Count Basie Orchestra, Ray Charles - Ray Sings, Basie Swings
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Count Basie Orchestra, Ray CharlesEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-10-03
Music Label: Concord Records
Soundtracks:
- Oh What A Beautiful Morning
- Let The Good Times Roll
- How Long Has This Been Going On?
- Every Saturday Night
- I Can't Stop Loving You
- Cryin' Time
- Busted
- Come Live With Me
- Feel So Bad
- The Long And Winding Road
- Look What They've Done To My Song
- Georgia On My Mind
Free Music Notes for Ray Sings, Basie Swings
Free Music Review: A 32 YEAR DELAY
Hit: 5 Stars
WHEN ONE LISTENS TO THIS ALBUM IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE RAY CHARLES VOCALS AND THE ACCOMPANYING BASIE BAND BACKING WERE DONE 32 YEARS APART. CHARLES VOCALS ARE WONDERFUL. THE POST BASIE BIG BAND HAS NEVER SOUNDED BETTER. THE MIXING OF THE TWO RECORDINGS IS SEAMLESS! THIS IS AN AMAZING CD!
Ray Sings, Basie Swings Poster
To fake or not to fake: That is the question consumers must answer for themselves in assessing this feat of aural Photoshopping: an "imaginary concert" created by combining recently discovered soundboard tapes of Ray Charles's vocals from a mid-'70s European show and newly recorded backing by the Count Basie Orchestra--the "ghost band," still on the road 22 years after Count's passing. Charles is in exceptional voice, singing the heck out of standards like "How Long Has This Been Going On?," Genius classics like "Busted," and pop covers like Melanie's "Look What They've Done to My Song." His performance is a thrilling corrective to forgettable posthumous albums like Genius Loves Company, designed to cash in on the new audience created for him by the movie Ray. But as competently as the Basie band fill in the blanks under the direction of Bill Hughes, with Joey DeFrancesco guesting on organ, most of the new arrangements are rather pallid, and the ensemble lacks the personality of both the Basie orchestra and Charles's best groups. And as attractive as Ray Sings, Basie Swings may be for the casual listener, the gimmickry will appall serious fans, particularly since neither Charles nor Basie--who never collaborated in life--was around to lend his approval. Is The Doors Sing, Woody Herman Swings next? --Lloyd SachsRay Sings, Basie Swings proves not only that there's a market for Brother Ray's every last recorded utterance (and a breathless one at that), but that musical grafting can reap some seriously satisfying rewards. After Concord Records A&R chief John Burk mined his label's vaults in 2005 and came across tapes labeled "Ray/Basie," he made a move to re-record the songs, originally performed in the 1970s; the result is these 12 tracks, in which Charles's whiskey-weathered, old-soul vocals are laid over arrangements by the current Count Basie Orchestra. Charles fans couldn't ask for a classier pairing or more seamless studio wizardry: The classics, from "I Can't Stop Loving You" to "Busted" to "Georgia on My Mind," play as though orchestrated by the Genius himself--tight, nuanced, and intimate-sounding. Less familiar tracks, like the down-home deep-South number "Every Saturday Night" and a couple of covers ("Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma" and "The Long and Winding Road") offer so much in the way of novelty it's tempting to forget that what's playing is mostly the result of modern experimentation. Deep as the disc runs--and no one who who hears the broken-hearted "Cryin' Time" will deny it runs deep--the most essential track on Ray Sings, Basie Swings may be its most lighthearted one: There is no hearing Ray Charles sing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning"--even if it's four in the afternoon, even if it's raining torrentially--without agreeing. --Tammy La Gorce
The producers of this CD discovered archival reels of Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra performing live together in 1973. Although the vocals were superior, the remaining elements were or extremely poor quality. They decided to bring the current Count Basie Orchestra into the studio and, using the latest technology, they carefully and painstakingly laid down a new musical backdrop for Charles' towering vocals.
More from Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra
 Genius Loves Company |  Ultimate Hits Collection |  Ray!Soundtrack |
 America's #1 Band: The Columbia Years |  Count Basie at Newport |  Swing Shift |
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