Ray Charles On Jay Leno's Tonight Show (1993)

Ray Charles was a guest on the Tonight Show on 15 September 1993. Ray brought his Orchestra. They played Oh, What A Beautiful Morning. The other guests were Halle Berry and Jerry Seinfeld.
Seinfeld did two segments, leaving no time for Berry. Halle cried sour tears backstage because - even though she would be re-scheduled - it would not be on a night with stars as big as Ray and Jerry.
Much to Ray's chagrin (being used to many guest appearances at the series hosted by Sullivan and Carson), it would remain the only Leno show where he was ever invited. Source here.



Personnel*:
David Hoffman, Larry Foyen, Kurt Weiss, Ken Scharf - trumpet; Michel Guerrier, Steve Sigmund, Marc Fields, Pete Beltran - trombone; Al Waters - tenor saxophone; Al Jackson - alto saxophone, band leader; Steve Elliot, Rudy Johnson, James Farnsworth - saxophone; Kenny Carr - guitar; Nils Johnson - bass; Peter Turre - drums, Ernest Vantrease - organ.
*Information kindly provided by Nils Johnson and David Hoffman. 

Photos 5 - 9 by Ray Norton / NBC / Getty.

Ray Charles In Thank You Rock 'N Roll (1978)

Thank You Rock 'N Roll was a 1 hour television show with Rita Coolidge, The Carpenters, Johnny Mathis, The Bee Gees and Ray Charles. It was promoted as a "joint effort by top singing groups of today and rock stars of the past".
It probably was a syndicated format - I've found broadcast dates for 14 March and 1 April 1978. The clip below, with The Carpenters, as good as sure comes from this same program. I don't know if the performance by Ray still exists.

Ray Charles Interviewed About What'd I Say (1991)

In '91 listeners selected What'd I Say as part of the NPR 100, representing as many songs "that are among the best American music of the 20th century". On 21 February 2000 Robert Siegel aired his interview with Ray. Listen here.

More on the genesis of the song here.

Ray Charles At The The National Constitution Center (2003)

On 4 July 2003 The National Constitution Center, a new $185 million museum on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, opened to the public. Ray contributed to the dedication ceremony with a rendition of America The Beautiful (live, with orchestra tape). You can watch it here; it starts at 1:43:43.
(Ray stopped performing after a concert on July 19th; this may well be the last video taped before a live audience; cf. this).

Ray Charles Live In Washington (2003)

I thought I had sufficiently harvested the web for any trace of streaming media with Ray Charles' music, but I just found this C-Span page, with Ray's complete, 45-minute performance at The 89th Annual White House Correspondents Dinner on 26 April 2003, in a ballroom at the downtown Washington Hilton Hotel.
Much of the attention of the cameras goes to the 2,500 members of the media, politicians and celebrities, but the audio is decent enough, and there's enough proof of Ray and his trio (Brad Rabuchin, guitar; Tom Fowler, bass; Peter Turre, drums) having a good time. For more context see this.

The setlist was:

1. Route 66 
2. A Song For You 
3. Hallelujah I Love Her So 
4. Georgia On My Mind 
5. Stranger In My Own Hometown 
6. Your Cheating Heart
7. Teardrops From My Eyes
8. Just For A Thrill
9. It Had To Be You 
10. 3/4 Time

You can watch the whole concert here.

In April 2003 Reuters Television (ID 304260014; source here) produced a 2 minute news item on Ray Charles' perfomance at the Correspondents Dinner. The last - untrue - statement in Reuters' press story seems to have originated from Ray's own PR department:

The glittering event, held in a spacious ballroom at the downtown Washington Hilton Hotel [...] brought together more than 2,500 members of the media, politicians and celebrities. Because of current events and the ongoing war in Iraq, the dinner had a decidedly different and more somber tone from past years. Instead of a stand-up comedian as in the past, this year veteran entertainer Ray Charles performed a 45 minute set including some of his classics: Route 66 and [A Song For You]. The usual array of Hollywood celebrities were on hand for this year's dinner, including actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt and Bo Derek, actor Rob Lowe and comedian Drew Carey. The winner of 12 Grammys, the 72-year old Charles is on a 200-city North American concert tour.

The AP Archive has another news item. Shot #13 is a medium shot of Ray Charles performing; #15 is a pan of Laura and President Bush watching Charles. Source here.

