Six Instrumentals From The Mexico Concert (1975)

On 6 and 7 December 1975 the Ray Charles group played a series of concerts in Mexico City. I wrote earlier about a 'board mix' version of Cherry, but it turns out that all of the instrumentals that were performed by the Ray Charles Orchestra have also survived, coming from the same tape recording. The sound quality isn't great, but the jazz is marvelous.

1. Sister Sadie (Johnny Coles and Leroy Cooper played the head; Leroy Cooper - solo bs)
2. Samba De Elencia (Andy Ennis - solo ts; Ken Tussing - solo tb; Clifford Solomon - fill on last chord)
3. Unidentified instrumental (Johnny Coles and Clifford Solomon played the head; Johnny Coles - solo plunger trumpet; Clifford Solomon - solo as; Ernie Vantrease, solo p)
4. Morning Of Carnival (Dave Boyle - solo bass tb; Johnny Coles, solo flugel)
5. Spain (Jack Evans - opening flugel, solo tp; Ed Pratt, solo as)
6. Blowing The Blues Away (Jack Evans [or Waymon Reed?*] - solo tp; Leroy Cooper - solo bs; James Clay, Andy Ennis - solos ts; Bob Coassin - solo screech tp)

* Jack Evans, who also contributed the other notes to the tunes, as mentioned above, remembers that Reed "[...] joined the band for a very short time when we returned from the 1975 Australia/Japan tour. [...] We had met Waymon earlier in the year in NY, and he expressed a strong interest to play with RC if the opportunity came up."

#3 was a funky & funny tune yet to be identified; Coles' solo on plunger trumpet is a rare feat. #4 (Morning Of Carnival a.k.a. Manhã De Carnaval and Black Orpheus) is the only known live version of this tune by the Ray Charles band; it was first released on the Jazz II album (1973); it's also the only known taping of a solo by Dave Boyle as a band member.

#3 Unidentified instrumental:

Ray Charles Live In Mexico, singing Cherry (1975)

After a Japan tour in November (leading to the famous live album)  and a stop in Honolulu on 2 December, the Ray Charles group played a concert in Mexico City, on 6 and 7 December 1975, at the Teatro Degollado. Friends of trumpet player Jack Evans, who were in the audience, taped a magnificent version of Cherry during one of these concerts, the  Ray Gilbert/Don Redman  tune, which until now was only known from the 1961 album Dedicated To You.
The tape is of low audio quality (the instruments recorded decently, Ray's voice sounding very distant), but has great documentary value. As compared to the lush studio version  (arranged by Marty Paich), the rendition in Mexico was remarkably simple, slow and bluesy. Ray, playing the piano in his best Nat Cole style, was only backed by his rhythm section*, and asked Clifford 'Cap' Solomon to fill in a marvelous half chorus on alto. Ray kept the little joke at the end of the original version in tact.

* As Evans remembers it: Scott von Ravensburg - drums; Ernest Vantrease on electric piano; possibly Cliff Hugo on bass.