Ray Charles Video Museum

Ray Charles Tribute On Ice (2002)

2012-02-14T01:13:00.002+01:00

On Saturday, December 21, 2002 NBC aired a Ray Charles Tribute On Ice from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Commentator: Dan Hicks.

From Jet,
28 October 2002.

The program, taped on 5 October, featured the music of Ray Charles and the skating of Olympic and world champions. I've seen a copy of a French version of the NBC program, as it was aired in 2005 by Paris Première. The program, to put it mildly, didn't make clear why Ray's music should be combined with a whole evening of ice dancing, but the audience, the dancers and Ray seemed to enjoy themselves.

Charles performed live (with orchestra tapes) four times throughout the show (#1, #9, #13 and #14).
He sang You Are My Sunshine in a new arrangement that was highly similar to the version used on the posthumous album Genius And Friends (2005) - there with a hopeless contribution by Chris Isaak, here with very reasonable vocals by an unidentified girl (I assume one of the Raelettes).
Drift Away came as a surprise - this is the only known live version since the album release of Ain't It So, from 1979.

The other tunes on the setlist were coming directly from Ray's well known studio albums, with the exception of Amazing Grace, that was taken from the Music Of Hope show (2001), recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.

You Are My Sunshine - live
Hallelujah I Just Love Her So
Hit The Road Jack
Georgia On My Mind
Let The Good Times Roll
Here We Go Again
If I Could
Amazing Grace
Drift Away - live
Still Crazy After All These Years
A Song For You
I've Got A Woman
Oh, What A Beautiful Morning - live
America The Beautiful - live

Ray Charles In Concerto In Sanremo (1981)

2012-02-13T12:30:00.007+01:00

Still from video.

In October 1981 Ray Charles was booked for two subsequent days in Sanremo (or in Sanremo and Viareggio). But flying to Italy, the Ray Charles group landed 7 hours late in London because of a strike by flight engineers in the U.S., and had to cancel the first concert on the 12th, scheduled on the rooftop of the Sanremo Casino.
They just made it to the other concert, on October 13, at the Teatro Tenda Bussoladomani di Lido di Camaiore (according to the credits of the video*) or at the Teatro Ariston (according to a contemporary newspaper source).
An umptieth generation low-quality 31-minute video with a partial edit of the (semi?)live concert has survived.
The preparation time for the concert clearly still had been too short. The bandstand was awkwardly small, but nevertheless flocked with a bunch of Italians (without any obvious practical role, but all staring handsomely into the cameras when they were caught). We can see and hear Ray calling off the first tune (Riding Thumb), because he heard "too much highs", and after "all five" Raelettes reached the stage, he made Estella Yarbrough first check the backing vocalists' mikes, before they started I Want Your Love. The stage had a, possibly thematic, seemingly outdated, text sign (maybe the name of a festival or concert series): "Sanremo / Estate 81" ("estate" means Summer).
The TV program was directed by Amanzio Todini, and was broadcast by Rai. The tunes that made it to my viewing copy were:

Intro
Riding Thumb
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
For Mamma
I Want Your Love (with Estella Yarbrough)
Baby Please Don't Go
What'd I Say

* I'm still highly confused by all toponymic data in my database related to Sanremo, Bussoladomani, Viareggio, etc. I'd be very happy with some help by Italian readers of this blog. Please contact me (bob@result.com) if you are aware of the lay of the land.

The Two Ray Charles Concerts At The Warsaw Jazz Jamboree (1984)

2012-02-08T17:04:00.020+01:00

Interior of 2-CD booklet.

The release & media history of the concerts at the 1984 Warsaw Jazz Jamboree is really (really!) complicated. For me it started, quite simply, a few years ago, when I found two or three clips from a live concert on Youtube. Investigating the provenance of these clips a bit further for a first posting on this blog, I happily stumbled upon an extensive digital audio file of excellent quality - assuming that all tracks from this taping came from one concert.
After that, a reader pointed me at a limited CD release by a Polish jazz club. The contents of this CD were far from congruent with the contents of the audio. My article on that "find" inspired yet another reader a couple of months later to send me the files of a much less legitimate Polish 2-CD, containing (parts of) two concerts.
Furthermore, I received a viewing copy of a video, representing about one half of the concert that had been the source of the Youtube clips.
After sorting out what exactly was on these CD albums and in the video, I made some conjectures about the differences between these albums, the video and the digital bootleg. Thinking that I had solved most of the puzzle.
But since then not only the "whole" version of that video has turned up, I also received information that the other concert had been taped and broadcast by Polish television as well...

Cover of 2-CD.

This is my fourth attempt to share this story.* I'm not that confident anymore that I've now solved the whole puzzle. No doubt, new facts - and maybe even new media files - will emerge.

The personnel
Musicians: Brian Mitchell, Clifford Solomon (band leader), Ricky Woodard, Rudy Johnson, Louis Van Taylor - saxophone; Robbie Kwock, Mark Curry, Jim Seely, Jeff Kaye - trumpet; John Boice, Dan Marcus, Dan Weinstein, Dana Hughes - trombone; Bobby Floyd- organ; Dennis Nelson - guitar; Roger Hines - bass; Ricky Kirkland - drums. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Anne Johnson, Janice Mitchell, Elaine Woodard, Estella Yarbrough.

The concerts
The two concerts took place at the Congress Hall (the Sala Kongresowa in the Palace of Culture and Science), during the Warsaw Jazz Jamboree, on 27 October 1984. The first show started at 2 p.m., the second show at 8 p.m. Ray, the band and the girls were in excellent shape.

The broadcasts and the releases
Both concerts were taped for TV, and both - much later - were released on a bootleggish double-CD. The evening concert was also audiotaped twice. One of these recordings was used for a limited Polish Jazz Club release on a CD; the other (superior!) audio recording - which may have been related to a radio broadcast - can only be found on the web, as a digital file.

PollJazz Edition.

The liner notes of the 2-CD and the voice over of an announcer on the video of the second concert both mention sound problems at the start of the concert. The instrumental tracks #1, #2, and #3 of the afternoon concert are missing from the 1st disk of the 2-CD, possibly because the engineers were simply waiting for Ray to appear on stage; possibly also because the sound wasn't balanced correctly yet, which also can be heard in the video version of this concert.

The 2-CD
The double CD was released - obviously for friends only - in 2006, in memory of Andrzej Zbroch (1946 - 2005), a blues connoisseur with a profound love for and knowledge of soul, jazz and other African American music. Zbroch played a prominent role in the Polish Jazz Society, and I guess he was also deeply involved in the Warsaw Jazz Jamboree. I think he is the person who can be heard during the introduction part of the second concert. The voice over at the start of the first video might also be his, and he could be the host who is briefly visible at the start of the second video.
The 2-CD and its cover were "prepared for release" by a "Judge Dredd", who stipulated in his notes that the concerts were "[...r]ecorded on professional equipment and tapes. Years later transcoded to CD also using professional equipment. Recorded from the mixing table during the concert."

The PolJazz album
Possibly not very long after the actual concert, The Polish Jazz Society released a limited edition (Poljazz X-PSJ 002), titled Ray Charles At Jazz Jamboree 1984, with 10 tracks from the evening concert. The compiler of the double-CD credited Zbroch for making this seclection.

The audio taping

Cover artwork of 2-DVD???

Furthermore, I've found a digital audio copy, which is of excellent quality. It only entails the tunes from the second concert. Oddly, one of the instrumentals of this concert, Woody 'n' Bu, can't be found on any of the other tapings or releases. Actually, attributing it with the third position on the setlist is my conjecture. The order of the tunes on this recording differs considerably from the set list. And for some reason, Georgia On My Mind and (an excellent version of) Come Live With Me were skipped from this compilation.

The TV recordings
The video clips that I have embedded below were all taken from a broadcast of the 2 p.m. concert by TVP Kultura (active since 2005; this station still frequently re-broadcasts the concert). My viewing copy contained the whole 2 p.m. concert, including the instrumentals. A Polish website offers a (premium SMS) paid download (if you're in Poland), and a free 10 minute video preview, from the 2 p.m. show, with I'm Gonna Go Fishin' and (almost all of) The Team.
My umptieth generation viewing copy of the 8 p.m. concert (of a much lower quality) also carries the TVP Kultura logo. Mother network TVP probably also aired both shows in or shortly after 1984.
I have also found traces of a 68-minute (bootleg?) 2-DVD, entitled Ray Charles & Big Band - Jazz Jamboree, Poland 1984. It's not clear if the contents of this "release" are similar to any of the footage (either from the first or from the second concert) that I've seen so far.

2 pm setlist			TV	2-CD
1	.	I'm Gonna Go Fishin'	x
2	.	The Team	x
3	.	Straight Ahead And Strive For Tone	x
4	.	Riding Thumb	x	x
5	.	Busted	x	x
6	.	Georgia On My Mind	x	x
7	.	You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)	x	x
8	.	I've Got News For You	x	x
9	.	Oh, What A Beautiful Morning	x	x
10	.	She Knows	x	x
11	.	I Want Your Love	x	(x)
12	.	All I Need	x	x
13	.	Don't Change On Me	x	x
14	.	I Can't Stop Loving You	x	x
15	.	Every Saturday Night	x	x
16	.	3/4 Time	x	x
17	.	Born To Love Me	x	x
18	.	What'd I Say	x	x

#1 to #3: Orchestra instrumentals.
#1: The first known recording of I'm Gonna Go Fishin' was at the Newport concert in 1960, the second one on the album My Kind Of Jazz Part III from 1975, where it was the only take in which Brother Ray contributed on piano. Listed as Going Fishing on the Warsaw 2-CD; solos Jim Seely - tp, Clifford Solomon - ts, Bobby Floyd - p.
#2: The Team was also on the setlist of the 1990 Christmas concert in Tokyo. This, then, is the only other known and the earliest live rendition. Solos Rudy Johnson - ts, Jeff Kaye - tp.
#3: Solos Louis Van Taylor - bs, Robbie Kwok - tp, Dan Marcus - tb.
Ray Charles intro between #3 and #4 .
#8: Listed as We're Gonna Make It on 2-CD.
#10: Solo Roger Hines - b.
#11: Premature fade-out on 2-CD because engineers ran out of tape. Title is uncertain; listed as I Need Your Love on the 2-CD; tune is also known from one of the TV programs extracted from recordings at the 1987 Jazz à Juan Festival, where it was (certainly erroneously) titled If I Could.
#12: Listed as Send Me A Love Song on 2-CD; solo vo Elaine Woodard.
Ray Charles outro after #18.

8 pm setlist			TV	Audio	CD	2-CD
1	.	Sister Sadie		x		x
2	.	The Time Is Right		x		x
3	.	Woody 'n' Bu		x
4	.	Let The Good Times Roll	x	x	x	x
5	.	Georgia On My Mind	x		x	x
6	.	Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)	x	x	x	x
7	.	Come Live With Me	x		x	x
8	.	Some Enchanted Evening	x	x	x	x
9	.	Do I Ever Cross Your Mind	x	x		x
10	.	We're Gonna Make It	x	x		x
11	.	Shameless	x	x		x
12	.	Eleanor Rigby	x	x		x
13	.	I Can't Stop Loving You	x	x	x	x
14	.	Knock On Wood	x	x	x	x
15	.	3/4 Time	x	x	x	x
16	.	Born To Love Me	x	x	x	x
17	.	What'd I Say	x	x	x	x

Orchestra intro before #1 on TV.
#1 to #3 are Orchestra instrumentals.
Intro Ray Charles between #3 and #4.
#10 Vocals by The Raelettes.
#11 Solo vo Elaine Woodard.
#14 Solo vo Trudy Cohran.
#17 With intro I'm Gonna Keep On Singin', followed by Ray Charles' outro.

'84 LC Warsaw - 2 p.m. - Georgia On My Mind:

'84 LC Warsaw - 2 p.m. - You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It):

'84 LC Warsaw - 2 p.m. - I’ve Got News For You:

'84 LC Warsaw - 2 p.m. - She Knows:

'84 LC Warsaw - 2 p.m. - I Want Your Love:

Ray Charles would return twice to the Warsaw Jazz Jamboree: in 1996 and in 2000.

* Information on several releases, titles, line-up and soloists were kindly provided by Jeff Helgesen, Steve Sigmund, Louis Van Taylor, Robbie Kwock, Dan Marcus, Mo' Pleasure and Jeff Kaye, Joël Dufour and J.P. Verger.

Ray Charles - Il Genio, Live In Viareggio (1979)

2012-02-04T01:03:00.006+01:00

Still from video.

On 9 August 1979 Ray Charles, his Orchestra and The Raelettes gave their first concert at the Bussola Domani in Viareggio (cf. this).

The show, directed by Antonio Moretti, was aired by RAI (Rete 1) on 18 October. I recently saw an umptieth generation, distorted, video copy of a later broadcast by TMC.

The setlist was without surprises:

Intro
Let The Good Times Roll
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Yesterday
Some Enchanted Evening
Georgia On My Mind
Riding Thumb
She Knows
Hit The Road Jack
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can See Clearly Now
Knock On Wood (Trudy Cohran)
What'd I Say
Outro

Personnel:
Musicians: Johnny Coles, Buddy Gordon, Tim Ouimette, Chase Sanborn - trumpets; John Boice, Bob Braun, Gerard Carelli, Dan Marcus - trombones; Clifford Solomon - alto saxophone, band leader; Brian Mitchell - alto saxophone; Rudy Johnson, Fred Smith - tenor saxophones; Jim Sharpe - baritone saxophone; Eugene Ross - guitar; Curtis Ohlson - bass; Peter Turre - drums; James Polk - organ. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Pat Peterson, Madelyn Quebec, Estella Yarbrough.

Special thanks to J.P. Verger for making me aware of the video.

Ray Charles Live In Pasadena (2002)

2012-02-01T00:02:00.002+01:00

More photos here.

On 6 October 2002 the Ray Charles band performed at the Verizon Musical Festival, in the Central Park of Old Pasadena. I knew about a possible bootleg with seven songs (cf. this), but today I listened to a much more extensive tracklist from an audience-taped bootleg. The audio quality was of course very low, but the taping has some documentary value because of the rare instrumentals, and since it (currently, as far as I know) is the last full concert taping with the Orchestra and The Raelettes.

