Ray Charles Is In Town - Chronology 1975

At a strings gig in Milwaukee, with Sid Feller.

At a TV show? Photo (c) Rex Features/ITV.

From an article in the National Enquirer, mid 1970s.

Probably from the same source.

Rehearsing at RPM. Photo top: Ray and Clifford 'Cap' Solomon. Mid 1970s. Photos by Howard Morehead.

c 1975

Ft. in PSA for Smokey Bear campaign of Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention (CFFP) campaign. See this.

1975

Interviewed by Norman Gunston. See this.

Living For The City peaks at #91 on Pop and #22 on R&B charts.

Renaissance peaks at #175 on Pop Album Chart.

7 January 1975

Tribute to Quincy Jones at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angles CA; with Marvin Gaye, Cannonball Adderley.

With Jimmy Witherspoon.

10 January 1975

On the Mac Davis Show. See this. 

Newspaper announcement + photo dated 16 January (?) here.  

Late January 1975

Receives President's Award at annual NAACP Image Award at event, at Hollywood Palladium.

31 January 1975

Midnight Special with Aretha.

18 February 1975
Presents AMA award to Charlie Rich. See this.

 

20 February 1975

Possibly a guest on Dinah! See this.

5 April 1975
Paramount Theatre, Oakland CA.

Handbill.

6 April 1975
Civic Auditorium, San Jose CA. Review here.

9 April 1975

At Civic Theatre in San Diego CA.

10 April 1975

"First major L.A. appearance in 3 yrs" at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Orange County, Los Angeles CA.
Bob Coassin (lead), Jeff Conrad, Jack Evans, Phil Guilbeau - trumpet; Ken Tussing (lead), Wally Huff, Glenview "Champ" Childress, Steve Davis (bass) - trombones; Ed Pratt (lead alto),
Clifford Solomon (alto), Andy Ennis, James Clay (tenors), Leroy "Hogg" Cooper (bari) - saxophone; Ernest Vantrease - piano, organ; John Bryant - drums; Tony Matthews - guitar; Joe Harris - bass.

Program. Coll. Jeff Conrad.

16 April 1975

Bayfront Center, St Petersburg FL. Read review here.

19 April 1975
Start of world tour.

From Cashbox, Apr. 26, 1975 (the personnel listing is not entirely correct).

Royal Festival Hall, London.    

David Newman, Leroy Cooper (photo's source incorrectly attributed this picture to the London concert, but Fathead wasn't there).

20 April 1975
Picketts Lock Centre, London.

Press conference at Sheraton Hotel, prob. on this day.

Souvenir brochure + ticket for the London concert.

21 - 22 April 1975
Double concerts at La Salle Pleyel in Paris. A partial recording has survived; see this.

Ticket stub (coll. J.P. Verger).

Ticket stubs (coll. Jean Francis Merle).

Photos by Gilbert Uzan/Getty.

Photo by Gilbert Uzan/Gamma.

The Raelettes on April 22 in Paris (photo by Jean-Pierre Arniac). Estelle Yarbrough later identified them as (L-R): Madelyn Quebec, Linda Sims, Dorothy Berry, Nika Brooks, herself (but I doubt if Linda and Nika are correct).

24 April 1975
Forum, Liège.

25 April 1975
Elisabethzaal, Antwerp.

26 April 1975
Palais des Beaux Arts, Charleroi.

27 April 1975

Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels.

Backstage, wrist-checking Princess Paola.

29 April 1975
Frankfurt DE,

Early May 1975
A concert in Paris.

Photo by Laurent Maous/Getty.

6th International Jazz Festival at Dunkirk (Apr. 30 - May 3).

Program (detail of publicity photo with Mable John), with fake signature.

1 May 1975

Auditorium Madrid Hotel, Madrid. Setlist here.
Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. See this.

2 or 3 May 1975

Victoria Hall, Geneva.

3 May 1975

On Sammy And Company (air date). See this. 

9 May 1975
.

10 May 1975

Théâtre de Beaulieu, 20me Festival de Lausanne.

12 and 13 May 1975

Concerts at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid; the one on the 13th televized by TVE. See this.
These photos were taken in Madrid, but are probably 2 or 3 years older:

Late Spring and Summer 1975
USA tour.

