Ray Charles Live In Paris (1973)

From Billboard, Aug. 11, 1973.
The tour was extended to
more countries.

In the autumn of 1973 the Ray Charles group toured Europe together with the Oscar Peterson Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. Most of the concerts were booked for Germany, but on October 9 they also played at the Palais des Sports in Paris.
A reader of this blog was so kind to send me a copy of a radio broadcast, by Europe-1, of (a big part of) Ray's concert that night.

The tape entails:

1. Intro
2. Let The Good Times Roll
3. Busted
4. The Long And Winding Road
5. Feel So Bad
6. Come Live With Me
7. Alexander's Ragtime Band
8. I Can't Stop Loving You
9. Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma
10. I Can Make It Through The Days (But Oh Those Lonely Nights)
11. Shake (The Raelettes)
12. What'd I Say (So Soon intro; with John Henderson - voc.) + Outro

I've listened to a copy of a Europe-1 radio show from 2007, in the series Les Enfants d'Europe N°1, with a nice version of Hit The Road Jack, and an It's All Right-outro, apparently performed during a second Paris concert in 1973.

Ad in Cashbox, Oct. '73.

The fact that Georgia is missing from this list may indicate that more tunes were left out of the radio program. During the outro Ray apologizes, also "on behalf of Mister Oscar Peterson" and "Mister Count Basie", for microphone problems which marred earlier parts of their shows (and probably also of the radio taping).
In the set the renditions of #6 (Come Live With Me) and #10 (I Can Make It Thru The Days) - both with great Hammond organ lines by John Henderson -  stood out. The album Come Live With Me was just about to be released that month.
Henderson also contributed, singing, to a great So Soon intro of #12 (What'd I Say). This version is much more extensive than e.g. the one in the finale of the Holy Land tape. Ray turns it into a funny dialog about marital problems, seeking a lyrical and word fight with Henderson, complaining that "last night" his girlfriend called him John, "while she knows my name is Ray".

Personnel:*
Musicians: Dan Ackerman, Phil Guilbeau, Tony Horowitz, James Thomas - trumpets; Craig Woods, Glenn Childress, Ken Tussing - trombones; Don Switzer - bass trombone; Greg Abate, Claude Johnson - alto saxophones; Wilbur Brown, James Clay - tenor saxophones; Leroy Cooper - baritone saxophone; Scott von Ravensberg** - drums; Harvey Sarch(?)** - guitar; Edgar Willis - bass, bandleader; John Henderson - organ. The Raelettes: Dorothy Berry, Denise Jackson, Mable John, Vernita Moss, Madelyn Quebec.

* Notes kindly provided by Joël Dufour. **Names added by Scott von Ravensberg.