Ray Charles Is In Town - Chronology 1978

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"San Francisco - circa 1978: Entertainer and pianist Ray Charles performs onstage in circa 1978 in San Francisco, California." Photos by Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty.

Unidentified performance.

Photo by Norman Hunter.

1978

Born: Robyn Moffett (to Gloria Moffett).

Released  autobiography, Brother Ray (by David Ritz).

The candid Brother Ray biography stirs lots of free publicity.

I Can See Clearly Now peaks at #35 on R&B chart. 

Backstage with Doudou Boiçel at Festijazz, Place des Arts, 1978.

1 January 1978
Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos CA.

22 January 1978

On 50 Years Of Country Music. See this.

With Gladys Knight & The at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles (air date). See this.

24 February 1978

On the Barry Manilow Special (air date). See this.

25 February 1978
A 'roast' of Ray Charles at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles CA, organized by the United Hogh Blood Pressure Foundation.

March 1978

Release of the single Game Number Nine / A Peace That We Never Before Could.

7 March 1978

On the Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show. See this.

4 April 1978
Start of 2-week tour in Italy.

9 April 1978

Sporting Club, Santhià. Awkward story (with very brief interview:  "Donna Summer? Never heard of her!"; read this).

11 April 1978

Teatro Alfieri, Torino.

12 April 1978
Rome.

14 April 1978
Mentioned as date of taping of Johnny Cash' Spring Fever Show (aired on May 7; also see there).

Jumbo Music Hall, Fontanellato.

16 April 1978
Teatro Tenda, Girometta Varese IT.

Sticker.

17 April 1978
Back in the U.S.

20 - 23 April 1978
Chateau De Ville Dinner Theater in East Windsor Township NJ.

27 - 30 April 1978
Chateau De Ville, Framingham MA.

Early (2, 3, 4?) May 1978
Possibly a concert in Chicago.

4 May 1978

Maggie's Opera House, Cincinnati OH.

5 May 1976
Riverside Centroplex, Baton Rouge LA, with Bobby Bland and Ramsey Lewis as special guests.

Ad from The Times-Picayune New Orleans, 30 Apr.

6 May 1976
Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi MS, with Bobby Bland and Ramsey Lewis as special guests.

7 May 1978

On Johnny Cash tv show Spring Fever (air date). See this.

Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. Publicity photos for this TV show.

 

F.l.t.r. Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Johnny Cash, June Carter, and Ray Charles.

9 May 1978
Harlequin Theatre, Atlanta GA.

12 - ?14? May 1978
Chicago.

14 May 1978
Kleinhans, Statler Hilton, Buffalo NY.

19 May 1978
Latin Quarter, Detroit MI (may have been a 5-day stint).

21 May to 3 June 1978

Windmill Sinner Theater, Dallas.

?26 May 1978?

Tampa Theatre, Tampa FL.

4 June 1978

Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta for Brother Ray book promotion.
Paul Masson Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California.

5 June 1978
Ontario Place Forum, Toronto ON ("a man who demonstrates within a second of opening his mouth that he is still the major of the majors in the blues league").

18 Jun 1978
Birmingham Theater, Birmingham AL.

20 to 25 June 1978

Windmill Dinner theater, Dallas TX; tickets $5-$12.
*also announced in Dallas Morning News of 14 May:*
Granny's Dinner Playhouse, Dallas.

July 1978

Phoenix, Chicago.

1 July 1978

Benefit for the Planning & Development Committee of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, Jesse Jones Hall, Houston TX; with B.B. King. Ticket stubs of early and late shows:

Around this day in 1978
 La Salle Pleyel, Paris.

Photo by Christian Rose (Icon Gallery).

Photo by Guy le Querrec.

7 - 8 July 1978
Double concerts at Theater of the Performing Arts, New Orleans LA.

Publicity (wire) photo (watermarked) used to promote the NOLA concerts in local newspapers.

13 July 1978

Montreux, taped concert with Dizzy Gillespie. See this.

 

Photos by Christian Eggenberger.

14 July 1978

Théâtre de Verdure, d'Aix-en-Provence.

Photos by Agence de Presse Bernard.