01. Festival speaker + audience noise

02. Orchestra intro + Unidentified instrumental #1 (Ray Charles Orchestra)

03. Unidentified instrumental #2 (Ray Charles Orchestra)

04. The Shadow Of Your Smile (Ray Charles Orchestra) + Intro

05. Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)

06. Busted

07. Georgia On My Mind

08. Mississippi Mud

09. + 10. Just For A Thrill

11. Almost Like Being In Love Again

12. Hey Girl

13. Stranger In My Own Home Town

14. A Song For You

15. Rock Steady (The Raelettes)

16. Shadows Of My Mind (The Raelettes)

17. I Can't Stop Loving You (prelude only)

18. What'd I Say + Outro

Ray Charles Live In Paris Symphony Concert (1990)

2012-01-30T22:36:00.000+01:00

On February 14, 1990, Ray Charles played a concert with the Orchestre Symphonique d’Ile-de-France (conducted by Serge Gandolfi) at the Pavillon d’Armenonville, in Paris. Europe-1 took care of a live radio broadcast. From his orchestra's rhythm section Ray also brought Kenny Carr on guitar.

They Can't Take That Away From Me
If You Go Away
It Hurts To Be In Love
Eleanor Rigby
Take These Chains From My Heart
That Lucky Old Sun
All I Ever Need Is You
Yesterday
Lay Around And Love On You (All I Wanna Do Is --)

Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You [Live] 2000

2012-01-30T22:08:00.000+01:00

On 22 November 2000 Ray Charles guested on a France-Inter radio show in Paris, performing Gee, Baby - as far as I know the first and only live recorded version of this song since its album recording in 1967, Ray Charles Invites You To Listen.

We Had It All [Live] (1978)

2012-01-28T17:51:00.002+01:00

A terrific live rendition of We Had It All (#6) came as a total surprise when I first watched a 17-minute video* today of Ray Charles' mini-solo-concert from the Antenne 2 Exclusif TV-show, from 1978. So far, I only knew this song from the 1978 album Love And Peace.

* Thanks to Hector Tarín for sharing this.

What'd I Say & Georgia At MDA Telethon (With Jerry Lewis) (1978)

2012-01-28T15:51:00.001+01:00

I've totally missed* this clip on Youtube, where Ray Charles performed a duet medley of What'd I Say and Georgia On My Mind with MDA Telethon initiator and host Jerry Lewis. The show aired live, in (probably early September of) 1978.

"Funny is different," we say in Dutch. For Ray's long history with Jerry and the MDA Telethon shows, read this post.
* Thanks to Hector Tarín, for pointing me at this.

Ray Charles In Newport (1993)

2012-01-27T23:19:00.006+01:00

I sometimes scan Ebay for new raycharlesiana. It's an excellent source for rare photos, ads and other historic news and promotion materials.

As a source for new information on actual Ray Charles album or video releases it's not that good. Worse, the endless historical variation of compilations and (re-)releases most often only contaminates my database. Debunking of some corrupt releases or corrupt descriptions of legit materials (with false or wrong titles and/or production details) in some cases has cost me hours.
Finding a genuine "new" video recording (i.e. a video of which I hadn't found a trace in any other of my sources) of a Ray Charles concert has never happened before. But here it is.

On August 14, 1993, Ray performed at Fort Adams State Park in a program of the Newport Jazz Festival. The other featured artists were Grover Washington Jr., Horace Silver, Joshua Redman, and Michel Camilo.
JVC released a video compilation of parts of the program - with Charles, Redman and Camilo, plus (from the same stage or from another program?) a performance by The Brecker Brothers - under the title JVC Jazz Festival Newport, R.I., and subtitled The 10th Anniversary 1993 - The JVC Jazz Festivals.

This VHS was part of a long running series of purely promotional, yearly JVC-initiated releases with the fixed catchline "JVC presents the best of international jazz festivals". A disclaimer on the backside of the covers stipulated that "Sale of this videocassette is prohibited".
After a quick scan of the Web, I also found editions for 1987, 1991, 1994, and 1997.

Hypothetically, the footage on the 1993 VHS could be originating from other, older concerts, but seeing the authentic-looking stage photos* and the credits on the back of the cover, my conclusion for now is that this video was indeed shot at Newport 1993.

From Ray Charles' concert the following tunes made it to the VHS:

How Long Has This Been Going On
Then I'll Be Home
Still Crazy After All These Years
Feel So Bad

On the reproduction of the VHS cover a small unreadable text follows the the title of tune #1. The correct title of #2 is Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune).
The credits specify that the footage was "Recorded by JVC" and "Published by Festival Productions, Inc."

See this insert in New York Magazine of June 14, 1993, for more information on JVC's role in this edition of the Newport Jazz Festival.

I'd love to see a copy of this tape. Anyone out there who has it?

* For further research: I found a small b/w photo that, according to its source, is associated with this same concert. On that photo Brother Ray is wearing a different suit jacket...

Update 28 January 2012:
I forgot that I've posted earlier about this concert and its probable broadcast by PBS. It's not clear if the contents of the VHS came from the (complete concert's?) taping by PBS. Trombone player Steve Sigmund remembers that "[...] '93 was the year that our performance was taped for a PBS special in the US. I have only seen a few songs [#2, #3 and #4, BS] floating around YouTube over the years. There was a great clip of Feel So Bad where they unfortunately edited out a great guitar solo by Kenny Carr."
Note that all three tunes were also on the VHS.

Ray Charles Live In Deauville (1995)

2012-01-27T18:00:00.003+01:00

Photo taken in the
Summer of 1995, in
France; exact location
unknown.

Today I was able to listen in to (most of) a concert that was entirely new to me, documenting the show on 5 July 1995, at the Swing In music festival in Deauville. The tape I heard was a copy of a radio broadcast; most tunes were just slightly truncated at the beginning, probably because an amateur editor tried to get rid of comments by the radio show's host or reporter.
The broadcast (or its edit) didn't represent the whole concert. I Can't Stop Loving You and What'd I Say are no doubt missing from it. What remained didn't contain any surprises:

Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Some Enchanted Evening
Just For A Thrill
If I Could
Stranger In My Own Home Town
A Song For You
Knock On Wood (with The Raelettes)

An Early Handbill Of A Gig At Elks' Patio In Redwood City, With Lowell Fulson (1951)

2012-01-26T18:25:00.001+01:00

Earliest known handbill of a Ray Charles gig, the "sensational blind singing star", with Lowell Fulson at Elks' Patio in Redwood City, CA. Looking at the bit of adhesive tape at the top of the picture, this can't have been bigger than a postcard (and it may have been re-published as such).

The Genius Lighting Up His Pipe (1963)

2012-01-26T15:06:00.005+01:00

Ray Charles, smoking a pipe in 1963.

Newspapers' photo archives are a relatively new category of - increasingly valuable - online sources for historical research. So far, a limited number of (mainly American) newspapers have created little photo archive webshops, from which they sell quality photo prints (i.e. copies) from their collections. The Chicago Tribune is a very active first mover in this niche market.
One of the most active players in this space is HistoricImages, who frequently buy up archives, and currently are auctioning out small stacks of original newspaper photo prints over Ebay.
The photo at the left was shot by Denver Post staff photographer Jack Riddle. The verso side has a small clipping glued to it with a snippet of the published article. The caption to it obviously refers to a concert at DU (University of Denver).

Straight Ahead And Strive For Tone (Ray Charles Orchestra) (1984)

2012-01-24T17:31:00.003+01:00

Performed at the Warsaw Jazz Jamboree in 1984. Solos by Louis Van Taylor - bs, Robbie Kwok - tp, Dan Marcus - tb.* Written and arranged by Roger Neumann.
There's one other known recording, from a radio broadcast of the 1981 concert in Rome (of inferior audio quality).

* Information kindly provided by Robbie Kwock.

Everybody's Blues (Ray Charles Orchestra) (1990)

2012-01-21T16:15:00.001+01:00

This Quincy Jones-penned tune was performed by the Ray Charles Orchestra at the Christmas Special in Tokyo. It's the only known recording by the band.
The solos were delivered by Jeff Kaye and Ted Murdock on trumpets, Ernest Vantrease on keyboards, Kenny Carr on guitar, and Benoït Grey on bass.

The Team (Ray Charles Orchestra) (1990)

2012-01-21T15:51:00.003+01:00

One of the surprises in the recently re-emerged 1990 Christmas Special in Tokyo was a full version of The Team. I knew the title of the song from an earlier, brief, remark by its composer, trumpet player Tim Ouimette, who played in the Ray Charles Orchestra between 1978 and 1980 (the additions between brackets are mine, BS):

"I remember recording with Ray [at the RPM studio in LA] at the end of the '78 tour. It stayed in the can. Two of my tunes, The Team and Sunrise Song, and I think some things [arranged a/o composed] by [James] Polk. Two or three full days. I had heard that Ray hired Freddie Hubbard to play the solos on my tunes, but don't really know. But that stuff is in the vault [currently curated by the Ray Charles Foundation]."

In this 1990 live version the solos were delivered by Rudy Johnson on tenor saxophone, Jeff Kaye on flugel horn; and David Rokeach on drums:

NOTE:
See today's update in this article on the Warsaw Jamboree concerts in 1984, with information about an earlier live version of The Team.

This live version of The Team - despite the limited quality of the audio - once more proofs that the Foundation's new "plans to distribute and brand the extensive works [of Ray Charles] in other ways" should include harvesting their vaults for unreleased orchestra pieces, and (now that I'm speaking of it, for God's sake!) for unreleased solo works by greats like Philip Guilbeau.

Ray Charles Live In Prague (1981)

2012-01-21T00:57:00.015+01:00

On 28 April 1981 Ray Charles played at the Palác Lucerna in Prague. This source claimed to have a 60-minute video tape (but the record seems to have disappeared from their database). The TV program was directed by A. Nosek. The Czech TV archive has a 64 minute tape (last televized on 20 June 2004).
I was quite curious about the contents of the show, because the Prague concert is one of only a few known taped live concerts with the Ray Charles Orchestra between October 1979 and December 1982. Today I unexpectedly received a nice 61-minute audio copy in my mail box - which didn't contain any surprises. The audio may have been extracted from the TV concert, but it could also be a copy of a radio broadcast. Clifford Solomon led the band.
The audience in Prague was very eager to let Ray know that they recognized every tune after the first notes of the intro, adding a nice, lively ambiance to the tape.

The setlist was:

Intro
Let The Good Times Roll
Georgia On My Mind
You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)
Yesterday
Born To Lose
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
She Knows
Rock Steady (with The Raelettes)
Take These Chains From My Heart
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can See Clearly Now
Crying Time
Lonesome Blue Yodel + I'm Gonna Keep On Singin' + What'd I Say
Outro

The improv leading to a variation on What'd I Say (#14) was very similar to the final of the 1981 Edmonton concert.

Ray Charles' Christmas Special In Tokyo (1990)

2012-01-19T22:41:00.013+01:00

This poster may be from the
Japan (and Hong Kong?) tour
discussed here.

After touring the world - including Japan, in October 1990 - with B.B. King and the Philip Morris Superband, Ray returned to Japan with his own band and The Raelettes only two months later for a Christmas concert - a feat that by that time had become some kind of an almost yearly tradition for the Ray Charles group.
When I first posted about the six clips embedded below, I guessed that the concert might have entailed a few more tunes, like the never missing I Can't Stop Loving You, and Ray's 'Japanese hit' record Ellie, My Love.
These were indeed part of the concert, but after watching the integral TV program, titled Ray Charles In japan - Christmas Special, today*, it turns out to have been one of the most extensive Ray Charles shows that was ever televized.

The program no doubt was aired shortly before Christmas. The video didn't have any credits or station logo. The event took place in Takanawa, in a rather sterile hall, with an almost silent audience, sitting at dinner tables. But Ray (radiating energy throughout the concert, and with a flawless rendition of She Knows), the Orchestra (with a sparkling set of instrumentals, and marvelous solos), and The Raelettes (with a great version of Giving Up by Trudy Cohran) were in great shape that night.

The tracklist** was:

Sister Sadie (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos by Jeff Kaye - tp; Jeff Alkire - bs)
The Team (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos by Rudy Johnson - ts; Jeff Kaye - fh; David Rokeach - d)
Everybody's Blues (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos Jeff Kaye, Ted Murdock - tp; Ernest Vantrease - kb; Kenny Carr - g; Benoït Grey - b)
Horns In Minor (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solo by Marc Fields - tb)
Spain (Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos by Jeff Kaye - tp; Craig Bailey - as)
Intro
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Mississippi Mud
Just For A Thrill
Teardrops From My Eyes
Ellie, My Love
I Feel So Bad
If You Wouldn't Be My Lady
She Knows
Chain Of Fools (The Raelettes)
Giving Up (Trudy Cohran)
Smack Dab In The Middle
I Can't Stop Loving You
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
What'd I Say
Outro (1)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
Outro (2)

The show started with no less than 5 instrumentals by the Orchestra. Of #2 and #3 no other live recordings are known.The biggest surprise of this show was in the end, where The Genius sang two Christmas songs (#21 and #24), the only known live recorded versions of these tunes with the Ray Charles Orchestra.
At three instances the footage of the show was interrupted by pre-recorded interview sequences (in which Ray revealed how he always loved celebrating Christmas with his kids, went through his "I'm just a utility man" routine, and shared his also frequently published plans to spend the rest of his life just making more music, and coaching young talent).

Personnel:
Musicians: Chuck Parrish, Jeff Kaye, Ted Murdock, Kenny Rampton - trumpets; Steve Sigmund, Michel Guerrier, Marc Fields, Wayne Coniglio - trombones; Al Waters, Rudy Johnson, Al Jackson, Craig Bailey, Jeff Alkire - saxophones; David Rokeach - drums; Kenny Carr - guitar; Benoît Grey - bass; Ernest Vantrease - organ. The Raelettes: Estella Yarbrough, Trudy Cohran, Angie Workman and two girls yet to be identified.

* Many thanks, once again, to Hector Tarín. ** Solos attributed by Jeff Helgesen and David Hoffman.

Sister Sadie:

Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune):

Georgia On My Mind:

Just For A Thrill:

Mississippi Mud:

Feel So Bad:

What'd I Say + Outro (if loading too slow, go directly to source):

Ray Charles At Constitution Hall (1982)

2012-01-16T13:13:00.011+01:00

Before the concert Ray Charles
was honored by the NBMC
(from Billboard, November 20, 1982).

Yesterday, a reader of this blog* surprised me with a concert video titled Ray Charles At Constitution Hall. The source of his copy dated the concert in "1980", but the program can only be associated with a concert that took place in Washington D.C. on November 1, 1982. The earliest air date that I've found was in December 1982, the last in November 1987.