Late in '74 or early in '75, home in Virginia, Johnny C was chopping wood when a splinter flew up and went into his eye, which had to be replaced with a glass version. He returned after healing from that after the Europe tour, extending the trumpet section to 5 men for a while. 
Trumpet section f.l.t.r.: Jack Evans, Bob Coassin, Jeff Conrad, Phil Guilbeau, and [partially] Johnny Coles), in Fort Knox, KY. Also: John Bryant on drums, Ken Tussing and Glenn (Champ) Childress on trombone, and Clifford Solomon on alto sax. Photo: coll. Jeff Conrad.

16 May 1975

Music Theater, Houston TX; tickets at $6-$7.

17 May 1975
Multiple sclerosis benefit at Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM.

18 - 24 May 1975
Concert at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill; co-billed with Bobby Bland. A board mix of one of the concerts has survived.

30 May 1975
Massey Hall, Toronto ON.

June 1975

Release of album Renaissance.

On or around 4 June 1975
Receives Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Excellence during a weekend conference in Evansville.

From Evansville Press.

9 June 1975

Fund-raiser 'National Salute To The Genius, Mr. Ray Charles', at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, with Aretha Franklin as honorary chairman;dinner organized by National Association for Sickle Cell Disease, in LA; emceed by McLean Stevenson, with Brock Peters, Lou Rawls, Jack Cassidy, Dyan Cannon, Flip Wilson, Sly Stone and Carol Burnett.

From Audtorium Arena, Jun. 18.

With LA mayor Tom Bradley. Photo by Bob Lucas.

Aretha Franklin kissing Ray Charles; Joe Adams right.

Photo by Harry Adams.

12 - 21 June 1975
Blue Room, Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans LA ("breaking attandence records").

Gwendolyn Joseph, Interview - The Women Behind Ray Charles (Distaff, July 1975).

On 19 June 1975 Mayor Moon Landrieu presents The Raelettes with the key to the city of New Orleans, making them honorary citizens of the city.

Wirephoto (watermarked) by Pierre Hughes.

22 June 1975
At Pine Knob in Clarkston MI.

July 1975

Release of the single Living For The City / Then We'll Be Home (Sadies Tune).

6 July 1975
Benefit for and at New Horizons Rehabilitation Center, Lake Huntington NY, with Donald Byrd.

Poster.

8 - 13 July 1975
Mill Run Theatre, Chicago IL.

17 - 20 July 1975
Circle Star Theater (with The Dells), San Carlos CA.

22 July 1975

Interviewed by Roy Leonard for WGN Radio. See this.

End of July 1975

Concert at Ontario Place, Toronto - attendance record broken.

30 July 1975

On the Merv Griffin Show, as a co/host together with Aretha Franklin (first air date was August 7). See this, this and this.

7 August 1975
Taping of Cher show (also see below, sub Nov. 15).

L-R: [Linda Sims], Dorothy Berry, Estella Yarbrough, [Bernice Hullaby], Madelyn Quebec (names between brackets inferred).Photo: CBS/Getty.

With Cher, Jim Henson, Muppets, and Raelettes.

10 September 1975
Whitfield Auditorium, M.U.W., Columbus OH.

17 September 1975
Two shows at Ramada Inn, Columbia MO.

Ad from Jeffercon City Daily Capital News, 4 Sep.

19 September 1975
City Auditorium, Omaha NE.

24 September 1975

Save the Family, PUSH Expo75 (tribute to Cannonball Adderley), International Amphitheater, Chicago IL; with Buddy Miles and War. See another ad here.

25 September 1975
Stardust Inn, Waldorf MD. Review here.

30 September 1975

Opera House, Spokane WA.

October 1975

Release of album My Kind Of Jazz Part III.

3 October 1975
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA.

Photos (the 3d one a retouche?) by Jon Sievert.

5 October 1975

Community Center Theater, Sacramento CA.

10 October 1975
Concert at YMCA in Auckland ("Immigration Minister Fraser Colman originally refused to grant Charles, 43, a visa because he did not meet the government's requirements for entry"). Also see this and this.

Walk-off. Photo by Murray Cammick. The girls could be (R - L) Donna Jones, Cynthia Scott, [Unidentified singer].

11 October 1975

Interview, filmed In Sydney. See this.

Interviewed after arrival on Sydney Airport. Photo by Trevor Dallen for the Sun-Herald News.

Probably taken at same occasion, and from same source.

Taken during another interview in Sydney.

