Ray Charles
ALBUM
Una raccolta completa degli album di Ray Charles, dalle prime produzioni ai successi più recenti.
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Forever
International - Optimized for DigitalSINGOLI
I singoli più rappresentativi di Ray Charles, tra successi storici e nuove uscite.
Rudedog, Ray Charles
I Gotta Woman
BIOGRAFIA
CONCORD RECORDS TO RELEASE DEFINITIVE RAY CHARLES ANTHOLOGY:
RAY CHARLES – GENIUS: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION,
FEATURING 21 HITS FROM HIS MOST CELEBRATED ERA
Set due in stores April 6 Most songs available digitally for the first time.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Commencing an extensive Ray Charles reissue program for 2009, Concord Records will release a 21-song anthology of hits titled Ray Charles — Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection. The volume, slated for a street date of April 7, 2009, presents Charles’ most influential recordings for the Atlantic and ABC-Paramount labels including 1955’s “I Got a Woman” plus “Busted,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Hit the Road Jack” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” concluding with his signature 1972 rendition of “America the Beautiful.” All are digitally remastered from the original tapes.
Late last year, Concord Music Group announced it had entered into an exclusive arrangement with the Ray Charles Foundation to develop the artist’s post-1960 catalog, which contains his classic work for the ABC-Paramount and Tangerine labels. In addition to planning a series of CD reissues, Concord will make the catalog available digitally for the first time ever.
Ray Charles — Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection chronicles the high points in Charles’ catalog. As noted jazz writer Don Heckman writes in his liner notes, “The first feeling that comes to mind after even a short glance at the titles included here is a sense of wonder. The diversity of the material is impressive in its own right — blues, of course, transformed gospel songs, country tunes, an American Songbook standard, a Beatles classic and a climactic American anthem. But more than that, it’s what he does with all these variegated numbers. Good singers can do great interpretations. Great singers like Charles possess the material in a way that makes a song their own, while remaining true to the essence of each.”
Ten of the tracks on this collection made it to #1 on the R&B charts and three songs hit #1 on the pop chart. “That may sound like nothing more than numbers,” says Heckman, “but it represents an extraordinary string of successes in which Charles released a Top 10 R&B single in almost every year between 1954-67, and a Top 10 pop single almost every year between 1959-67.”
The album contains 21 of Charles’ biggest hits, each within its own unique history and meaning. “Hit the Road Jack,” penned by Percy Mayfield, a #1 pop hit and a 1961 Grammy winner for Charles, opens the collection. Also included are “What I’d Say (Part 1),” ranked #10 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; the classic “Busted”; “I Can’t Stop Loving You” from the album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which reached #1 on R&B and pop charts; the Bobby Sharp composition “Unchain My Heart”; Charles’ signature rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind, another #1 pop hit; “I Got a Woman” which was Charles’ first #1 R&B hit and was later sampled by Kanye West; “You Are My Sunshine,” the Jimmie Davis standard that Charles brought to #1 R&B; a soulful edition of Hank Williams’ “Take These Chains From My Heart”; the offbeat “Hide Nor Hair”; Ashford & Simpson’s “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” a #1 R&B hit by Charles; “You Don’t Know Me,” earlier a hit for Jerry Vale, which charted #2 pop; “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” originally a gospel hymn; “Crying Time,” a Buck Owens song which Charles brought to #6 on the pop charts; the funky “I’m a Fool for You,” which charted #1 R&B; “One Mint Julep,” Charles’ version of The Clovers’ hit with a big band arrangement by Quincy Jones; “Here We Go Again,” sung as a duet with Betty Carter; “Yesterday,” the Lennon/McCartney classic, in which Charles, according to Heckman, “embraces the song’s deep inner heart”; and finally his 1972 signature recording of “America the Beautiful,” the perfect ending and relevant once again.
Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection will be packaged in a handsome embossed digipack and presented with a 24-page collectors’ book of rare photos and Heckman’s notes.
“Genius Loves Company was Ray Charles' highest selling record ever,"
said Valerie Ervin, President of the Ray Charles Foundation. "In addition to the artistic quality of the music, the release was matched by Concord's skill in finding new ways to market in the increasingly challenging environment.
Their incomparable ability to innovate will also be seen in the upcoming
releases."
Concord will release several other Ray Charles reissues this year including Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, Volumes 1 & 2, The Genius Hits the Road, A Message to the People and Genius + Soul = Jazz & More.
Courtesy of Concord Music Group
ULTIME NEWS
25.08.2011
Recensione di GENIUS+SOUL=JAZZ su AllAboutJazzItalia
Sul sito italiano della prestigiosa testata web AllAboutJazz Valerio Prigiotti parla (molto bene, a dir poco) della riedizione su doppio CD dei classici album ABC-Paramount di Ray Charles con l'orchestra di Count Basie (in cui il Genius sostituiva alla direzione e alle tastiere il titolare). Come è noto, il primo album GENIUS+SOUL=JAZZ clicca sulla copertina qui sotto per accedere direttamente alla recensione
08.10.2010
Per l'80° anniversario di Ray Charles uscirà RARE GENIUS
A pochi giorni da un evento al Grammy Museum di Los Angeles in cui è stato ufficialmente presentato, RARE GENIUS (che uscirà il 26 di ottobre nei negozi italiani) comprende 10 tracce inedite, e si chiude con un duetto con la voce inconfondibile di Johnny Cash (eccoli insieme nella foto) sulle note di "Why Me, Lord?" di Kriff Kristofferson.
23.09.2010
Oggi è l'80° anniversario di Ray Charles: annunciata l'uscita di un album di inediti
Oggi ray Charles avrebbe compiuto 80 anni. Quale modo migliore per celebrare la data se non l'annuncio dell'uscita di un intero album di inediti? A due giorni da un evento al Grammy Museum di Los Angeles in cui è stato ufficialmente presentato l'abum (che uscirà il 26 di ottobre nei negozi italiani), anticipiamo subito che RARE GENIUS comprende 10 tracce inedite, e si chiude con un duetto con la voce inconfondibile di Johnny Cash (eccoli insieme nella foto) sulle note di "Why Me, Lord?" di Kriff Kristofferson.
24.09.2009
Ray Charles, "The Spirit of Christmas": il disco di Natale del 2009
E´ passato ormai un anno da quando Concord Records ha cominciato a ristampare alcuni dei più grandi classici del mitico Ray Charles: dopo "Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection", "Modern Sounds in Country and Western", "A Message From the People" e "The Genius Hits the Road", adesso è la volta di "The Spirit of Christmas", l´unico album che l´artista ha espressamente dedicato al Natale, mai ristampato negli ultimi 12 anni. Come sempre, anche in quest´incisione il leader è accompagnato da musicisti di prim´ordine, fra cui il formidabile Freddie Hubbard alla tromba e al flicorno, Rudy Johnson al sax tenore e le Raeletts con la loro inconfondile impronta vocale. Questa versione rimasterizzata di "The Spirit of Christmas" contiene, oltre alle dieci tracce originali ("What Child Is This," "The Little Drummer Boy," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "This Time of Year is Near," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," "That Spirit of Christmas," "All I Want for Christmas," "Christmas in My heart," "Winter Wonderland" e "Christmas Time"), anche un´inedita bonus track, la splendida "Baby It´s cold Outside" di Franck Loesser in duetto con Betty Carter. Un disco imperdibile, la cui uscita internazionale è prevista per l´inizio di novembre.
11.02.2009