The show was directed by Arthur Forrest, and was produced by TBS in cooperation with the National Black Media Coalition (an emancipatory organization that no longer exists). The dominantly African American audience, loudly (and visibly) showing their appreciation for the things taking place on stage, have given this concert recording a unique, interactive flavor.

The tunes that made it to the TV program (I think that, apart from the instrumentals by the Orchestra, also a few songs by Ray were left out of this edit) were:

Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
Just Because
You Don't Know Me
Some Enchanted Evening
A Little More Love (with Estella Yarbrough)
I Can't Stop Loving You
One Hurt Deserves Another (with The Raelettes; main solo Trudy Cohran)

Title card from the video.

What'd I Say (brief into with Gonna Keep On Singin')

The ultra-soulful, super-slow rendition of You Don't Know Me stood out in this set list, but the absolute climax of the concert was the performance of the tune One Hurt Deserves Another (a minor Raelettes hit from 1966, then making it to #76 on the Billboard Pop Chart and #24 on the R&B Chart), with gorgeous solo singing by Trudy Cohran.
I am not sure if the title of #7, A Little More Love, is correct; it was also listed in a description of the concert at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1980.

Personnel**:
Musicians: Carmell Jones, Carlos Chavez, Brian Pearcy, Dean Congin - trumpets; Steve Davis, John Boyce, Mayo Tiana, [unidentified] - trombones; Rick Woodard, Brian Mitchell, Clifford Solomon, Rudy Johnson, [unidentified] - saxophones; Rick Kirkland - drums; Tony Matthews - guitar; Jeff Tagaguchi - bass; Ernest Vantrease - keyboards. Voc.: The Raelettes.
* Many thanks, once again, to Hector Tarín Nieto. **Info kindly provided by Dean Congin.

Ray Charles Live In Antibes (1982)

2012-01-15T15:37:00.006+01:00

After almost two years of research for this blog, it's becoming increasingly rare to find video footage which is entirely new to me. But last week Hector Tarín Nieto, a young Ray Charles enthusiast from Valencia in Spain, surprised me with the message that he had found a video with (parts of) the concert at the Antibes Jazz Festival, on July 20, 1982. The track list doesn't contain any big surprises, but the overall quality is good, and this concert's version of Just Because alone made it worthwhile to watch the program.

(Video still).

The title cards make it clear that the taping was directed by veteran Jean-Christophe Averty, and that the program was aired by France 1.
So far I haven't found a trace of the whereabouts of the source materials of this program.* It's not impossible that Averty, as he did in earlier instances, used the contents of the concert for two Ray Charles specials, and that the remainder of the concert has also survived in the INA vaults (four days later this was the setlist of a concert in the UK).

Let The Good Times Roll
Georgia On My Mind
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
Busted
Just Because**
Some Enchanted Evening

* France 1 was privatized in the 1980s, which is probably the reason why the program can't be found in the database of INA, the French public television and radio archive. Also see the comment to this post: it could be that this program was aired on October 26, 1984. ** In the video, in one of the funniest title corruptions ever, the tune is titled "Just A Bounce".

Ray Charles Live In Lloret De Mar (1990)

2012-01-11T22:13:00.004+01:00

Still from the TV program.

On 20 April 1991 TVE2 aired a Ray Charles concert held the year before on 20 July, sponsored by the Casino in Lloret de Mar, at the Campo Municipal de Deportes (cf. this). The program was directed by P.P. Vila-San-Juan.
The copy that I saw had many sequences where the sound was slurring, but Brother Ray and the band were in good shape, and the program nicely captured the atmosphere of a typical mediterranean summer night concert during one of Ray's yearly Europe tours.

Intro
Riding Thumb
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Mississippi Mud
Yours
I Feel So Bad
If You Wouldn't Be My Lady
She Knows
Don't Set Me Free (with Estella Yarbrough)
I Can't Stop Loving You
Knock On Wood (with Trudy Cohran)
I Believe To My Soul
What'd I Say
Outro

Personnel:
Musicians: Chuck Parrish, Jeff Kaye, Jeff Helgesen, Kenny Rampton - trumpets; Steve Sigmund, Mike Guerrier, Marc Fields, Wayne Coniglio - trombones; Al Waters, Rudy Johnson, Al Jackson, Craig Baily, Scott Frillman - saxophones; David Rokeach - drums; Kenny Carr - guitar; Benoît Grey - bass; Ernest Vantrease - organ. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Kay Nickerson, Lalomie Washburn, Angie Workman, Estella Yarbrough.

Ray Charles In A Fool For You With The NYC Ballet (1988, 1989)

2012-01-11T17:50:00.007+01:00

In 1988 and 1989 Ray Charles starred in A Fool For You, a concert dansant with the New York City Ballet, set to his music.

1988
The first time, on 14 and 15 May 1988, the performance was a closing part of the American Music Festival, at the Lincoln New York State Theater. The choreography was designed by Peter Martins. The stars in the original ballet cast were Judith Fugate, Leslie Roy, Heather Watts, Robert La Fosse, Lindsay Fischer, and Jock Soto.
Ray played with his old small big band, with Phil Guilbeau and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Hank Crawford, David Newman and Leroy Cooper on sax, and with The Raelettes; he possibly also brought the rhythm section of the Ray Charles Orchestra.

The "12" songs were:

Georgia On My Mind
Ain't That Love
Don't You Know
It Should've Been Me
Hit The Road Jack
Rockhouse
Mess Around
A Fool For You
I've Got A Woman
Drown In My Tears
What'd I Say
Ol' Man River
America The Beautiful

...Right, that's 13, not 12 (I'm quoting the Repertory Index on the NYC Ballet's website). The tunes with the number 1, 12 and 13 were arranged for the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and were supported, live of course, by a marvelous little choir. In particular Ol' Man River got a moving rendition, coming very close to the original album version.

Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times' critic (on 16 May 1988), was quite positive about the whole performance:

"Ray Charles took the New York City Ballet's American Music Festival by storm Saturday night with a most unusual personal appearance.
This first foray by the popular singer, composer and pianist into the ballet world was greeted by screaming and yelling that threatened to make the walls of the New York State Theater come tumbling down. At last report, though, the house was intact for the repeat performance last night by Mr. Charles, his orchestra and his backup singers, the Raylettes [sic!], in Peter Martins's premiere A Fool for You.
Performing at a piano in front of his eight-man orchestra, with room for the City Ballet's dancers in front, Mr. Charles was very much his relaxed and nonchalant self.
What Mr. Charles has accomplished is to set a tone. And what Mr. Martins has picked up so refreshingly in his choreography and concept is a funkiness that is new to the City Ballet.
[...] A Fool for You, named after No. 8 of the 12 songs performed by Mr. Charles and his group, also featured a small choral ensemble in the pit with the City Ballet orchestra, conducted by Robert Irving. The ballet opened with Georgia On My Mind, and closed with Ol' Man River.
When the ballet's three main couples bounce in to the second song, Ain't That Love their wiggling mix of stylized social dances - part jitterbug and part disco - announces the style and subject. The women wear booties rather than toe shoes, and the classical base of the choreography is felt rather than seen.
If some of A Fool for You looks like timid Broadway choreography, most of it can also be viewed as a distillation of social dances of the 1950's and 1960's, contemporary with Mr. Martins's perspective on American popular music and dance as he was growing up in Denmark. This is not quite his fantasy equivalent of Grease, but it is a nostalgic look at popular imagery experienced second hand.
At its most successful, this approach is brilliantly embodied in a smashingly witty ensemble section for five young soloists, including Mr. Martins's son, Nilas Martins (a dancer in the corps). To Mess Around, the younger Mr. Martins lopes through an abstract solo that refers to the chicken and monkey dances of the 1960's. He is superb, sharply deadpan. Gordon Stevens, in cowboy outfit, thumps an invisible guitar for his stamping country miss, Florence Fitzgerald. Tom Gold, speedy, small and terrific, keeps time in his baseball outfit while Allison Brown flounces around.
This is baseball-card Americana brought vividly to life again in the finale when Mr. Gold streaks in and out around the entire cast. There is an even better, more sophisticated number: It Should've Been Me by Memphis Curtis (Mr. Charles did not compose all the songs). Robert La Fosse gives a star performance in a pratfall solo, finally laid out flat on his back when he gets nowhere with Miss Brown and Miss Fitzgerald. At the same time, the ironic edge of Mr. Charles's singing fits beautifully.
Of the three main couples, Mr. La Fosse and the exuberant, delightful Judith Fugate look most at ease, although Stephanie Saland and Lindsay Fischer do very well in the tender Drown in My Tears. Heather Watts and Jock Soto are touching in the title song. Here Mr. Martins works against the love lyrics by successively having the dancers wistfully and playfully shadow each other.
The five Raylettes have their big number in Hit the Road, Jack. The danger that Mr. Charles and his musicians would overwhelm the dancers or become merely a backdrop was never an issue. The whole was always greater than the parts [...]."

The performance was videotaped, and it was aired by Channel 13 on 15 May 1988. If a tape survives, it's probably in the vaults of the New York City Ballet (see comments below for a copy of a video "in wide shot" at the NYC Public Library; this footage was possibly produced with an in-house video system at the Lincoln).

1989

Taking ovations in 1989.

In this reprise, once again staged at the Lincoln Center, from 10 to 12 May 1989, Ray again brought his old brass players Guilbeau, Crawford, Newman and Cooper, but this time Marcus Belgrave (trumpet) was replaced by Jimmy Owens (an old friend of Crawford). "They wanted it as close to the same sound as possible," Ray said, "I went out and found the cats. They all have their own things going now. They come in and do this just for me, which I think is sweet."
Charles also brought the Orchestra's rhythm section (with Jeff Ballard on drums, Kenny Carr on guitar and Darren Solomon on bass). The Raelettes were Anita Brooks, Trudy Cohran, Kathryn Collier, Angie Workman and Estella Yarbrough.
The New York City Ballet Orchestra was conducted by Robert Irving.

The 12 May performance was taped (directed by Kirk Browning) and then broadcast by PBS on May 14th, 1989, in the Live From Lincoln Center series. I've seen the tape - and it was phantastic. Charles was in top condition, performing all tunes with gusto, as if they were still all part of his daily repertoire. Understandably, the band only got little room to play around. David Newman got a few 'expected' pre-arranged solo parts, and Leroy Cooper solo'ed on Mess Around.

This second time the New York Times' critic wasn't as enthusiastic about the dancing part: "The work ultimately deteriorated; there just weren't enough ideas to sustain its length. But Mr. De Luz was a steamy knockout in It Should've Been Me, and Ms. Bouder and Ms. Weese radiated a witty sexiness throughout. There's no reason to revive A Fool for You for City Ballet [...]."

Later years
The ballet (or parts of it) are still on the New York City Ballet's repertoire. The photo below is from a performance in 2005.

Photo from the 2005 show; the screen at the left
shows Ray at the concert in 1988.

More ballet

Ray's music was an inspiration for more choreographers. On 19 November 1978 the Canadian TV (CBC) aired Music To See, Danny Grossman Dance, performing Higher - music arranged by Jimmy Dale, based on Ray Charles' blues and jazz music, and sung by Elaine Overholt.
On 6 February 1981 France 2 broadcast a program on a Romanian Choreographer, Gigi Caciuleanu, who created a solo ballet on a Ray Charles song ("a negro-spiritual"). Source: Ina, ID CPB81052616. That "negro spiritual" turns out to be Mess Around, and the choreography was from 1970, when it brought Caciuleanu the First Prize at the International Concours of Varna.
On 16 April 1984 France 3 aired a cultural magazine, announcing a ballet performance, where the dancers did a choreography based on Ray Charles' version of Yesterday. Source: Ina, ID RCC02006350.

Ray Charles Live In Antibes - Now Complete (1979)

2012-01-11T14:55:00.002+01:00

The contents of Ray Charles' concert on 22 July 1979 in Antibes have so far emerged in bits and pieces. All footage goes back to four tapes in the the INA archive (ID numbers CPC79057920, CPC93007107, CPC83052338, CPC90008470), titled Ray Charles N° 1, Ray Charles N° 2, Ray Charles N° 3, and Ray Charles N° 4; each with a duration of 25 to 30 minutes. They aired (probably also in 4 parts) in early November 1979, and again (possibly in the condensed version discussed below) in July 1983, on France 3. The programs were directed by Jean Christophe Averty.

A DVD that I watched earlier only contained a series of 'expected' tunes (see below), but INA's description of Ray Charles N° 3 also entailed a few intriguing titles that weren't part of this disk: "Ray to minor rag [= Ray Minor Ray], Let the good time[s] roll, I can see clearly now, The jealous king [= kind] medley, Letter to Elise [= Für Elise], A medley of his successes, including What I'd say".

Today, a friend of this blog let me watch a DVD that - at last - seems to entail the complete contents of the INA tapes:

Ray Minor Ray (Ray Charles Orchestra)
Intro
Let The Good Times Roll
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Georgia On My Mind
Some Enchanted Evening
She Knows
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
For Mamma
I Want Your Love (with Estella Yarbrough)
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can See Clearly Now
Knock on Wood (with Trudy Cohran)
The Jealous Kind
Medley:

Für Elise
I’m Gonna Keep On Singin’
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
What'd I Say
Outro

Another live version of Ray Minor Ray is only known from the 1961 Palais des Sports radio tapes. A rendition of The Jealous Kind (recorded on the 1977 album True To Life) is the first and only known live version of that song. It's a pity that the Stevie Wonder tune Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours did not get a full treatment - the 40 or so seconds of it as part of the medley are great.

The other edit, 42 minutes long, that I saw earlier contained:

Intro
Let The Good Times Roll
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Georgia On My Mind
Some Enchanted Evening
For Mamma
I Want Your Love (with The Raelettes)
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can See Clearly Now
She Knows
Oh, What A Beautiful Morning [tape copy abruptly ends at closing chords of this song]

Personnel*:

Musicians: Johnny Coles, Buddy Gordon, Tim Ouimette, Chase Sanborn - trumpets; John Boice, Bob Braun, Gerard Carelli, Dan Marcus - trombones; Clifford Solomon - alto saxophone, band leader; Brian Mitchell - alto saxophone; Rudy Johnson, Fred Smith - tenor saxophones; Jim Sharpe - baritone saxophone; Eugene Ross - guitar; Curtis Ohlson - bass; Peter Turre - drums; James Polk - organ. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Pat Peterson, Madelyn Quebec, Estella Yarbrough.

*Information kindly provided by Joël Dufour.

For more context on Ray's relationship with the Jazz À Juan festival, read this.

