Count Basie Orchestra, Ray Charles - Ray Sings, Basie Swings
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Free Music Notes for Ray Sings, Basie Swings
Free Music Review: Genius + Gnius = GENIUS
Hit: 5 Stars
As someone who knew The Count of Basie and had the pleasure of producing 3 Theatre in the Round Ray Charles performances in 1977, the genius of this two performers finally got together to do something that was only dreamt of. The melding of these two giants was far overdue. My only complaint is that it wasn't one hour and 49 minutes long instead of 49 minutes.
The Basie Band has never sounded better especially under the driving beat of Butch Miles. I have been counting the days since I found out about this project and during the first three hours of ownership, I have lietened to it twice. Buy it, even if you only love one of them, by the time it's over you be in love with both. Cudos to Greg Field and all of those involved for this definate GRAMMY AWARD effort.
Steve Grossman
Free Music Review: Ray lives on--and turns it personal with that fat Basie feel he loved so much!
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD is the result of an unusual set of circumstances: old tapes of Ray's and Basie's band were found tucked away after years of lying around gathering dust. The Basie tapes were unusable but Ray's vocals could be worked on--and they were restored after a great deal of effort, thanks to Gregg Field and Seth Present. John Burk at Concord Records had the brilliant idea of matching up Ray's restored vocals to the beat of the current Count Basie band. The result is this electrifying CD.
The CD starts off strong with "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" written by Rodgers and Hammerstein from the musical Oklahoma. An auspicious beginning indeed! The remastering and mixing is done to perfection throughout this CD; you would never know Ray's vocals were actually recorded 30 years before they were matched up with Count Basie's band! The joyous "Let The Good Times Roll" follows with an excellent musical arrangement and Ray's voice is in exceptional form as it is for all of these songs.
Other classic songs on this remarkable CD include "How Long Has This been Going On?;" "Busted;" "I Can't Stop Loving You;" "Look What They've Done To My Song" and "Georgia On My Mind." Another expressive and beautiful song on this CD is "Every Saturday Night" written by Jerry West and Silas Hogan.
Ray also attacks "The Long And Winding Road" written by The Beatles. The result is a very fine, artistic rendition yet it does not surpass The Beatles' original version of the song. This is a comparatively minor disappointment, however, because "The Long And Winding Road" still comes off well and the rest of the CD is very strong throughout.
Patti Austin deserves mention for her excellent vocal arrangements to recreate the sounds of The Raelettes. The ladies on backup vocals do a superb job.
The liner notes tell the story in depth of how this unusual album came to be in an essay written by David Ritz. There are numerous photographs of Ray both in color as well as in black and white. Ooooh, how I miss him! This CD brought back great memories for me of spinning his LPs so much I nearly wore the grooves off the vinyl record albums! SMILE
Overall, I highly recommend this CD for fans of Ray Charles, classic pop vocals, and for anyone interested in how technology can bring about an album under an unusual set of circumstances. Enjoy this album as I have and let us never forget the incomparable Ray Charles!