Ray Charles as jazz musician?

[take5]

I've been reading rumours of a complete Atlantic Ray Charles box set coming out (7 CDs). I have the key R&B material which I love but this will have live material and a session with Milt Jackson!

I've often seen Ray referred to as a jazz musician but haven't really heard him do "jazz." Does he, and if so how is it?

[jazzbo]

It is marvelous stuff. Soulful jazz. . . soulful jazz singing, jazz piano, jazz alto, jazz writing.

The complete box set is going to be great. . . I'm not going to get it because I have all the released stuff, and a friend of mine tells me quite a bit of the supposedly unreleased stuff as well. . . .

[J.A.W.]

I've been reading rumours of a complete Atlantic Ray Charles box set coming out (7 CDs).  I have the key R&B material which I love but this will have live material and a session with Milt Jackson!

I've often seen Ray referred to as a jazz musician but haven't really heard him do "jazz."  Does he, and if so how is it?

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There's already a thread about this!

[jazzbo]

Personally, I think this thread is different from that, serving a different purpose.

Further thoughts: in a way a number of the jazz things that Charles did fall in the Nat Cole/Charles Brown sort of West Coast idea of what was "jazzy" . . . . And a number are more hard bop with a further side order of soul sauce available on the side.

I have one friend who doesn't really consider Charles a jazz musician in the way that Miles or Cannon or Monk or Brubeck was. And in a way I agree because his scope was so much broader and his desire to entertain . . . different, he was needier I think than most of the "jazz musicians" may have been . . . .

[Jazz Kat]

Soul Brothers!

Milt Jackson and Ray Charles. That should convince anybody.

[tjobbe]

to be honest, the only Ray Charles album I own is this Rhino TwoInOne CD re-issue

where he plays some very nice tracks with the Cout Basie BigBand (and with some credits -if I recall correctly- to Quincy Jones as arranger)

I would call it a swinging jazz record .....

Cheers, Tjobbe

[jazzbo]

Yes indeed Tj, that's one great ABC-Paramount pairing!

And those two lps with Jackson. . . wow. . . . Great stuff!

[Stereojack]

Ray made four instrumental jazz albums for Atlantic:

Soul Brothers

Soul Meeting

(both with Milt Jackson)

The Great Ray Charles

The Genius After Hours

All of these are really good, although they have been on CD before, consolidated onto 3 CD's. Ray is a really fine, bluesy pianist, and these sessions feature people like Hank Crawford, David "Fathead" Newman, Kenny Burrell, etc.

The unreleased material on the box consists largely of a solo piano practice session (from 1953 I recall) that features some nice solo piano work, with Ray trying out a few things and working up a couple of tunes that he later recorded.

[AllenLowe]

little personal story - about 20 years ago or so my group (with Loren Schoenberg and Mel Lewis!) opened for Ray Charles at the Stanford (CT) Center for the Arts - I had a nice chance to hear the great man himself warming up - and I was surprised (but should not have been) at the way he warmed up - all jazz chords, classic voicings ala Nat Cole and/or Tad Dameron (a lot of very pretty inversions with the upper intervals on the bottom) - it was quite fascinating to listen to - and definitely another side of his playing -

[Kalo]

little personal story - about 20 years ago or so my group (with Loren Schoenberg and Mel Lewis!) opened for Ray Charles at the Stanford (CT) Center for the Arts - I had a nice chance to hear the great man himself warming up - and I was surprised (but should not have been) at the way he warmed up - all jazz chords, classic voicings ala Nat Cole and/or Tad Dameron (a lot of very pretty inversions with the upper intervals on the bottom) - it was quite fascinating to listen to - and definitely another side of his playing -

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That's a great story, Allen.

I'd have really liked to hear your band with Schoenberg and Lewis! Great players. Who else was in the band?

[AllenLowe]

Gene Taylor on bass - a quartet (Loren played piano) - first and only time I played with Mel - nice guy, great drummer, and he knew quite a few of the guys in the Charles band- it was a lot of fun, I even got to meet the Rae-lette's -

Edited September 1, 2005 by AllenLowe

[mikeweil]

Ray made four instrumental jazz albums for Atlantic:

Soul Brothers

Soul Meeting

(both with Milt Jackson)

The Great Ray Charles

The Genius After Hours

All of these are really good, although they have been on CD before, consolidated onto 3 CD's. Ray is a really fine, bluesy pianist, and these sessions feature people like Hank Crawford, David "Fathead" Newman, Kenny Burrell, etc.

Crawford doesn't solo on the Great Ray Charles disc, it is all Fathead.

Jimmy Forrest is on the "Soul sessions", as are Pettiford, Burrell, Skeeter Best (who rarely takes a solo on other albums!), Percy Heath, Connie Kay, and Arthur Taylor. I bought these CDs right away when they were released and spin them quite often.