For Mamma:

Ray Charles, B.B. King & The Superband Live In Dresden (1990)

2012-01-11T13:38:00.001+01:00

On 30 October 1990 the Superband entourage (cf. this post) landed in Dresden. That day's concert at the Kulturpalast was broadcast live by Radio Saxen (and, simultaneously, was put through by Radio Dresden).
A 2-CD bootleg (of mediocre quality) with the complete concert has survived. The setlist (with a few obvious corrections) was:

Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Superband)
Dear Blues (Superband)
A Child Is Born (Superband)
Lover (Superband)
Love Came To Town (B.B. King)
I've Got A Mind To Give Up Living (B.B. King)
Please Send Me Someone To Love (B.B. King)
Since I Met You Baby (B.B. King)
You Gotta Be Crazy Baby (B.B. King)
Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do (B.B. King)
Sweet Sixteen (B.B. King)
The Thrill Is Gone (B.B. King)
Let's All Get Together (B.B. King)
Airmail Special (Superband)
Centrepiece (Superband)
Battle Royal (Superband)
Let The Good Times Roll (Ray Charles)
Busted (Ray Charles)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
Mississippi Mud (Ray Charles)
Just For A Thrill (Ray Charles)
Teardrops From My Eyes (Ray Charles)
Ellie, My Love (Ray Charles)
I Feel So Bad (Ray Charles)
I Can't Stop Loving You (Ray Charles)
[Blues Jam] (It's Time For Me To Close The Show / Bye Bye] (Ray Charles and B.B. King)
Outro

Ray Charles Live In Lugano (1986)

2012-01-09T14:49:00.009+01:00

The 'cover artwork' that comes
with the audio torrent
has photos of Ray from the 1990s.
The list of song titles has lots of errors.

On 1 July 1986 Ray Charles, his Orchestra and The Raelettes performed at the Estival Jazz Lugano, at the Piazza Della Riforma. The show, a French voice over said, was the first Ray Charles concert that was broadcast live on Swiss television (I assume it was aired by the French language public channel TSR 1). The picture and sound quality of the copy that I saw is mediocre.
This source suggests that an expanded version of the TV recording has survived: "Ray Live - Intro orchestra 3 tunes - Lugano -1986", but much to my regret these instrumentals weren't part of my viewing copy.
There is also an audio torrent circulating on the Web, with a rather small selection of the tunes that were performed, but including renditions of two songs that were also missing in my viewing copy (I Want Your Love and I Can't Stop Loving You). The torrent has an excellent sound quality.

The personnel line-up was highly similar to the one during the concert, less than a week later, at the Black Heritage Festival in Toyohashi, but in Lugano the band also included Ernest Vantrease on Hammond organ.

Intro
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)
I've Got News For You (solo Jeff Pevar - g, Ernest Vantrease - o)
Some Enchanted Evening (solo Rudy Johnson - ts)
She Knows
Intro Raelettes
I Want Your Love (with Estella Yarbrough) (solo Mo Pleasure - b)
Anyway You Want To (with The Raelettes) (solo Jeff Pevar - g)
I Can See Clearly Now (solo Jeff Pevar - g)
I'm Gonna Keep On Singin'
What'd I Say
Outro (1)
We Are The World
Outro (2)

'86 AT Lugano - I've Got News For You:

The song list of the audio torrent (probably taken from a radio broadcast) is not congruent with the setlist above. It has a few songs (#3 and 6) that are missing from the video, and also has mixed up the set order of the tunes. It could be, of course, that the Lugano gig was a double concert, and that this comes from a second show:

Some Enchanted Evening
She Knows
I Want Your Love
Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Don`t Change On Me
I Can't Stop Loving You
I Can See Clearly Now
What`d I Say
We Are The World
Outro

Also read this article, highlighting a little incident during the concert.

Ray Charles NOT Telecast At 5-4 Ballroom (Or Was He?) (1955, 1956)

2012-01-02T23:53:00.010+01:00

The California Eagle, Dec. 21, 1955.

On December 21, 1955, The California Eagle ran a page-wide 'advertorial' banner on its entertainment page, announcing: "Ray Charles 'weeking' at 5-4". The stint brought the "Sightless 88'er* Back On B'way" for the weekend (alternatively specified as a "4-Day Stay" and a "three-day stand", probably coming down to Friday 22, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 December, 1955).**

Historically, this publication is already interesting because it is the first time (that I know of) that Ray is promoted in a newspaper in a big way. But then, in the last paragraph of the same article, the writer suddently adds (it seems to be a last-minute insertion) without regret that "The one-hour television program, direct from the 5-4 Ballroom, has been rescheduled for Wednesday night instead of Sunday," implying that Charles would not be part of that "telecast".
"This makes it easier for more top name guest stars to be available," the editor went on, adding insult to injury.

In a column ("Soundtrack") on the same page, written by 'Chazz' Crawford, it's becoming clear that the title of the program was "Swing Street" or "Swing Street on TV", and that it had been launched just the Sunday before, but also that it had "No sponsors as yet".

The California Eagle, Jan. 5, 1956.

Then, two weeks later, on January 5, 1956, The California Eagle ran a second, similar, promotion, announcing that "Ray Charles returns to 5-4" for a 3-day stay starting on Friday, January 6.
"This is his second request performances in recent weeks", a small article explained, under the header "Crowd Pleased With Top Work Of Grand Band".

(Ray's 8-man small big band or 'combo' was just half a year old. In December the single I've Got A Woman had been released. The success of this song may have added to the appreciation of the LA audience).

If the TV show from the 5-4, despite the lack of sponsors, survived through the new year, and if it had returned to the Sunday, this could mean that Ray still made it to a telecast...

Reading this source, I think the TV show indeed survived. It was broadcast by KCOP-TV (Channel 13). Confusing is that in fact there was a Sunday evening format titled Swing Street, which was emceed by James Edwards, and (for a while, often, always?) co-hosted by Dinah Washington. But... there was also a format scheduled in the middle of the week, under the adequate title Spotlight Wednesday, "telecast from the bandstand and floor of the 5-4 Ballrooom", making it "the nation's first all-Negro produced and starring video program", which was also emceed by James Edwards.
Does anybody know more about the history of these programs?

The 5-4 Ballroom was named after its address at 54th and Broadway, in Los Angeles, in Watts. With a capacity of well over 1,000 people (contemporary stage photo here), for a few decades (from the '40s to the '60s) it was considered to be the LA equivalent of the Apollo Theatre (sketchy story here).
Intriguingly, we also know of a few photos of Ray Charles at the 5-4 Ballroom, from 1954, where he seems to be present as a private guest, just having a good time with his then-girlfriend Madlyn Glover, two of her brothers, and Little Willy John (more photos here). Were these photos shot during an intermission or after one of his shows?

* 88-er, or 88'er = piano player. ** Ray had been booked twice before at the 5-4 Ballroom on March 6 (maybe from 5 to 7 March), 1954 with Joe Liggins and his Honey Drippers, and from August 13 to 15, 1954, opening for Dinah Washington.

Keeping Time

2011-12-29T22:11:00.003+01:00

Ray Charles' timing was legendary. According to this research, it even reached "the limits of human time perception and physical action".

Soundclip of Fever, with Nathalie Cole:

(I don't want to ruin a good story, but did any of the researchers make sure that it was actually Ray himself doing the snapping, and, if so, that it was a one-take recording?).

Easy Living (Ray Charles Orchestra) (1992)

2011-12-28T17:46:00.002+01:00

Easy Living is a jazz standard from 1937, written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin for the film with the same title, directed by Mitchell Leisen.
James Polk arranged the tune for the Ray Charles Orchestra. The only known recording was at the 1992 Antibes concert.

Ray Charles Live In Antibes (1992)

2011-12-27T23:38:00.012+01:00

Spread from the 1992 European Tour
itinerary from promoter DIBA
(collection Steve Sigmund).
Things always changed after the
printing was done; therefore the data
on the personnel
were never entirely correct.

Ray Charles connoisseur J.P. Verger was so kind to let me listen in to a rare private recording of a live France-Inter radio program from July 20, 1992. It contains a large part of the concert performed by the Ray Charles troupe at the 32nd edition of Jazz à Antibes. The tape misses the three to five tunes where The Raelettes contributed to the show (Chain Of Fools, I Can't Stop Loving You and What'd I Say, and maybe a few more songs), but the good news is that it entails a set of four rare instrumentals*.
The radio program was presented by Julien Delifiori and another gentleman, who - regretfully - felt obliged to enhance the "live" character by frequently talking through the music. But they couldn't conceal that the band was in a very good shape that night.

Beatrice (The Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos: WC, JK)
Easy Living (The Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos: JK, JF, DH, JK)
Brazilian Skies (The Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos: JK, RJ)
Our Suite (The Ray Charles Orchestra) (solos: RJ, DH, JF, AW, JK, PT, CP-or-TM)
Intro Ray Charles + Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune)
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Mississippi Mud
How Long Has This Been Going On
Teardrops From My Eyes
Ellie, My Love
Intro Raelettes + Chain Of Fools (only the first notes)

#1, Beatrice, arranged by Wayne Coniglio, so far was only known from the Montreux '97 concert.
#2, Easy Living, arranged by James Polk, is the first known recording by the Ray Charles Orchestra.
#3, Brazilian Skies (arranged by Teddy Edwards), and #4, Our Suite (arranged by Roger Neumann), were first taped for the album Jazz Number II (1973); these are the first live recordings that I know of.

On July 21 the France 2 News had a 2m30s item on Jazz à Juan, also mentioning the concert. They showed some concert footage, and an interview with Ray, stating that "the money does not interest me, I don't care" (INA archive, ID CAB92042095), but I am not 100% sure if this footage really was from the day before, or from any earlier show.

Personnel:**
Musicians: Ted Murdock, Jeff Kaye, David Hoffman, Chuck Parrish - trumpets; Wayne Coniglio, Marc Fields, Mike Guerrier, Steve Sigmund - trombones; Steve Elliott, Al Jackson, Al Waters, Rudy Johnson, Jim Farnsworth - saxophones; ; Peter Turre - drums; Kenny Carr - guitar; Nils Johnson - bass; Ernest Vantrease - keyboards. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Pamela Diggs, Paula Moye, Angie Workman, Estella Yarbrough.
* Steve Sigmund helped to name the tunes.
** Soloists identified by Dave Hoffman, other corrections and additions as compared to the tour itinerary brochure by Orchestra alumni under direction of Steve Sigmund.

Christmas With Ray Charles (5x*)

2011-12-21T18:26:00.009+01:00

Businesswise, after scoring hit records, the best thing a musician can do to increase the value of his (back) catalog, is to tape Christmas songs. Ray Charles did so on five occasions - sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes odd, sometimes brilliant - and always soulful.

In 1976 (or 1979?) he celebrated Christmas In Ettal, with Sarah Jordan Powell. Watch clips here.
In 1985 the brilliant album The Spirit Of Christmas came out. You can listen to a few 'sound clips' on Youtube, but jukebox services like Spotify, LastFM and Pandora let you listen to the whole album.
In or around 1988 Ray featured in a few promotional clips, on TBN. You can watch one of the surviving clips here.
In 1994 Brother Ray contributed to the soundtrack of the film Love Affair, with a new version of The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). I'm afraid that there's currently no online resource where you can listen to it.
In 2002 Ray Charles, Jr. produced the concert DVD Ray Charles Celebrates A Gospel Christmas. You can watch the majority of the songs here, but I guess that the remainder of the footage will pop up again on Youtube during the coming weeks.

Merry Christmas!
* Joël Dufour reminded me that there was actually a sixth Xmas-related occasion: a Christmas DJ-only promotion single from 1978.

There's A Ray Charles Riot Going On (1960)

2011-12-21T16:17:00.010+01:00

Documentary footage about the on-tour adventures of the Ray Charles troupe is extremely rare. This makes a news clip from 1960 even more special.
In a comment to this article, a reader has convincingly established that the footage of this clip was shot in Portland, at and around the local Palais Royale Ballroom. These riots happened on September 4, 1960.
A newspaper article (right), from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of September 5, reported in more detail about the events.

The 51-second B/W news flash is archived by Global Image Works, who erroneously attribute the event to the Palais Royale Ballroom audience riots that took place "[...] in Bakersfield in January 1961, when a show didn't go on [...]. Police are called to break up crowd. Shots of police dragging away people to squad cars, broken windshields, poster announcing Ray Charles show, forcible arrests, spraying crowd with fire hose. No shots inside auditorium."

In these years Ray had somewhat of a reputation for turning up late, allegedly due to his drugs habit - sometimes leading to riotous behavior of the crowds. For more riots, read this.

This video is only visible for readers of this documentary blog. Please don't share the Youtube link outside this context.

Ray Charles Makes 3 Bucks In The Scene (1971?)

2011-12-21T12:16:00.003+01:00

Still from watermarked archive clip.

The Scene was a dance show that ran on WKY-TV (now KFOR) in Oklahoma from 1966 to 1974. The program was hosted by DJ Ronnie Kaye. The Dr. Pepper sponsored format ran for 8 years, and was syndicated in 10 markets in the southwestern United States including California and Texas.
In a Love Special from 1971 (?)*, Ray Charles performed I Can't Stop Loving You.

Historic Films was somehow able to license the performance (ID # TS-13); it can be watched in low res (and watermarked) here. Their database says Ray lip-sync'ed, but I think he simply sang and played piano live over an orchestra tape.

In the documentary Television Pioneers Kaye stated:

So if a Ray Charles would come to town or a Tina Turner would come to town I'd head to the Civic Center and say, "Mr. Charles I'll pick you up in the morning at nine o'clock, would you come out to the station?" And Ray said, "You know I think I will." Here I am with a genius of the business and I'm riding in the front seat with him coming out to Channel 4 and his manager leans over from the back seat and says, "How much are we getting paid for this?" and I said, "Oh my gosh we don't have a budget you know people just appear for the promotional value." He said, "Well we just turned down five thousand dollars to appear on the Ed Sullivan show." And my heart sank and I said, "Sir I'll have to turn you around and take you back to the hotel." He said, "I'll tell you what, just because we are members of the union if you will give us three dollars we will do it." I said, "Ok!" I gave him three bucks and we did the show."

In 2009 The Scene was on display and the subject of an event at the Oklahoma History Center (shaky clip):

* In the clip Ray actually looks 2 or 3 years younger to me...

