The music of the genius
Ray Charles
The latest
Ray Charles was commissioned to perform the theme song for the 1967 movie In The Heat Of The Night. The result was the first song on the soundtrack LP, and a single was released on ABC Records as well. But fans will need both discs, for they are two completely different versions of “In The Heat Of The Night”. The Movie In The Heat Of The Night The movie starred Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. The film, a pissed-off and in-your-face exploration of race in America, won five... [read all]
Ray Charles and Ginie Line duet on the French-language "Ensemble" from 2002. It was released in France as a CD single and the duo performed it live on TV.
"A Bit Of Soul" is a Ray Charles tune recorded in 1955 and released in 1961. Split into two halves, it shows Ray's versatility with a unique arrangement.
"The Sun's Gonna Shine Again" finds Ray Charles in an unconvincingly hopeful mood. It was the A-side of an Atlantic single in 1953, his second-ever.
"Mississippi Mud" is a fun, jaunty singalong that Ray Charles covered on his first album for ABC Records, The Genius Hits The Road, in 1960.
Album of the day
Thanks For Bringing Love Around Again
The final album released in Ray Charles’ lifetime was the 2002 collection Thanks For Bringing Love Around Again, written almost entirely by Ray’s latter-day collaborator Billy Osborne. It was only released on CD, making it one of only two Ray Charles albums (along with 1996’s Strong Love Affair) to be unavailable on vinyl. (The posthumous and popular 2004 collection Genius Loves Company was released on vinyl, incidentally.) [1] Thanks For Bringing Love Around... [read all]
Song of the day
Alf Clausen’s jazz instrumental “Samba De Elencia” is the second of two songs by the television composer to appear on Ray Charles’ 1975 LP My Kind Of Jazz Part 3. It’s the second song on Side 2 of the album; the other number of his is Side 1’s “For Her”. “Samba De Elencia” belies Clausen’s main profession: it has all the brainless cheerfulness of a TV commercial. It does indeed sound like something one might hear in the background... [read all]