Strong Love Affair (1996)

1. All She Wants To Do Is Love Me
2. Say No More
3. No Time To Waste Time
4. Angelina
5. Tell What You Want Me To Do
6. Strong Love Affair
7. Everybody's Handsome Child
8. Out Of My Life
9. The Fever
10. Separate Ways
11. I Need A Good Woman Bad
12. If You Give Me Your Heart (with Peggy Scott-Adams)

Once again without a record label, Ray collaborated on this  album with Jean-Pierre Grosz, a French producer. Grosz send songs for Ray to select, recorded the instrumentals in Paris, and then send them back to Ray for the vocals. In the end Quincy Jones released the album on his Qwest label, distributed by Warner Bros.

Oddly*, the Strong Love Affair album was initially released in Italy one year prior to the U.S. release, in 1995. Cf. this offer on Ebay. Also in Italy, the album got a second re-release in 2000 under the overall title Imagine, in fact the title of the bonus track (there was also a second bonus: the 1989 duet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Precious Thing). For the production and release history of Imagine also see this post.
* Information kindly shared by Joël Dufour.

Personnel: Knut Koppang - piano; Don Snowkey - boards; Richard Niles - keyboards, arranger; Thierry Elies - organ, piano; Emilio Castillo, Molly Ducantenor - saxophone; Nigel Hitchcock - alto saxophone; Stephen Doc Kupka - baritone saxophone; David Mann - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone; Sid Gauld, Lee Thornburg, Paul Spong - trumpet; Greg Adams - trumpet, arranger; Nell Sidnell - trombone; Elvind Aarset, Tim Cansfield, Herve Krief, Nguyen Le, Basil Leroux, Yves N'Joke, Phil Palmer, Mark Sullivan, Patrice Tison - guitar; Brad Lang - bass; Kjetil Bjerkestrand - bass, keyboards, arranger; Phil Spalding - bass, vocals; Jean-Louis Odin, Bjorg Vaernes - cello; André Ceccarelli, Ian Thomas - drums; Luis Jardim, Marc Chantereau - percussion; Nora Tallsdal - viola; Berir Vaernes, Oyvor Volle - violin; Stevie Lange, Sylvia Mason-James, Maggy Ryder, John Savannah, C.H. Thompson - vocals.

Qwest Records  9362-46107-2/Warner Bros. 46107, January 1996.