Satisfaction & 1-2-3 (With The Ray Charles Orchestra) (1965)

2011-12-20T22:36:00.003+01:00

I've written before about The Big T.N.T. Show from 1965, but I only know this film through a number of context-less Youtube clips, and through what was left of it in the repackaged version of it, That Was Rock a.k.a. The T.A.M.I./T.N.T. Show (1984).
Seeing the clip below from the original show for the first time, made me pay attention to what the band is doing, and to who's in it. Although the odd arrangement (according to legend, charted by the awkward conductor himself, although this has been disputed by others) hardly asks for serious musicianship, that's certainly... Don Peake playing a few chords on his guitar. And, looking closer, some of the other musicians from the Ray Charles Orchestra also seem to make moves which may imply that they play along with the studio band:

Researching this a bit further, my next conjecture is that the Ray Charles Band must have contributed (or at least must have mimicked that they were contributing) also to the closing tune, One, Two Three (1-2-3), where David McCallum was again "conducting the orchestra".
This Madara-White-Borisoff-Holland-Dozier-Holland song is best known through Len Barry's hit version from '66, to be watched here (again in a strange, and rare, version - promoting casino gaming!):

In 1966 McCallum also put both tunes out on his album Music Is A Part Of Me.

Ray Charles & Lucio Dalla In Two Duets At The Teatro Greco In Taormina (2000)

2011-12-13T21:05:00.006+01:00

Lucio Dalla is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. On 20 August 2000 he performed "the most exciting duets" of his career during a Ray Charles concert with a symphony orchestra at the Teatro Greco in Taormina. The two gentlemen sang O Sole Mio and Yesterday.

In the video below Dalla reflects on this event. The Rai Uno program Taratata (presented by Vincenzo Mollica and Natasha Stefanenko , and directed by Cesare Pierleoni) covered the duets, and interviewed Ray. Wait for it.

For a contemporary newspaper review of the event, read this.

One More Superband Concert In Italy (With B.B. King) (1990)

2011-12-11T22:58:00.005+01:00

The program's logo (still).

I thought I had covered all there is to know about Ray Charles' and B.B. King's 1990 Philip Morris Superband tour in this article*.

But today yet another TV taping of yet another one of their concerts popped up in my inbox.

This show was broadcast by the Monagasque TV station TMC (Téle Monte Carlo). The venue was somewhere in Italy (both Ray and B.B. throw a few grazie's and grazie mille's into the audience). It may have been a second concert at Palatrussardi in Milan on November 8, or a second concert at Teatro Olimpico in Rome shortly before that date, or a concert before that same date at a third location.

The TV program entailed the following tunes (not necessarily representing the original set order, and not necessarily giving the complete concert):

Love Comes To Town (B.B. King)
Night Life (B.B. King)
Since I Met You Baby (B.B. King)
Paying The Cost To Be The Boss (B.B. King)
B.B. presents the band
'Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do (B.B. King)
Sweet Sixteen (B.B. King)
Intro Ray Charles
Let The Good Times Roll
Mississippi Mud
Just For A Thrill
What'd I Say
Ray re-introduces B.B. King back on stage
[Blues Jam] (with B.B. King)
Bye Bye (with B.B. King)

Who knows precisely when and where the concert took place, and when it was broadcast for the first time?
* In the light of what I wrote about the rehearsal sessions, it's remarkable that in this concert's line-up it's not Harold Jones who took the drummer's chair. Did he resign or did he get fired?

Ray Charles In Symphony Concert In Bourges (1987)

2011-12-11T17:06:00.001+01:00

Still from video copy.

Ray Charles' symphony concert at the 11th Bourges festival in April 1987 is best known from the excellent documentary Printemps De Bourges by Serge Ginsbourg. I was also aware of some more reels with footage of the festival, mainly with contemporary news items, that are kept by the INA archive (cf. this post for all).
Today a good friend enabled me to confirm that a TV program mentioned in Jazz On The Screen (a database compiled by David Seeker, now in the Library of Congress), titled Symphonie Ray Charles, directed by Jean-Paul Jaud, "with a symphony orchestra", has survived in a 30-minute version, and indeed can be identified with a (partial) TV taping of Ray's Bourges concert with the National Orchestra d'Ile de France, conducted by Jacques Mercier. The taping appears to be assigned by the festival organization; the credits of the video that I saw mention "Printemps Images" as the production company.
As usual, Ray brought his own rhythm section: Paul Kreibich (drums), Kenny Carr (guitar), and Roger Hines (bass). The four of them performed a red hot version of Lay Around.
The program shows:

All I Ever Need Is You
If You Go Away
(All I Wanna Do Is) Lay Around And Love On You (guitar solo by Kenny Carr)
Georgia On My Mind
Yesterday
Outro

From Ginsbourg's film we know that Ray also performed:

They Can't Take That Away From Me

The setlist at the concert was probably longer.

Ray Charles Live In A Symphony Concert At The Warsaw Jamboree (1996)

2011-12-10T17:37:00.007+01:00

Still from video copy.

After his marvelous concerts with his own band at the Jazz Jamboree in 1984, Ray Charles returned to Warsaw twice - in 1996 and 2000, both times for symphony gigs. From two video clips that already have been circulating for a while on the web (with songs #1 and #4), I already knew that the 1996 concert was televized.
Today's good news* is that the footage of the whole concert has survived - and that it was one of Ray's best symphony concerts ever recorded. The TV program, aired by TVP 2, was directed by Dariusz Goczal. Victor Vanacore conducted the Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Łódzkiej. Ray, as usual, brought his own rhythm section, with Kenny Carr (g), Curtis Ohlsson (b), and Peter Turre (d).

Tune #3 was never recorded in a studio; up till now it was only known from the setlist of the Charlotte Pops concert in 1998. Ray's leg work was captured from a full frontal angle by the Polish cameras when he played Big Scotia (#8). The 'Euro ballads' (#5 and 7), and A Song For You (#9) got very inspired renditions. And Ray performed Yesterday (#11) after a delicious Träumerei intro - a bit jazzier than in the 1988 concert at the Leeuwin Winery.

It Hurts To Be In Love
If I Could
Let's Get Away From It All
Georgia On My Mind
For Mamma
I've Got A Woman
If You Go Away
Blues For Big Scotia
A Song For You
All I Ever Need Is You
Yesterday

Who knows on exactly what date and at which venue the concert took place, and when it was first broadcast?

'96 LC Warsaw - It Hurts To Be In Love:

'96 LC Warsaw - Georgia On My Mind:

* Special thanks to Hector Tarin Nieto for scouting and sharing a private copy of the concert's footage.

Popo (With The Ray Charles Small Big Band) (1961)

2011-12-08T01:59:00.003+01:00

One of the recordings for radio, produced by ORTF during one of Ray Charles' concerts in Antibes in 1961, entailed the Shorty Rogers composition ‎Popo* (with a nice tenor/alto battle between David Newman and Hank Crawford). It's the only known recording of this tune by the Ray Charles (small big) band.

For Shorty's original, hear this. The tune is archived by INA. Read this post for context.
* Thanks to Jeff Helgesen, who identified the tune's origin.

Ray Charles At The Showboat On Voice Of America (1958)

2011-12-07T01:27:00.004+01:00

The Showboat was a famous "musical bar" or jazz club in the basement of the Douglas Hotel in Philadelphia. Jazz fans and jazz musicians hung at The Showboat nightly. Ray had a gig there as early as 1951, but possibly performed or hang out there more often during the 1950s and early 1960s. On any given night you'd see and hear Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane on the small stage.
Sheldon Harris, in Blues Who’s Who made a note on hearing Ray playing at The Showboat in 1958, when he was listening to Willis Connover's Voice of America radio show Music USA.
If any tape of the radio program has survived, it'd be in the VoA collection at the Library of Congress (The LoC online catalog doesn't have an entry on it, but I'm not certain if the VoA collection is fully cataloged by now).

Ray Charles In Music Hall America (1976)

2011-12-07T00:00:00.001+01:00

Music Hall America was a syndicated 1-hour country music variety TV show, taped at Opryland in Nashville, produced by Viacom and directed by Lee Bernhardi, that ran from 1976 to 1977.
In 1976 the series ran for 26 episodes, each with a different host, a.o. the Statler Brothers, Burl Ives, Mike Douglas, Jim Nabors, Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard, Pat Boone, Ray Charles, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
The happy tagline was: Come along and join the fun, come one, come all, come everyone! Come to the Music Hall America!
Ray Charles was headlined in a program with Tom T. Hall, Ronnie Prophet, Charlie McCoy, comedian Rip Taylor and Sandi Burnett. He performed America The Beautiful.
It's unclear if the footage survived (but Archival Television Audio Inc. may have a copy - cf. this).

Ray Charles Recorded Twice At Newport Jazz Festival In 1972

2011-12-05T16:31:00.014+01:00

As a part of their Voice of America collection, the Library of Congress has cataloged three "digital sound cassette[s], mono, digital (polyester)" with the Newport Jazz Festival program that was presented on 7 July 1972 at the Yankee Stadium in New York.
Sheldon Harris listened to (parts of?) the (or a?) show through Willis Conover's Music USA program.

One tape (LoC catalog number RGA 0442; RWD 8791) only has a Ray Charles concert. The other tapes (LoC catalog number RGA 0157-0158; RWD 6304-6305 B1) contain another concert of Ray's troupe, and the performances of an All-Star Band, the Dave Brubeck Trio, and B.B. King.

Concert A (RWD 8791)
According to the description of the first tape Ray, his orchestra and The Raelettes performed:

Unidentified Blues
I Feel So Bad
Georgia On My Mind
Feelin'
Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma
Eleanor Rigby
Indian Love Call
Shake
What'd I Say

Between tracks #7 and #8 a "Sound problem" occurred.

Concert B (RWD 6304-6305)
The contents of the other tape were described as:

Unidentified instrumental
I Feel So Bad
I Feel It
Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma
I Can't Stop Loving You
Eleanor Rigby
When I'm Calling You
What'd I say

With a "Buzz in the lines" between tracks #3 and #4, probably ruining the taping of Georgia.

Ad from New York Amsterdam News, Jun. 17, 1972.

It's not clear to which tunes the titles Feelin' and I Feel It refer; it may have been the usual adlib ditties to introduce The Raelettes. When I'm Calling You (#7) of the B-concert is a little enigma. I tend to identify it with Indian Love Call (as I also did when I described the 1972 Copenhagen concert), but of course it could be another, yet to be identified, song.

From a contemporary newspaper review I learned that Ray also sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame that day (source here). Photos: here and there.

According to the ad reproduced here, Charles, Brubeck and King shared the bill with "guests" Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, and Jimmy Smith (maybe these stars only played with the Brubeck trio?). To top it off, George Wein programmed a jam session with Kenny Burrell, Roy Haynes, Illinois Jacquet, Joe Newman, Zoot Sims and Clark Terry (i.e. probably the "all stars" in the description of the second tape set).
For a 5-LP/3-CD album set with many performances from the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival (but without Brother Ray), see this.

Let The Sun Shine In (With The National Urban Coalition, 1970)

2011-12-03T00:52:00.003+01:00

I totally missed that this clip has been on Youtube for more than a year now: a 1-minute version of the PSA Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In, with a National Urban Coalition of 99 other artists and celebrities. There were also 30-second ("Let the Sun Shine In" sung twice) and 2-minute versions (sung 10 times). It looks and sounds awful, but here it is:

Filmed in New York on a day in December 1969, first aired during The Ed Sullivan Show of 9 March 1970.
The group included a.o. Ralph Bunche, Henry Fonda, Merv Griffin, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Ali MacGraw, Leonard Nimoy, Leontyne Price, Ed Sullivan, Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Roy Wilkins, Flip Wilson, Mildred Dunnock, David Susskind, Bayard Rustin, Jim Bachus, Carlos Conde, Dina Merrill, John D. Rockefeller III, Debbie Offner, Cassandra Morgan, Arthur Goldberg, Richard Hatcher, Ossie Davis, Gwen Verdon, John W. Gardner, Pat Lambert, Jack Dempsey, Charles Lynch, Whitney Young, Ray Martel, Johnny Carson, Lillian Wong, Singer Williams, Dan Blocker, Chet Huntley, Myrna Loy, Cleveland Amory, Greg Morris, Greg Morris, Steve Lawrence, Ryan O'Neal, Leonard Nimoy, Dinah Shore, Gordon Parks, Carl Reiner, Martin Landau, Nipsy Russell.
Director Leonard Hirschfield used "a team of seven cinematographers" in the production. There's a 2 minute tape in the collection of the Paley Center (their database mentions Joshua Logan as the director), and another copy in the Historic Films archive (ID COM-19). For more context read these earlier posts: 1, 2.

A Girl I Used To Know (c 1968)

2011-12-02T18:42:00.004+01:00

Only known live version of this song, with The Raelettes, and Billy Preston on the B3, from the semi-bootleg It's A Blues Thing. Original studio release was on the album Ray's Moods, from 1966.

Soundclip:

Ray Charles Live In Stockholm (1973)

2011-12-01T15:52:00.001+01:00

On 2 October 1973 the Ray Charles troupe did a concert in Stockholm. I have recently heard a partial recording (possibly originating from a radio broadcast) of six of the tunes that were performed during this show (for the three - expected - remaining tunes, please read the comment to this article).

Intro
Let The Good Times Roll
The Bright Lights And You Girl
Come Live With Me
Feel So Bad
Don't Change On Me
Wee Baby Blues

#7 is the only known (slooooow) Ray Charles recording of this Joe Turner/Pete Johnson tune (here in a 1965 taping):

Ray Charles Live In Viareggio (1976)

2011-11-30T22:56:00.000+01:00

In earlier posts I've described how some of Ray Charles' concerts (in 1979 and in 1984) in Viareggio were covered by Italian TV (and possibly also radio). This article in the newspaper Unita implies that an earlier performance, on 3 August 1976, was also televized by Rai Uno - on 16 September of that same year. I assume that this program has not survived.

Ray Charles Live Over Radio At Ann Arbor Festival (1973)

2011-11-30T12:44:00.009+01:00

On 7 and 8 September 1973 the 4th Ann Arbor Blues And Jazz Festival took place at Otis Spann Memorial Field. The festival had been inaugurated by the University of Michigan in 1969, but was canceled in 1971. In 1972 the festival was successfully revived, and in 1973 the new organizers felt its programming was strong enough for a nation-wide live radio broadcast by NPR. The Ray Charles Show wound up the festival and the radio program on the Saturday evening.
(Source: Waterloo Iowa Daily Courier, 7 Sep. 1973). Watch some photos here.