15 July 1978
Place du Quincone, Carpentras.

16 July 1978
Jazz à Juan, Antibes.

17 or 18 or 20 July 1978
Shows at Festival Grounds in Knokke.

19 July 1978
Fêtes de la Bouquerie in Condom (le Gers) FR.


Super 8 footage, mixed with audio from the concert (source: Jacques Merle).

Ticket stub (coll. Jacques Merle).

Photos by Jacques Merle.

26 July 1978
Puntamika, Zadar.

29 July 1978
Kutsher's Country Club, Monticello NY.

30 July 1978

Vermont Jazz Festival at Killington VT, with Stanley Turrentine, Betty Carter, Gap Mangione, Noel Pointer, Paul Asbell.

20 August 1978

Long Beach Terrace Theatre, Long Beach CA.

23 August 1978
Paramount Theatre, Oakland CA; co-billed with Chubby Checker.

28 August 1978
The Cave, Vancouver BC, CA.

September 1978

Release of album Love & Peace.

Ads from Billboard and Jet.

1 September 1978

Valley River Inn, Eugene OR.

13 September 1978

Performing on NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney. See this.

22 September 1978

Park West auditorium, Chicago IL. Photo here.

23 September 1978

Symphony Hall in Boston MA (bootlegged). See this.

Ad from Boston Globe, 10 Sep.

October 1978

Release of the single Riding Thumb / You Forgot Your Money.

7 October 1978
Parents' Weekend at York College of Pennsylvania, York Township PA

11 October 1978
Odeon, Birmingham (2 shows).

12 October 1978
Usher Hall, Edinburgh (2 shows).

13 October 1978
Royal Albert Hall, London.

20 October 1978
Messehalle, Cologne.

Interviewed in Cologne, by Karl Johannes Schindler, possibly on this day.

21 October 1978

Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt.

22 October 1978
Halle Münsterland, Münster.

23 October 1978
Philipshalle, Düsseldorf.


25 October 1978
CCH-Saal, Hamburg.

Photo by Hardy Schiffler.

27 October 1978
Mozartsaal im Rosengarten, Mannheim.

28 October 1978
Philharmonie, Berlin.

November 1978

Limited release of the single Christmas Time/ There'll Be No Peace Without All Men As One.
During the (end of the?) month a South America tour with Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Porto Alegre) and Argentina (Buenos Aires).

6 November 1978
Academy of Music, Philadelphia PA; with The Dells.

11 November 1978

8 concerts at Westbury Music Fair, with Dionne Warwick.

From press kit for Westbury concerts..

This is a page from a program for the Valley Forge Music Fair in Devon, produced by the same event organizers, during this same season, probably sometime in early September. (Coll. Harry Irvin).

13 November 1978

Starring in Exclusif, on French TV. See this.

14 November 1978
Headliners, Madison WI.

17 - 19  November 1978
Canecão, Rio de Janeiro.

20 November 1978

On Today Show. See this.

20 - 23 November 1978
Palácio das Convenções do Anhembi, São Paulo.

29 November 1978
Orpheum Theatre, Memphis TN; with Phineas Newborn Jr. as special guest.

30 November 1978

With maître D' Louis Jannetto at Imperial Room.

Imperial Room, Royal York Hotel, Toronto ON (probably 2nd night of 1 week booking).

2 December 1978

Carnegie Hall, New York City NY; with Staple Singers.

Review in Melody Maker, Jan. 6, 1979.

5 to 10 December 1978
Rosy's Music Club, New Orleans LA.

11- 24 December 1978
At Registry Resort in Scottsdale AZ.

26 to 31 December 1978
Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Detroit MI. One of the concerts was taped (but it's uncertain if that recording has survived). One of the instrumentals was a tune called Road Rats; Peter Turre remembers: "Bob Harris played the first 16 bars of piano solo, then Johnny Coles four bars on the bridge, then [Don] Wilkerson for 8 bars, then the shout for 16, then a bass solo by Steve Beskrone on the bridge, then we took it home".

Marcus Belgraves' Detroit Jazz Ensemble opening for Ray Charles.

Late 1978 or Early January 1979

At High Blood Pressure Foundation Awards dinner in LA, greeting Stevie Wonder.

Ray Charles, publicity photos made a/o used in 1978.