Ray Charles knew what to ask for an extra effort, and how and when to stick to a contract. In an interview with the National Journal, Julia Whiston, the executive director of the White House Correspondents' Association, reflected on her experience with Ray Charles, at the 89th Correspondent's Dinner in 2003 [note that I haven't found ANY complaint about this kind of prima donna behavior by Ray in the 70 years of documentation that I've ploughed through, BS]:

Ray Charles was the biggest prima donna of all time, God rest his soul. He could be very, very difficult. We had asked if he would do his famous version of America The Beautiful. He said he would do that only if we paid an additional $250,000 on top of what he was already being paid. We said, 'No, thank you.' Then, we were running a little bit ahead of schedule. He was introduced, and he wasn't coming on. So I walked around behind stage and said, 'Oh, I’m sorry, this is your cue. We’re ready to go.' He asked his aide what time it was, and when he found it was seven minutes earlier than his contract stated, he refused and stood behind stage - and left our president, Bob Deans, up there trying to make jokes for seven minutes and left the president of the United States waiting for seven minutes. That’s the prize.

Watch them wait from 25:20 (video without Ray):
For the remaining 'waiting minutes, and the actual concert, watch this. Also read this earlier post on the concert.

Anytime (2004)

The scene below didn't make it to Ray, the movie. It depicts how Charles in early 1948 took the bus from Tampa to Seattle, and helps a few mariners to find the lyrics to Anytime, a contemporary hit by Eddy Arnold and The Tennessee Plowboys (who, later in '48 would score #1 to #4 on Billboard's Most-Played Juke Box Folk Records). The bus ride is historical, the meeting with the mariners probably isn't, and Ray's  shades certainly aren't.
The soundtrack of Ray consists of (remastered) original Ray Charles recordings, and new recordings for which Charles provided the vocals. But it must be Jamie who's humming the song here.

Ray Charles' Testimonial For Victor Vanacore (2003)

Conductor Victor Vanacore and Ray Charles met in 1990. Vanacore served as his musical director, arranger, and opening act for symphony pops. In the first clip (probably from 2003, specially produced for Vanacore's website) Ray gives a testimonial on their cooperation. In the second video you see an edit of the same footage, and a few brief rehearsal sequemces. They worked together until 2004, when Vanacore contributed some arrangements to the Genius Loves Company album.

Ray Charles Joins In A Prayer For America (2001)

"Tears flowed freely in Yankee Stadium" on Sunday Sunday 23 September 2001 "as mourners led by clergy from the world's major religions paid somber tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks". The program was  called A Prayer For America. (The vigil was originally set for Central Park, but Mayor Giuliani moved it to the Stadium's more enclosed space for  security concerns).
Bette Midler drew tears with an emotional rendering of Wind Beneath My Wings, Lee Greenwood got flags waving with God Bless The U.S.A. The Boys Choir and the Girls Choir of Harlem raised spirits with a rendition of We Shall Overcome. Oprah Winfrey, speaking resolutely for the need to move from suffering to strength, drew cheers when she said from the podium, "God Bless New York." When NYPD bagpipers played Amazing Grace, some officers wiped away tears between phrases, and Placido Domingo's rendition of Ave Maria stilled the house. "Of course" Ray Charles sang America The Beautiful.
But angry resolve also rippled through the crowd. The 20,000 gave multiple standing ovations to Giuliani, who declared: "To those who say our city will never be the same, I say: You are right; it will be better." Later, there were mass chants of "USA! USA!" Admiral Robert Natter, commander-in-chief of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet, called for action: "To our terrorist enemies, we say: You picked the wrong city; you picked the wrong country."

"It didn't work," a critic wrote, "Even the carefully selected video clips shown on TeeVee news couldn't hide the many empty seats." Sources: 1, 2.
The weeks after the 9/11 attack the American airwaves were filled with patriotic songs. Ray's America The Beautiful was probably the song that was most frequently played. Cf. this.

Ray Charles Interviewed In Brussels (1962)

Video still.

The Sonuma archive has published* an early news report on a Ray Charles show, with some great shots of Ray, band members and the audience. It includes an interview with Ray. The item was shot at the Paleis der Schone Kunsten/Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. Sonuma mentions 1 June 1962 as the first air date, but that should be some days later, possibly on the 4th of June, the day after the concert took place.
Later that month the local correspondent from Billboard reported that the "[...] program […] was a failure as a result of a bad sound system in the theater. Ticket prices were much too high".

This must be the oldest Ray Charles interview on the web. BTW - Sonuma, also recently, added some early 'Belgian' clips with Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and Armstrong (search for "jazz").

* Many thanks to Irene Terrani for tipping me off on this one!

What'd I Say (c 1973)

It's clearly taped for a tv program, I'd guess for the Tonight Show (Ray was on that program once in '73, and twice in '74).

The keyboardist is John Henderson, who was on the band in 1973 and 1974. The Raelettes* are (fltr): Vernita Moss, Dorothy Berry, Mable John, ?Kathy Collier? and Madelyn Quebec.
*Information kindly provided by Susaye Greene. 

NOTE: this clip will probably disappear soon from YouTube. Do not follow the super-imposed link.

'73c TV What:
   [Clip was removed from YouTube]