A kind spirit provided me with some decent copies of six tracks that were performed during this concert (probably originating from the radio broadcast mentioned above):

Hey Mister
Shake
Every Saturday Night
Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong
Louise
What’d I say

#1 and #4 are unique live versions, only known from the album Message From The People (#1 could be a perfect protest song for the Occupy movement!).
#5, Louise, is a marvelously souled up version of the original release. If this version would have been released as a single, it could have been a hit.
There seems to be a stack of other songs from this concert, but these were marred by serious sound problems (Ray is heard constantly shouting at the sound engineer):

Let The Good Times Roll
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
I Can Make It Thru The Days
I Can't Stop Loving You

Personnel:

Musicians: Greg Abate, Claude Johnson - alto saxophone; Wilbur Brown, James Clay - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - bariton saxophone; Dan Ackerman, Phil Guilbeau, Walter Miller, Tony Horowitz - trumpet; Glenn Childress, Don Switzer, Ken Tussing, Craig Woods - trombone; John Henderson - organ; Harvey Sartch - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Scott Von Ravensberg - drums. Raelettes: Dorothy Berry, Denise Jackson, Mable John, Vernita Moss, Madelyn Quebec.*

* Based on notes provided by Joël Dufour, and comments by Tony Horowitz.

Ad from Ann Arbor Sun, July 12, 1973.

Ad from Ann Arbor Sun, Aug. 8, 1973.

More promotion materials here.

Ray Charles On 20/20 (1981)

2011-11-29T18:13:00.001+01:00

On 12 November 1981 the ABC news magazine 20/20 had a documentary item on Ray Charles, made by correspondent Bob Brown. After the usual biographical recap, the feature focused on the historic changes in Charles' music style. (Source: Hartford Courant, 12 November 1981).

What'll I Do (1988)

2011-11-28T11:02:00.002+01:00

Only known live version of this song, first recorded for the album Ain't It So, taped at Carnegie Hall for Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Salute, a CBS TV show from 1988 (see this for context).

'88 TV Irving:

Ray Charles Ft. In Schaefer Radio Show (1972)

2011-11-26T23:51:00.000+01:00

Ad in New York Amsterdam News,
Dec. 16, 1972.

Schaefer, a beer brand, had already been sponsoring their eponymous music festival in New York for a few years, when, in 1972, they also initiated a series of heavily advertised radio shows - titled The Schaefer Circle Of Stars - around African American stars on WBLS-FM, hosted by Frankie Crooker.

Ray Charles was featured in the episode that aired on December 15.
Who can tell me some more about the format of the show?

Who's That Girl?

2011-11-26T18:01:00.001+01:00

A photo in the New York Amsterdam News of August 3, 1963. Ray, as far as I know, did not have a daughter called Barbara. And the girl doesn't really look like an 11-year old.

So who is she?

Ray Charles Live In Viareggio (1979)

2011-11-26T01:45:00.005+01:00

For an update on this concert, go here.

On August 10 (or shortly before that day) 1979 Ray Charles gave a concert at Bussola Domani in Viareggio (cf. this). Rete 1 taped the show (director Antonio Moretti), and broadcast the program under the title Ray Charles - 'Il Genio' on 18 October of the same year (cf. this). I'm afraid the taping did not survive. At least a partial copy of the taping seems to have survived (see comments).

Ray Charles In TV Campaign For New Mexico Powerball Lottery (2002)

2011-11-23T22:24:00.001+01:00

From 2000 to 2002 Ray Charles contributed to a substantial series of state lottery campaigns. For the Oregon campaign and a story on Ray's wider involvement with the Powerball brand, read this earlier article. The Oregon Lottery also ran the campaign shown below.
For my post on the New Jersey Lottery, and a story on Ray's involvement in several other State lottery campaigns, see this. For the Georgia Lottery, read this, and check this article for the Wisconsin Lottery campaign.
The New Mexico and Oregon campaigns entailed a series of five commercials, all with musical and visual variations on the jingle's theme It's America's Game (The One And Only PowerBall). The New Mexico campaign ran in 2002, and was marketed in English and Spanish.

Rock 'n Roll theme:

Country theme (with the Paylettes):

Contemporary pop theme (taped at RPM with the Paylettes):

Jazz theme:

R&B theme (with the Paylettes):

Ray Charles Interviewed On BBC Worldwide (2001)

2011-11-21T11:40:00.000+01:00

In an episode of Meridian Masterpiece, a BBC Worldwide radio news program, Ray Charles talked about his life and his music. "Throughout his life he has shown great strength and has fought to get what he wants. He's a black man from a segregated town in the USA who performed in apartheid South Africa; a blind man who's created a foundation for the deaf", the BBC website announced. The program probably aired on or shortly after 12 April 2001. The 24-minute RealAudio soundfile of the program is still here.

Ray Charles Sings Reaching For The Dream, A Jingle For UNCF (1977)

2011-11-20T18:41:00.008+01:00

In a recent update of my post on Ray's contributions to the Parade Of Stars telethons for the UNCF (United Negro College Fund), I wrote about an undated PSA, archived by the Paley Center for Media, where "Ray Charles explains in a jingle that a whole new generation [of black students] is 'reaching for the dream that spells tomorrow.'"

This infomercial was part of a long running campaign with the evergreen-slogan "A mind is a terrible thing to waste", created in 1971 by Y&R. Sheldon Harris, in Blues Who's Who specifies that these commercials ran in 1977 - 1978.

Ray Charles expert Joël Dufour informed me that the jingle was the soundtrack of an infomercial that was distributed (I assume only to media) on 8mm film (in 60 and 30 second versions). Ray did not appear in the film.

UNCF, probably as part of the same action to get TV and radio stations involved in airing these materials, also ordered for a small quantity of DJ-only 45RPM singles.*
The commercial was probably directed by Gordon Parks; the jingle probably penned by Bill Eaton (cf. comments).

I have submitted the track of this single to Youtube:

* Has anybody ever seen a physical copy of this single; does anybody know an embeddable source for the actual film versions?

Ray Charles Sings America The Beautiful At World Series (2001)

2011-11-17T22:32:00.011+01:00

The weeks after 9/11 the American airwaves were filled with patriotic songs. Ray's America The Beautiful got tremendous airplay.

On 28 October 2001 he performed the song during game 2 of the World Series, at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix, where the Arizona Diamondbacks played against (and beat) the New York Yankees. The photo seems to imply that Ray performed more than just this song.

The match was aired by Fox. I assume the clip below comes from one of the DVDs offered here.

Learn To See (c 1993)

2011-11-13T14:00:00.006+01:00

Joe Scacciaferro is the founder of Ferro Productions, a video and music production company, and a winner of many Emmy Awards since 1993.

"One of Mr. Scacciaferro’s proudest accomplishments is a documentary exploring the life of people with Down Syndrome featuring a music video written by Mr. Scacciaferro and performed by his long time friend Ray Charles," Ferro's new website says. Title and year of this production are yet unknown (but I guess it must have been in or close to 1993).

Part of it was a song titled Learn To See, written and produced by Scacciaferro, and performed by Ray Charles. Who knows the name of the other singer (is it Deniece Williams?); and who knows more about the documentary?

Ray Charles' First Time In Concert At The Olympia In Paris (1962)

2011-11-05T18:36:00.007+01:00

In 1961 his two triumphant concert series in France (first with his small big band in Antibes, then with his orchestra in Paris) had given Ray Charles a semi-devine status in France. But when he returned to Paris on 17 May 1962 the word-of-mouth had done its work, and the "semi" was gone. The welcoming crowd of fans and journalist - headed by the local megastar Johnny Hallyday - at Orly Airport treated him "tel un dieu", like a god.
You only have to see the article in Cinémonde and the photos reproduced below - and here, here and here - to understand the impact that his return made.

From Cinémonde magazine, 29 May 1962.

From the 17th to the 22nd the Ray Charles group performed another totally sold out and very well received concert series at l'Olympia in Paris. There is proof that the French radio was present to record some of these - but the evidence so far is only one track long (a version of Lil' Darlin'*). I wouldn't be surprised if more tapings were stored in the vaults of Ina, or other archives. The set lists in Paris of course may have come close to the Berlin concert in March 1962.

The Paris personnel was not too different from the October '61 line-up. I guess everybody wanted to experience (again) what it was like to be world famous in France: Marcus Belgrave, Wallace Davenport, Phil Guilbeau, John Hunt - trumpets; Henderson Chambers, James Harbert, Keg Johnson, Leon Comegys - trombones; Hank Crawford, Rudy Powell - alto saxophones; David Newman - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Don Wilkerson - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Sonny Forriest - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass; Bruno Carr - drums. The Raelettes were the same group of girls as in '61: Pat Lyles, Margie Hendricks, Gwen Berry, and Darlene McCrea.

This poster is probably from 1962 (but could also be from 1963 or 1964).

Souvenir program, most probably from these concert series at the Olympia. "Twist Panorama" refers to a locally released compilation album carrying that title (Vega LP33), with songs by "Ray Charles, son orchestre et les Raelets", Maxine Brown, Lloyd price, Jon Thomas, The Barkays, and Jo Ann Campbell.
Keg Johnson is erroneously credited as a trumpeter; the other trombonists are missing in the line-up published here.

Coll. J.P. Verger.

Reception (precise date unknown) at the Club d'Étoile, organized by Vega, the local records distrubutor. Eddie Barclay right.

This photo was shot on or shortly after the 17th - backstage (source says incorrectly: at La Salle Pleyel).

*Information kindly provided by J.P. Verger.

The Montreux 1997 Bonus: 3 Ray Charles Orchestra Pieces

2011-11-04T15:46:00.003+01:00

The concert in Montreux on July 19th, 1997 is one of the best documented shows of the Ray Charles group. The concert was videotaped with 7 or 8 cameras, the sound recording had studio quality, and the show's director didn't miss a beat, editing an entirely relevant final montage of luscious close-ups and wider shots.
All music footage seems to have survived, including all four instrumentals that were played by the Ray Charles Orchestra that night.* (Only circulating among fans, there's even a few minutes of documentary video of the stage preparations).
The Blu-ray edition of the concert (Eagle Rock, 2008) has a unique interview with Ray, where he comments on all tracks that were part of the basic edition. As a second bonus this rare DVD also presents three more instrumentals by the Ray Charles Orchestra. These three tunes recently appeared on the internet for the first time, on a Russian website:

1. Just Friends (solos by Steve Elliott, Ken Scharf)
2. Beatrice (solos by Wayne Coniglio, David Hoffman)
3. Pas-Se-O-Ne Blues (solos by Rudy Johnson, David Hoffman, Ken Scharf)

#1, Just Friends (arranged by Bob Florence), and #2, Beatrice (in a marvelous arrangement by Wayne Coniglio) are both unique recordings.
# 3, Pas-Se-O-Ne Blues, was first taped for the album My Kind Of Jazz (1970), but this remains the only known live recording.
The beautiful solo by Rudy Johnson on Pas-Se-O-Ne is essential jazz history. Johnson played with the band for a quarter of a century, but precious few of his solos have been captured on video.

Musicians:
Ted Murdock, Roger Ingram, David Hoffman, Ken Scharf - trumpets; Mike Guerrier, Steve Sigmund, Clay Lawry, Wayne Coniglio - trombones; Al Waters, Al Jackson, Steve Elliott, Rudy Johnson, James Farnsworth - saxophones; Kenny Carr - guitar; Tom Fowler - bass; Ernest Vantrease - keyboards; Peter Turre - drums.

*The 4th instrumental was David Hoffman's Forty Pound Limit, which was part of the basic DVD release; see this.

Ray Charles Live In Antibes (1961)

2011-10-27T01:40:00.027+02:00

The 1961 Festival

The 1961 edition of the Antibes Jazz Festival, in later years also known as Jazz à Juan, was the second in its history.* It had Ray Charles, Count Basie, and Les McCann as headliners, but Ray was given a super star treatment, and actually fulfilled the role of - what we would now call - the artist in residence. Charles, his Orchestra (i.e. his 'small big band') and The Raelettes performed (at least) four times, and Ray was invited to all or most official receptions and gala meetings.

The concert series
The 2me Festival International Du Jazz, was first announced to be held from 17 to 23 July 1963 ("avec le Concours de la Radiodiffusion Television Française"), but the festival actually took place from the 18th until the 24th. The magazine Jazz Hot announced at least 3 sets by Ray Charles, and may well have implied a 4th performance at the closing gala on July 24th.

20 July: at the Pinède Gould; last mentioned in a program that started at 21:30h.
21 July: at the Pinède Gould; last mentioned in a program that started at 21:30h.
23 July: at the Pinède Gould; last mentioned in a program that started at 21:30h.
24 July: "Ray Charles and a not-yet-definitive program", probably in the context of a "Closing Gala at the Casino of Juan-les-Pins".

Poster (or program cover?)
of the 1961 festival,
with wrong date
range, as reproduced
by the magazine Jazz Hot.

These dates may have changed. In fact, the producer notes to the 2011 DVD Ray Charles - Live in France 1961 (see below) mention four variant concert dates: 18, 19, 21 and 22 July - possibly based on the labeling of the ORTF audio and video source materials, or on historic sources unknown to me. (If Ray performed during the closing gala on the 24th, it was not filmed, or the footage didn't survive).

Recordings
According to the liner notes of the 2011 DVD (see below), four concerts were filmed for ORTF television, all directed by Jean-Christophe Averty (who, until the early 1990s, would be involved in many more of Ray's concert tapings in France). The same concerts were also taped for radio broadcasts. The latter, of course in a heavily remastered version, were used for the audio part of the 2011 DVD.
The producers of the DVD-set Ray Charles Live In France 1961 discovered that the footage from the festival was originally edited into nine different Best of the Antibes Jazz Festival programs, broadcast by RTF from the summer of 1961 to the spring of 1962. "This Ray Charles footage was never intended to be shown as a full-length project," explained Reelin' In The Years' David Peck, "But [...] we found the radio recordings of the full sets, giving us a way to edit everything together to become this seamless experience and amazing document of Ray Charles."

