - about 4 days, maybe more, of big band [including] a few late night sessions with just him - what a trip!!! I do remember we were doing a session and Ernest [Vantrease] was there. We were hanging and Ray got there and said 'A-A- check this out' and starts playing the Oh thing. I got the impression that it came to him either on the way to RPM or not too long before that. We recorded it a few weeks later."

True To Life:


"Basie"-album, with ridiculous keyboard sounds (I only listened once to the intro, then threw the album away):


1993 (the 3d time Ray played the song at the Tonight Show!):


Live:
'77 LC PseudoBasie - Released*
'77 TV Saturday
'77 TV Sesame
'78 LC Antibes - 2x
'78 LC Boston
'79 LC Antibes
'79 LC Austin
'80 LC Northsea
'81 LC Edmonton
'81 LC Barcelona
'81 LC Sanremo
'82 LC Capital
'82 LC Antibes
'82 LC Washington
'82 LC Japan
'83 DM Montreal
'83 CL Antibes
'84 TV King
'84 LC Viareggio
'84 LC Nancy
'84 LC Warsaw - Released
'84 LC Ithaca
'85 LC NewHaven
'85 LC Antibes
'86 TV TS
'88 LC Oklahoma
'89 LC Ghent
'90 RS Piano
'90 TV TS
'90 LC Caneção
'93 TV TS
'95 LC Tramps - 3x
'96 LC Maribor
'96 LC Montauk
'02 TV Ice

* Hugo worked with the band in circa 1975 and in 1977. One of the other reasons why Concord's dating of the voice track for the Ray Sings, Basie Swings album in 1973 is problematic, and most probably incorrect, is that Oh, What A Beautiful Morning was first released in 1977.