“I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)”
Song by Ray Charles
Nobody has ever made the electric piano sound as good as Ray Charles. Just listen to his 1976 recording “I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)” from the Porgy And Bess double LP he recorded with Cleo Laine. This is an unaccompanied solo performance and it has a delicacy that contrasts with, say, the grimy funk of the electric piano on “What’d I Say”. Not only was Ray a master of the computer-y sounding instrument but he could make it soar in very different types of music.
On “I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)” Ray wanders up and down the keys, picking out intricate melodies, expanding and compressing time signatures at will. It’s not rhythmic, except in short bursts here and there. The effect is one of emotional exploration, a stagger up and then glide down the hills and valleys of the heart.
It’s also a fascinating peek into Ray’s feminine side, for “I Loves You, Porgy” (the vocal version) is sung by the female character, Bess. On this album, “I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)” opens Side D and Cleo Laine’s achingly airy vocals on the sung version follow. Porgy (Ray) does not sing on it; it’s a Bess solo piece. So this electric piano solo is Ray channelling Bess, letting the shuddering and desperate feelings of the woman flow through his own heart and out of his fingertips. Usually an unapologetic masculinist, known for mocking feminism and for his randy, free-wheeling escapades with multitudes of women, here Ray steps outside the aimless character of Porgy and allows himself to feel what the woman is feeling.
The result is a four-minute electric piano solo of reaching beauty, of impressive dexterity and complex but fluid notes, and plenty of empty space between them. “I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)” sets up the final quarter of Porgy And Bess in dramatic fashion, a sad loveliness edging into an ominous spookiness. It aptly reflects the tragic world that the struggling Porgy and the increasingly hopeless Bess find themselves in. Even removed from the context of the story this recording is a superb display of musical prowess by Ray Charles.
“I Loves You, Porgy (Instrumental)” was recorded on July 13, 1976 at RCA’s studios in Los Angeles, three months after Cleo Laine recorded her vocal version.
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Songs on Porgy And Bess