The Ina archive has databased several items. It's not yet clear to me how these items relate to the series of 9 programs mentioned in the paragraph above, and/or if (some of?) the contents of these programs were used for the 2011 DVD:

Interview Ray Charles and Count Basie ('61 IV Antibes). First aired on TF 1 News on 18 July 1961. Contents, according to Ina's database entry were a.o.: Airport of Orly; Ray Charles comes from plane; Ray Charles carrying a Bible in Braille under the arm; Interviews with Ray Charles and Count Basie. (Ina ID CAF91038028).
Festival 1961: Ray Charles. First aired on 21 July 1961 by TF 1. Contents a.o.: 1. Doodlin' (Ray Charles Orchestra), Let The Good Times Roll, Georgia On My Mind, Sticks And Stones (Ina ID CPF86644253); 2. Georgia On My Mind (Ina ID CPF86644253).
Festival 1961: Count Basie - Ray Charles. First aired on TF 1 on 21 October 1961. Contents: 1. Festival overview with clips from concerts by Ray Charles and Count Basie (Ina ID CPF86644255); 2. What'd I Say (Ina ID ID CPF86644255).

Update 7 December 2011:
One of the recordings for radio, archived by INA, entailed the Shorty Rogers tune ‎Popo (with a nice tenor/alto battle between David Newman and Hank Crawford). For Shorty's original, see and hear this.

Releases
The bootleg DVD Jazz à Juan (until recently on sale via Ebay), seemed to represent all footage stored at Ina, the French national radio and tv archive. It presented the setlists of a Première Partie, a Deuxième Partie (this numbering was fictional), and five Bonus items. But the bootleg missed two tracks, namely the versions of I Wonder and Sticks And Stones from the last two concerts in the series.

Bootleg Ray à Juan

The contents of the 'official' DVD, Ray Charles - Live in France 1961 (Eagle Rock, 25 October 2011, ASIN: B005JJSGAS1) are very similar to the bootleg, but of course the new release presents the film footage and the audio in optimized, remastered versions. This DVD specifies the following track list:

Concert 18 July:

The Story
Doodlin'
One Mint Julep
Let The Good Times Roll
Georgia On My Mind
Sticks And Stones
Hallelujah I Just Love Her So
What'd I Say

Concert of 22 July:

Hornful Soul
Let The Good Times Roll
Georgia On My Mind
My Bonnie
With You On My Mind
Ruby
Tell The Truth
I Wonder
Sticks And Stones
I Believe To My Soul
What'd I Say

Concert of 19 July:

The Story
Sticks And Stones
Yes Indeed
I Believe To My Soul
What'd I Say

Concert of 21 July:

I Wonder

The producers' notes go deeper into some of the provenance and production details:

"It is from these [9 RTF] programs that we culled 105 minutes of Ray Charles' various performances and tried to reassemble them into the original order of the sets. It is important to note that the footage included in this Ray Charles – Live In France [DVD] was never originally intended to be broadcast as a full-length program."
"In 1961, long before the digital age, films were edited by physically cutting and splicing segments together and discarding the rest (on the famed “cutting room floor.”) Unfortunately, this is why only 105 minutes exist from the four sets Ray and the band performed in July 1961. The biggest task for us was how to put the 25 songs that were spread out across the various programs back together into a seamless Ray Charles concert experience. To make matters worse, the individual songs were often missing the first and last notes. Fortunately, the full sets existed as radio recordings. This allowed us to (for the most part) rearrange the clips into their original running order, fix all of the missing heads and tails of the performances, and as a bonus, gave the whole project far superior sound! This still left us with the challenge of creating the visual bridges between the songs; our solution to this was to insert audience shots culled from the over 20 hours of footage filmed at the festival that year."
The audio mastering was done by Joe Palmaccio. "He took our damaged 50-year-old radio tapes that were less than ideally recorded and brought out a brilliant, fully rounded sonic clarity that we could have only hoped was somehow buried in those tapes."

The DVD-film's worldwide premiere took place on 20 October 2011, presented by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles. The screening was followed by "a panel discussion, moderated by biographer David Ritz, that included director David Peck, one of the film’s producers Tom Gulotta, Ray Charles catalog authority James Austin and Rob Bowman, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Toronto's York University, whose incisive liner notes are part of the Ray Charles - Live In France 1961 package".

Personnel
Musicians: Phil Guilbeau, John Hunt - trumpets, Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; David Newman - tenor saxophone, flute; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Edgar Willis - bass; Bruno Carr - drums. The Raelettes: Pat Lyles, Margie Hendricks, Gwen Berry, Darlene McCrea.

Official 2011 DVD Trailer:

'61 LC Antibes - What'd I Say (not from the bootleg or from the 2011 DVD):

Update 8 November 2011:

Someone ripped the 22 July concert plus I Wonder from the 21 July concert, and uploaded it to Youtube (expect it to be removed soon!).
Video quality is superior compared to the bootleg, but less good than I hoped for (cf. the superior video remastering of the footage in the What'd I Say clip, above). The audience shots (also taken from concerts by other artists) are no improvement. Very awkward: the editing mistake with a tele lens shot from one of the earlier RC concerts.

Photo documentation

Poster in Antibes, "Celui que l'Amérique appelle 'le genie'" (collection J.P. Verger).

One of the infamous Antibes kitchen chairs from the first concert. The festival organizers obviously didn't expect the band to read music.

David Newman, Hank Crawford, John Hunt, and the kitchen chairs (collection J.P. Verger).

The Raelettes (collection J.P. Verger).

Coll. J.P. Verger.

Ray's exit at one of the later concerts (collection J.P. Verger).

On stage with mayor Dumas; Joe Adams left, Phil Guilbeau right (collection J.P. Verger).

Reception a/o press conference, with mr. Dumas, the mayor of Antibes/Juan-les-Pins, Count Basie and Ray Charles.

(Collection J.P. Verger).

Article in Disco Revue (Oct. 12, 1961). Ray promises the interviewer to take language courses, to get beyond the stage of the 'merci beaucoups', Then he asks her to scout a 20 acre terrain for him in France, big enough to build a house and to land his plane.

Note
* More on the history of the Antibes/Jazz à Juan festival in this article. For Ray Charles concerts in later years read this.

Ray Charles' Statement On Drugs In Let's Go (1968)

2011-10-20T00:57:00.003+02:00

Still, originally possibly from Australian interview.

The weekly Let's Go music show was produced by CBC in Canada, and was hosted by Bill Good, Jr. The footage below shows sequences from an episode titled Let's Go - Psychedelic. The clips form an entertaining time document (a highly moralistic and therefore utterly hilarious one, looking at it through 2011 eyes), examining the Flower Power, Hippie, Psychedelic and drugs scenes in 1968.

Country Joe, Pat Boone, Richard Pryor, The Everly Brothers, The Beach Boys, Harper's Bizarre, Little Richard, Bobby Hebb, and Frank Sinatra Jr. were among the interviewees. Ray Charles, Timothy Leary and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi were also featured.

The sequence with Ray Charles' refreshingly independent statement (also watch Pryor for that angle!) possibly comes from an interview shot at Sydney Airport, on 16 August 1967 (also see this post).

Ray at 8:40:

Birth Of A Big Band: Ray Charles' October 1961 Concerts In Paris

2011-10-09T23:46:00.055+02:00

Don Wilkerson.

David Newman.

Hank Crawford.

John Hunt.

Phil Guilbeau.

Keg Johnson.

Leroy Cooper.

Sonny Forriest.

Bruno Carr.

Introduction
In 1961 Ray Charles conquered France. End of July he was the "artist in residence" (as we would now call it) at the Antibes festival, where he performed 3 or 4 times with his "small big band". The French national broadcasting organization, ORTF, followed everything with film & sound teams, making Ray's shows the subject of a series of broadcasts over TV and radio. The combined film/sound results are the source of the highly anticipated, soon to be released DVD Ray Charles Live In France 1961.
That "In France"-part of the new DVD's title certainly is a bit too expansive. Because if the July 1961 Antibes concerts represent the Holy Grail of Ray Charles' live history, then the October 1961 Paris concerts surely represent the Nibelung Treasure of raycharlesiana.
Soon after his triumph in Antibes, Ray returned to Europe and France, from 18 to 22 October 1961, for concerts in Zurich (18th), Lyon (19th), and three days of shows with his new big band at the (then new) Palais des Sports in Paris (20th - 22nd). The ORTF radio station France Inter send a crew to tape a number (or possibly even all) of these concerts.
The tapes (or a substantial portion of them?) have survived. Within the live-music part of Ray Charles' total body of work their importance (on the levels of quality, quantity, and uniqueness) is only equaled by the Antibes 1961 footage.
These two series of gigs definitively established Charles' fame in France, where he not only became the #1 bestselling jazz artist for many years to come, but also a seasonal phenomenon, who would be warmly welcomed to the country's biggest venues and festivals almost every year for the next 40 years, through the years consistently covered by French radio and TV, and reaching a fame and status that matched the appreciation for the most famous local chanteurs.

The concert series
It is not sure exactly how many concerts were held in the 1961 Palais des Sports series. A contemporary radio & TV magazine suggested there were four, which is certainly not accurate. The presenter of a radio program implied there were six, and so did Jazz Magazine (#77, Dec. '61, in Un Roi À Paris, an article by Pierre Lattes and Philippe Nahman), who specified an extension with 2 days of the group's stay in Paris, a total of 6 concerts, and a record-breaking total of 35,000 people in the audience (70% of them in the age group 16 to 20, the magazine concluded). But a more recent oral 'testimony' by an eye witness entailed that there was an extra (i.e. 7th) concert that was exclusively attended by members of the U.S. Forces stationed in France.

From the souvenir program of the concert series, with some (not unusual) errors in the personnel listing (collection Joël Dufour).

The tapes
In 1989 Ray Charles-expert Joël Dufour did an autopsy on "all" surviving tapes (2) of the 1961 Paris concerts at INA, the national French archive for TV and radio content. He evaluated four tape sets: (3)

Tape set 1 (4 tapes; INA ID LVZA/13) - Concert Saturday October 21, 1961 (evening?).
Tape set 2 (4 tapes; INA ID LP59631) - Concert Sunday October 22 (afternoon).
Tape set 3 (2 tapes; INA ID LP54433 - Broadcast of program Jazz sur scène by Paris Inter on October 22, 1961.
Tape set 4 (1 tape; INA ID LR47090) - unknown date.

Tape set 1	Tape set 2	Tape set 3	Tape set 4
LVZA/13-A (band only)	LP59631-2 (band only)	LR47090 (band only)	LP54433-A (Ray Charles w/band)
5 instrumentals	4 instrumentals	Ray Minor Ray	One Mint Julep
(incl. Happy Faces and Roll In G)	(incl. Roll In G and Birth Of A Band)	Roll In G	Let The Good Times Roll
			Georgia On My Mind
LVZA/13-B (Ray Charles w/band)	LP59631-C (Ray Charles w/band)	(Ray Charles w/band)
One Mint Julep	One Mint Julep	Doodlin'	LP54433-B (Ray Charles w/band)
From The Heart	Doodlin'	Hallelujah I Just Love Her So	Alexander's Ragtime Band
Moanin'	From The Heart	Margie	I Believe To My Soul
Let The Good Times Roll	Hallelujah I Just Love Her So	I've Got News For You	My Bonnie
Georgia On My Mind	Georgia On My Mind	Moanin’	Come Rain Or Come Shine
Hallelujah I Just Love Her So		Georgia On My Mind	What'd I Say
	LP59631-D (Ray Charles w/band)	Yes Indeed
LVZA/13-C (Ray Charles w/band)	Margie	My Bonnie
Just For A Thrill	I've Got News For You	Hit The Road Jack
Margie	Moanin’
Alexander's Ragtime Band	Alexander's Ragtime Band
I Believe To My Soul	I Believe To My Soul
My Bonnie	My Bonnie
I Wonder	I Wonder
Sticks And Stones
My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do)	LP59631-E (Ray Charles w/band)
	Yes Indeed
LVZA/13-D (Ray Charles w/band)	My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do)
Hit The Road Jack	Hit The Road Jack
Come Rain Or Come Shine	I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
What'd I Say	What'd I Say
What'd I Say (reprise)

As far as I know now, the known source materials encompass 30 different tunes, most of them in several (possibly amounting to a total of over 60) versions. But there are still some clues, all requiring further research, that there's still more to explore.

Band only:	Ray Charles w/band:
Along Came Betty	Alexander's Ragtime Band
Birth Of A Band	Come Rain Or Come Shine
Blue Stone	Doodlin'
Dat Dere	From The Heart
Ghana	Georgia On My Mind
Happy Faces	Hallelujah I Just Love Her So
Roll In G	Hit the Road Jack
Whisper Not	I Believe to My Soul
	I Wonder
	I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
	I've Got News For You
	Just For A Thrill
	Let The Good Times Roll
	Margie
	Moanin'
	My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do)
	My Bonnie
	One Mint Julep
	Ray Minor Ray
	Sticks And Stones
	What'd I Say
	Yes Indeed

All in all, these 1961 big band concerts are as magnificent as the legendary 1964 Shrine live concert, but the number of tunes (and versions) is much bigger. And one could argue that the October 1961 concerts caught Ray Charles at the real pinnacle of his creativity.
The sound of the band was very much the same as on the 1960 album Genius + Soul = Jazz, from which he took I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town and I've Got News For You, plus the instrumentals From The Heart, Moanin' and One Mint Julep. This album atmosphere was further enhanced by Ray's own - brilliant - (B3 Hammond) organ playing.
But Ray went back to other parts of his 'back catalog' as well. He performed a number of tunes from his Atlantic years (Hallelujah I Just Love Her So, Yes Indeed, I Believe To My Soul, My Bonnie, What'd I Say, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Let The Good Times Roll, Just For A Thrill, Come Rain Or Come Shine), and he selected a nice set of songs from his recent recordings for ABC (Georgia On My Mind, Sticks And Stones, My Baby, Margie, I Wonder, Hit The Road Jack).
For the instrumentals he gratefully borrowed from the book of the Quincy Jones Big Band (Birth Of A Band, Moanin', etc.) (4) , and from Hank Crawford's early 1960s albums. The big band charts for Come Rain Or Come Shine, Georgia On My Mind and Just For A Thrill were newly written, on Ray's special request, by Quincy Jones.

My personal favorite is one of the alternate renditions of Come Rain Or Come Shine. It's really sensationally bluesy. Ray introduces and then afterwards thanks Don Wilkerson by name (an honorary treatment that only Johnny Coles was entitled to in later years, every time he did his solos on Am I Blue...).

The Paris audience clearly recognized most tunes, the old and the newer ones, and they abundantly showed their appreciation, adding the required delicious live flavor to the tapings.