13 October 1975
Civic Theatre, Canberra AU ("two full houses").

14 and 15 October 1975

Festival Hall in Melbourne AU ("Black magic"). Read interview here and review here.

17 October 1975
Festival Hall, Brisbane AU.

19 October 1975
Civic Theatre, Newcastle AU.

20 and 21 October 1975
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney AU.

22 and 23 October 1975
  Festival Theatre, Adelaide AU.

24  October 1975
Sir Robert Helpmann Odeon Theatre, Mount Gambier AU.

27 October 1975
Entertainment Center, Perth AU.

28 October 1975

Grand Manhattan Club, Borodbudur Continental Hotel, Jakarta IN.

29 October 1975

Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore SP.
Trumpet player Jack Evans remembers: "When the band arrived at the Singapore airport, 3 band members were detained - myself, Scott Von Ravensburg and Ken Tussing - for not meeting the dress/appearance code in Singapore at that time. They considered our hair to be too long (it touched our collars). They assigned a person to "cut our hair" which we would not agree to. RC supported us and said he wouldn't play the show without his whole band. After several hours in the airport - maybe even 8 or 10 - the lady assigned to us agreed that if she could cut just a snippet (1/4") from each of us, they would let us go. So that's what happened. We got to the hotel just in time to get ready for the show, which did go on as scheduled. But the bottom line - RC was prepared to not do the show on our behalf."
That same day Ray Charles, against all his habits, didn't appear at a press conference (cf. this newspaper article).
Evans: "I went back on the band in 1977 to do the Far East tour which again included Singapore. I made sure to get my hair trimmed before I got there - I think in Bangkok - so it wouldn't be an issue again. When I got to Singapore I found that they had relaxed or eliminated that dress code anyway."

31 October 1975
Hilton Hotel, Kuala Lumpur MY.

1 November 1975

Double concert at Koma Theater, Tokyo JP.

Ad  (by theater or booking agent?).

Odd: an ad for the first show in the tour brochure.

2 November 1975
Sun Plaza, Nakano JP.

3 November 1975
City Hall, Hakodate JP.

4 November 1975
Cultural Center, Muroran JP.

6 November 1975
Employees' Pension Hall, Sapporo JP.

7 November 1975
Civic Culture Hall, Obihiro JP.

8 November 1975
Municipal Hall, Kitami JP.

10 November 1975
Iwate Prefectural Hall, Morioka JP.

11 November 1975
Denryoku Hall, Sendai JP.

12 November 1975
Kenmin Kaikan, Yamagata JP.

13 November 1975
Cultural Center, Fukushima JP.

14 November 1975
Performing Arts Center, Iwaki JP.

15 November 1975
Public Hall, Nagoya JP.

 

On Cher. See this.

Ray Charles and The Raelettes at Cher show. (c) Corbis.

17 November 1975
Municipal Hall, Yawata JP.

18 November 1975
Electric Hall, Fukuoka JP.

19 November 1975
Municipal Hall, Kumamoto JP.

20 November 1975
Prefectural People Gymnasium, Saga Yumin JP.

21 November 1975
Municipal Hall, Miyazaki JP.

23 November 1975
Double concert at Nenkin Kaikan, Osaka JP.

25 November 1975
Municipal Hall, Kurashiki JP.

27 November 1975
Kosei Nenkin Kaikan, Health Pension Center, Tokyo JP
(recorded, partially released as Live In Japan in July 1976).

29 November 1975
O-Club, U.S. Air Force Base in Yokota.

30 November 1975
Kermin Hall, Kanagawa
(recorded, partially released as Live In Japan in July 1976).

1 December 1975

Concert at Camp Bruckner, Okinawa.       

2 December 1975
Honolulu HI.

6 and 7 December 1975
 Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara; see this.

31 December 1975

Party at Harold Patton's house (Ray’s stage manager, later amassing the largest collection of African-American literature in the country) at Studio City. Read this. 

In or around 1975

Interviewed about music. See this.

Ray Charles interviewed in a dressing room, mid 1970s. Photo (by Joe Adams?): Ray Charles Foundation.

Interesting interview with Leroy Cooper, in Melody Maker, May 10, 1975 - also about a 'Hogg' album that didn't happen.

Ad for Detroit jazz radio station WJZZ, in Ann Arbor Sun.

Concert in Montpellier, 1970s. Photos by Arlette Kotchounian.