Count Basie, Ray Charles - Ray Sings, Basie Swings
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Count Basie, 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: The "Good Times" Definitely "Roll" on This Fantastic Recording!
Hit: 5 Stars
Since seeing the autobiographical motion picture, "Ray" a few years ago, I've been feverishly trying to do my best in collecting everything in Ray Charles' long & expansive discography, that I can possibly get my hands on. So, when I found out that a new title, "Ray Sings, Basie Swings" was being released, it obviously got my excited undevided attention. But I became weary, when I started reading press blurbs saying, that it was merely Ray's original vocals being electronically married to new recordings of the current Basie Band. (Apparently the original tapes' vocal was good, but instrumental tracks were unusable.) Suddenly, I had visions of an over imaginative, marketing department, trying to foist some second rate cheese on the late Ray's fans and the general listening public. In the past, I have found such releases (dead artist + fancy, digital studio technology) to be a touch ghoulish and just plain musically bad. Just look into the catalogues of Nat King Cole & Jimi Hedrix for evidence of this. Well even though my 'rip-off radar' was up and running, I decided to throw caution to the wind and give this recording a try. Well, I've got to say not only is this not a rip-off, it's absolutely fantastic! I can see why Concord Records would try to salvage these Ray vocals. 'The Genius' is just totally on! He just hits the mark and gives what I like to call an 'X-factor' performance. By 'X-factor', I mean trancendent. He just takes you to another place. On the faster paced numbers he just falls into a wonderful groove and stays there! Examples include "Let the Good Times Roll", "How long Has This Been Going On" and "Busted". Although some of these tunes were long time regulars in his concert repetiore, he seems to aproach them with a freshness that is just unbelievable. All the fervor and energy Ray puts in gives a feeling like he just discovered these tunes. On the slower paced numbers, Ray seems to just pour his soul into songs such as "Crying Time", and "Look What they Have With My Song". This is a Master at work. As far as the newly recorded instrumental tracks go, all I can say is "Bravo!!" It's just like the title says, when Ray Sings, the Basie Band swings! These guys hit a groove and just stay with it. I particularly like the B-3 organ fills (featuring Joey DeFrancesco), that seem to snake their way in out of the tunes. Also, Kudos to Patti Austin, who was responsible for recreating the back-up vocals of the Raelettes. Pure perfection. As far as the production goes, I'm impressed. There is no 'cheese' here. If I hadn't been told these vocal tracks were from over thirty years ago, I would never have known. Both the vocal and instrumental tracks sound like they were made for each other. This is one of those recordings that is going to spend a lot of time in my CD player. Highly recommended!
Ray Sings, Basie Swings Poster
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 |
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 Sachs
Ray 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
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