The radio broadcasts
The radio & TV guide La Semaine de Radio Télé for the week of October 29 to November 4, 1961 (#44) had an article titled Au royaume du jazz l’aveugle Ray Charles est roi ("In the kingdom of jazz the blind Ray Charles is king"), which stated that "Ray gave 4 concerts at the Palais des Sports. The [first] broadcast of the recordings by Paris Inter took place last Sunday, October 22, and [the second broadcast] will take place next Sunday, October 29 at 4.15 p.m." The program was presented by André Francis.
For the program on the 29th this article announced the following tunes (presented here with obvious title corrections, BS):

1. Hallelujah I Just Love Her So
2. (The Night Time Is) The Right Time
3. Sticks And Stones
4. What'd I Say
5. Let the Good Times Roll
6. Yes Indeed
7. I Believe To My Soul
8. Hot Rod
9. Georgia On My Mind

The autopsy on the INA-tapes, however, didn't show a trace of the numbers 2 and 8… (emphasizing again that additional research is still necessary).
National public radio broadcasting organizations in Europe have maintained extensive exchange programs for live music since 1950. In that context recordings from the 1961 concert series in Paris were shared with Radio Suisse Romande and RAI in Italy. It seems probable that someone involved in the production of the RAI program, somehow, has been the origin of the first bootleg CD mentioned below.

Release history
Some time in the 1990s the obscure Italian magazine Blu Jazz was able to surprise their readership with a sealed-in premium pressing to one of their editions, under the title Ray Charles In Paris - Live; Palais Des Sports 22 Ottobre 1961, issued on the Isabel label. It presented 12 tracks.

Later, the same content was the subject of a whole slew of bootleg-ish (re-)releases. In their series "The Golden Age Of Jazz", a slightly less obscure Italian label, Suisa, brought their 10th CD, X. Ray Charles - Genius + Soul = Jazz. Live! (JZCD 310), to the collectors' market. This CD got a much wider distribution, and is still for sale through several web shops (frequently also through Amazon UK - ASIN: B00004VOE1 - where SBA is currently mentioned as the record label).

Then there is a CD (or entirely digital bootleg?) titled Ray Charles - Paris '66, and subtitled Ray Charles - Palais des Sports - Paris - October 22, 1966. The wrong year probably was an attempt to obscure the source of this release.

The 'original' track list of the "Italian" bootlegs is:

1. Let The Good Times Roll
2. Come Rain Or Come Shine
3. Hallelujah I Just Love Her So
4. I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
5. Margie
6. Georgia On My Mind
7. Alexander's Ragtime Band
8. I Wonder
9. Hit The Road Jack
10. I Believe To My Soul
11. What'd I Say
12. Finale - Pop Goes The Weasel

Only recently, BD Music in France released a Ray Charles 2-CD in their BD Blues series (23 September 2010, BDBL194 - BD100, EAN : 9782849071946; don't miss this nice clickable brochure). It contained two of the formerly unknown tracks from the October '61 concert(s) in Paris (INA ID LP5963-E):

Yes Indeed
My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do)

An incidental alternate version of What'd I Say, taped at one of the other October concerts, was released on the LP Europa Jazz (various artists; EJ 1001; Amazon ASIN nr B0030FEOR2), which also contained an October 1961-version of Come Rain. What'd I Say was also released on The Ray Charles Collection (DéjaVu, CD 2005), and on I Giganti Del Jazz 1, which - as good as sure from the same concert(-series?) - also contained Georgia.

Personnel
Musicians: Marcus Belgrave, Wallace Davenport, Phil Guilbeau, John Hunt - trumpets; Henderson Chambers, Leon Comegys, James Lee Harbert, Keg Johnson - trombones; Hank Crawford (band leader) (5), Rudy Powell - alto saxophone; David Newman - tenor saxophone, flute; Don Wilkerson - tenor saxophone; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Bruno Carr - drums; Sonny Forriest - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass. The Raelettes: Pat Lyles, Margie Hendricks, Gwen Berry, Darlene McCrea.

Photo documentation


Clipping from the Chicago Defender, Oct. 28, 1961. The band embarking for Europe in mid October, from Idlewild Airport.*

Until recently I had found just two - be it magnificent - photos of the concerts at Palais des Sports. One of Ray standing at his B3 (see this), and one offering a bird's eye view on the whole orchestra:

From Jazz Hot, Dec. 1961.

From Jazz Magazine 77, Dec. 1961.

A file that I received from J.P. Verger, though, was made even more enjoyable by inclusion of a ZIP with a series of scans from unique photos of the 1961 big band, taken from contemporary magazine articles in Jazz Magazine and Jazz Hot, covering the October concerts. Photos of individual members of Ray's band are extremely rare, but these series even include a number of excellent close-ups (see top of this article; click to enlarge). The photographer of most or all of these pics was J.P. Leloir.

Here come the most interesting remaining pics:

Sax section woth David Newman, Rudy Powell, Don Wilkerson, Leroy Cooper.

Cover of Jazz Magazine 77, Dec 1961 (collection J.P. Verger).

Ray at his B3.

Photo attributed by source to '68 show at La Pleyel, but it must be from one of the '61 concerts.

From the same series? Photo by Hervé Gloaguen.

From a story related to his drugs problems, in Ciné Revue, 1961.

From Jazz Hot, #17, Nov. 1961 (collection J.P. Verger).

The Raelettes, from right to left: Pat Lyles, Gwen Berry, Margie Hendricks, Darlene McCrea (collection J.P. Verger).

The Raelettes, from left to right: Pat Lyles, Gwen Berry, Margie Hendricks, Darlene McCrea (collection J.P. Verger).

From Jazz Hot, Dec. 1961: Pat Lyles, Gwen Berry, Margie Hendricks, Darlene McCrea (collection J.P. Verger).

From the legacy of Kurt Mohr - a Swiss citizen, living in Paris, who really established the European jazz discography tradition as we know it today, and who, contrary to most jazz discographers, always also dealt with Blues and R&B, and became the specialist in this area - I can also present the following snap shots:

Phil Guilbeau, John Hunt, Kurt Mohr, David Newman.

Leroy Cooper and Kurt Mohr.

Kurt Mohr and Ray Charles.

And then there were a number of publicity shoots during the band's stay in Paris, some with excellent results (the black and white balcony photo by Claude Azoulay for Paris-Match is famous):

From article in Paris Match, Nov. 1961 (coll. J.P. Verger).

For (links to) more photos see the 1961 Chronology page.

Curiosa
In July 1961 a Dutch newspaper announced that Marlene Dietrich would perform during the intermissions of Ray's October concerts. Not true;-!
Use this as a starting point for the much sadder story on the "Algerian" October riots in Paris, and Ray's (marginal) role in them.

Desiderata
Apart from the autonomous quality of the October concerts, nothing substantiates their uniqueness claim better than the following overview:

Only known recordings: Blue Stone (Hank Crawford), Happy Faces (the Sonny Stitt tune), Dat Der (Bobbie Timmons), Along Came Betty and Whisper Not (both written by Benny Golson). Roll In G probably was a Ray Charles composition, somewhat reminiscent to Rockhouse, but surely not as memorable as that tune. The band nevertheless really went loose on this simple rock tune (the renditions had a duration of 11 to 12 minutes), but the crowd went berserk.
Only known live versions: From The Heart. First known live versions: Alexander's Ragtime Band, Birth Of A Band, Come Rain Or Come Shine, From The Heart, Hit the Road Jack, I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town, I've Got News for You, Just For A Thrill, Margie, Moanin'.
First known live big band versions: Doodlin', Georgia, Hallelujah I Just Love Her So, I Believe To My Soul, I Wonder, Let The Good Times Roll, My Bonnie, One Mint Julep, and Ray Minor Ray (first album recording in 1975, on My Kind Of Jazz Part II!) .
Possibly first known live big band versions: Sticks And Stones.

These truly historical concerts deserve an "audiophile" release, also to put an end to all dilettante bootleg releases. A "final" search for all surviving tapes should be conducted in the vaults of INA (and preferably also in the archives of other national radio organizations in Europe). Alternate versions should be analyzed. An expert should select the best tracks for a balanced basic release, but of course I'd like to see the alternative takes added as bonus materials.
The good news is that most of the selection work has already been done by Joël Dufour, who in 1989 and 1990 successfully intermediated in a preliminary agreement between Ray Charles Enterprises and a French record company to issue a Double-CD with a selection of 24 tracks from the October concerts. (6)

Such a release, of course, would also be an excellent occasion to write and publish the amazing "1961 - 2001 Reception History of Ray Charles in France".

(1) The October 1961 concerts in Paris by Ray Charles have been subject of earlier posts on this blog. The last update was only a week ago. The new paragraphs in that version of this article were mainly based on an amazing ZIP file, which I received from Ray Charles connoisseur Jean-Paul Verger. It contained a bunch of so far unknown recordings from these concerts, plus a stack of beautiful photo scans. This last article provoked another French gentleman, Joël Dufour - the world's number one Ray Charles expert, to inform me that the treasure of the October concerts is even bigger. Much bigger. Although I fully realize that only Dufour is equipped to describe the scope and value of these recordings, I also happen to be aware that he is too busy with other research and publications to spend time on this single issue anytime soon. Therefore I have asked him to grant me a sneak peak into his database and notes, for this quick update on my earlier articles.
(2) If I'm informed correctly, it's possible that the INA vaults contain more source materials.
(3) The numbering of the tape sets does not represent any chronological order.
(4) Jones, after returning from Europe in 1960, where his big band went virtually bankrupt, in one of the most generous gestures in the history of modern music, had given his band's book (today hopefully still present in the vaults of the Ray Charles Museum) to Ray.
(5) Hank Crawford played the organ on Roll In G.
(6) Why this initiative did not reach the market, is a separate, sad and sometimes funny story, which once may be told by Dufour himself. Many thanks to J.P. Verger and J. Dufour for their valuable input.

* Many thanks to Jean-François Pitet of the Hi de Ho blog for providing me with this and many other newspaper clippings.

Ray Charles Presents American Music Award To Charlie Rich (1975)

2011-10-07T13:12:00.001+02:00

At the American Music Awards, on 18 February 1975, Diana Trask and Ray Charles presented the award for the "Favorite Country Male" category to Charlie Rich.

Ray Charles Guests At 19th CMA Awards (1984)

2011-10-07T12:44:00.004+02:00

On 8 October 1984 CBS aired the 19th Annual Country Music Awards, held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. Kenny Rogers hosted. Ray Charles and Charlie Pride guested.
Producer Dick Clark's media database mentions 14 May 1984 as the premiere date.
Ray did a duet with George Jones - We Didn't See A Thing.
Youtube shows quite some footage from the program, but nothing (yet) with Ray & George.

Ray Charles' Last Birthday Party Filmed (2003)

2011-10-07T12:18:00.001+02:00

Stock agency CelebrityFootage has databased a clip of Ray's last birthday celebration, at his studio in Los Angeles (clip ID # 6322_001). It shows him with Willie Nelson and Quincy Jones.
Ray Charles Enterprises used it to generate some PR around Ray's health situation. A member of the Jazzcorner forum adequately responded, "It figures if Ray would be sidelined by an ailment, it would be a hip one".

Horns In Minor (Ray Charles Orchestra) (1984)

2011-10-04T23:58:00.003+02:00

Dan Marcus (video still).

Performed at the Nancy concert in 1984, where Dan Marcus took care of the trombone solo. See this for context. The tune was composed and arranged by Onzy Matthews.*
* Information kindly provided by Steve Sigmund and Peter Turre.

Mister Ray Charles Live In Nancy (1984)

2011-10-04T16:06:00.021+02:00

About one and a half year ago I found a copy of a newscast from a regional French TV station promoting the Festival De Jazz De Nancy 84 (a.k.a. Nancy Jazz Pulsations) that took place that same day, October 18, 1984. It showed archive materials from some of the stars, including a - hardly relevant - edit of Ray's old 3/4 Times videoclip. A year ago a video with Some Enchanted Evening, performed at this same Nancy concert, popped up on Daily Motion:

I also found a source mentioning a 20 minute TV compilation of the festival, with Michel Petrucciani, Ray Charles, and The Antoine Hervé Big Band. But, more importantly, I found strong evidence that Ray's one-hour concert had been recorded for TV, and that the footage had survived.
I've just seen a 1-hour (57m23s) copy of this broadcast, titled TF1 Présente Mister Ray Charles. The TV program most probably did not follow the order of the original set list, which must have started with #6 and 7.
Tune #9 got an unusually brief and slobby treatment. As if The Genius didn't like what he heard himself do with it, he morphed it into a splendid version of She Knows.
The performance of Come Rain Or Come Shine is probably the best* ever recorded - Ray and his orchestra let every single note shine.
* NOTE 11 October 2011: after hearing the first of the bonus versions reviewed here, I have to correct this into "second best".

Horns In Minor (Ray Charles Orchestra; trombone solo - Dan Marcus)
Intro
Feel So Bad (guitar solo - Dennis Nelson)
Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
Come Rain Or Come Shine (trombone solo - John Boice; tenor solo - Rudy Johnson)
Busted
Georgia On My Mind
Some Enchanted Evening
If You Wouldn't Be My Lady
She Knows
For Mamma
Intro Raelettes
I Can't Stop Loving You
What'd I Say
Outro

Personnel:
Musicians: Brian Mitchell, Clifford Solomon (band leader), Ricky Woodard, Rudy Johnson, Louis Van Taylor - saxophone; Robbie Kwock, Mark Curry, Jim Seeley, Jeff Kaye - trumpet; John Boice, Dan Marcus, Dan Weinstein, Dana Hughes - trombone; Bobby Floyd - organ; Dennis Nelson - guitar; Roger Hines - bass; Ricky Kirkland - drums. The Raelettes: Trudy Cohran, Anne Johnson, Janice Mitchell, Elaine Woodard, Estella Yarbrough.

In the first clip mentioned above, Ray was credited for having "inaugurated" the first Nancy Jazz Festival, in 1973, but I haven't found any further traces of this concert.

Update 16 October 2011:
The INA radio archive holds a recording of a 1h23m radio program dedicated to the Nancy Jazz Pulsation (ID 589021; DL R 19940129 FCR). It was produced by Radio France, categorized as a documentarty, and aired on 29 January 1994 in their France Culture series. This description regretfully does not specify the precise contents, but Ray Charles (and then possibly his 1984 performance) was part of it.

Ray Charles On Japanese TV Show (c 1992)

2011-10-03T14:11:00.001+02:00

The person who uploaded this Georgia On My Mind-clip to Youtube thinks it's from a TV show that aired between 1992 and 1994. The broadcaster is NHK. It may indeed have been taped during Ray's 1992 visit to Japan (described here), or during his 1994 Japan tour (see bottom of this page).

'92c TV Japan: