The Genius Sings the Blues | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | October 1961 | |||
Recorded | 1952–1960 | |||
Genre | Rhythm and blues, piano blues, soul | |||
Length | 34:19 | |||
Label | Atlantic SD-8052 | |||
Producer | Ahmet Ertegün, Jerry Wexler | |||
Ray Charles chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Blender | [2] |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [3] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
The Genius Sings the Blues is an album by Ray Charles, released in October 1961 on Atlantic Records. [5] The album was his last release for Atlantic, compiling twelve blues songs from various sessions during his tenure for the label. The album showcases Charles's stylistic development with a combination of piano blues, jazz, and southern R&B. The photo for the album cover was taken by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. The Genius Sings the Blues was reissued in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment with liner notes by Billy Taylor.
Hailing from Greenville, Florida, Ray Charles assimilated much of the Southern black man's musical heritage with its various blues stories, folk songs, and gospel revelations. [6] Charles studied music at a school for blind children in St. Augustine and developed a characteristic modern jazz style of playing and writing by listening to Art Tatum, Nat "King" Cole, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, and other contemporaries who played in the styles fashionable around the time Charles moved to Seattle. [6] He molded many disparate musical elements into a style with unique harmony and traditional rhythmic patterns. [6]
Jazz composer Billy Taylor further discussed Charles' innovative music and his reaction to hearing it:
While playing through some new music for a projected Ruth Brown record date, I was asked to listen to an original song played and sung by a young composer and pianist from Seattle, Washington. I can still remember how surprised I was to hear this kind of music from a Northwesterner. He reminded me of Charles Brown, another pianist-singer who was very popular in the Forties, but he had a very personal sound and there was something different about his rhythmic approach. In his handling of melody he seemed to be using devices similar to those used by Dinah Washington and a small group of popular singers who allowed their gospel singing backgrounds to influence their interpretation of popular songs... I was intrigued by the emotional quality projected by both his piano playing and his unusual voice and was not surprised when Ahmet Ertegün said that he wanted to let the young musician record some of his own material. "He communicates just like the old blues singers", Ahmet said. [6]
The innovation of Ray Charles is presented on this compilation LP. The Blues finds Charles delivering wailing and emotional numbers ("Hard Times", "Night Time Is the Right Time") to uptempo arrangements of country blues ("I'm Movin' On", "Early in the Mornin'"). Covering ground from his first session for Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour") to his last ("I Believe to My Soul"), The Genius Sings the Blues began as a simple cash-in LP after Charles' split from Atlantic Records and ended up as one of Charles' most well-known compilations. [6]
All songs written by Ray Charles, except where noted. [7]
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Side 1, Track 1 - Marcus Belgrave, John Hunt (trumpet) David Newman (tenor saxophone) Bennie Crawford (baritone saxophone) Ray Charles (piano, organ, vocals) Edgar Willis (bass) Teagle Fleming (drums). Recorded NYC, October 28, 1958
Side 1, Track 2 - Joe Bridgewater, Riley Webb (trumpet) David Newman (alto, baritone saxophone) Don Wilkerson (tenor saxophone) Ray Charles (piano, vocals) Roosevelt Sheffield (bass) William Peeples (drums). Recorded Miami, FL, April 23, 1955
Side 1, Track 4 - Marcus Belgrave, John Hunt (trumpet) David Newman (tenor saxophone) Bennie Crawford (baritone saxophone) Ray Charles (piano, organ, vocals) Edgar Willis (bass) Teagle Fleming (drums). Recorded NYC, October 28, 1958
Year | Chart | Peak position [8] |
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1962 | U.S. Pop Albums chart | #73 |
The Genius of Ray Charles is a 1959 Ray Charles album, released in October by Atlantic Records, the seventh album since the debut Ray Charles in 1957. The album consists of swinging pop with big band arrangements. It comprises a first half of big band songs and a second half of string-backed ballads. The Genius of Ray Charles sold fewer than 500,000 copies and charted at number 17 on the Billboard 200. "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'" were released as singles in 1959.
Ray Charles Live is a double LP compilation album by Ray Charles, released by Atlantic Records in 1973. It consists of live concert recordings previously released on Ray Charles at Newport and Ray Charles in Person. Later CD re-issues of this compilation include an additional, previously unreleased, track from the 1958 Newport concert, "Swanee River Rock".
David "Fathead" Newman was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s and early 1960s recordings by Ray Charles.
The Great Ray Charles is the second studio album by American musician Ray Charles, released in 1957 by Atlantic Records. An instrumental jazz album, it features cover art designed by Marvin Israel. Later CD re-issues of The Great Ray Charles often include six out of the eight songs from the 1961 album The Genius After Hours, as bonus tracks.
Ray Charles at Newport is a 1958 live album of Ray Charles' July 5, 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. The detailed liner notes on the album were written by Kenneth Lee Karpe. All tracks from this Newport album, along with all tracks from his 1959 Herndon Stadium performance in Atlanta, were also released on the Atlantic compilation LP Ray Charles Live. A later CD reissue of that compilation album included a previously unissued song from the 1958 Newport concert, "Swanee River Rock".
Let the Good Times Roll: The Music of Louis Jordan is the thirty seventh studio album by B. B. King, released in 1999. It is a tribute album to jazz saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan, and is made up entirely of covers of songs written or performed by Jordan. The album was released in 1999 on MCA Records.
The Genius Hits the Road is a 1960 album by Ray Charles. The concept album focuses on songs written about various parts of the United States. It peaked at number nine on the pop album charts and produced a US #1 single, "Georgia on My Mind".
Genius + Soul = Jazz is a 1961 album by American musician Ray Charles, featuring big band arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns. Charles is accompanied by two groups drawn from members of The Count Basie Band and from the ranks of top New York session players. It was recorded at Van Gelder Studio in two sessions on December 26 and 27, 1960 and originally released on the Impulse! label as Impulse! A–2.
In Person is a live album recorded by Ray Charles on May 28, 1959 on a rainy night in Atlanta, Georgia at Morris Brown College's Herndon Stadium. All tracks from this album together with those from Ray Charles at Newport were also released on the 1987 Atlantic compilation CD, Ray Charles Live.
Yes Indeed!! is the fourth album by Ray Charles, released in 1958 by Atlantic. It was the second of three Atlantic LPs that compiled Charles' hit singles for the label.
The Best of Ray Charles is a compilation album released in 1970 on the Atlantic Jazz label, featuring previously released instrumental (non-vocal) tracks recorded by Ray Charles between November 1956 and November 1958.
High Blues Pressure is an album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his second release on the Atlantic label and features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Bennie Maupin, Herbie Lewis, Roman "Dog" Broadus, Weldon Irvine, Kenny Barron, Freddie Waits, Louis Hayes, Howard Johnson, and Kiane Zawadi.
The Genius After Hours is an album by American musician Ray Charles, released in 1961. The songs featured on the album were taken from the same three studio sessions that created his 1957 album The Great Ray Charles, which featured the use of both a trio and a septet; the latter was arranged by Quincy Jones. Also appearing on The Genius After Hours is David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and alto saxophone, alongside trumpeter Joseph Bridgewater.
Soul Meeting is a 1961 Atlantic Records album of recordings made by Ray Charles and Milt Jackson in 1957. The album was later re-issued together with the earlier Soul Brothers (1958), on a 2 CD compilation together with other 'bonus' tracks from the same Charles and Jackson recording sessions.
Fathead is the debut release of American jazz saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman recorded in 1958 but not released until 1960 on the Atlantic label. The complete album was also included with 3 other Newman releases in the 2 CD reissue / compilation, It's Mister Fathead.
Goin' Out of My Head is an album by American jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery that was released in 1966. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard magazine R&B chart. At the 9th Grammy Awards Goin' Out of My Head won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.
Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller is a seventh studio album by blues, R&B and jazz singer Dinah Washington released on the Emarcy label, and reissued by Verve Records in 1990 as The Fats Waller Songbook. In the album Washington covers 12 songs that have been penned or performed by jazz pianist, organist, singer and songwriter Fats Waller. Allmusic details the album in its review as saying: "Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller appropriately brings together Waller's vivacious songs and Washington's demonstrative vocal talents. The jazz diva effortlessly handles Waller classics while turning in particularly emotive renditions. Adding nice variety to the already strong set, Washington's husband at the time, saxophonist Eddie Chamblee, joins the singer for playful duets on "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Everybody Loves My Baby".
Everyday I Have the Blues is an album by singer Joe Williams with Count Basie and His Orchestra featuring tracks recorded in 1959 which was originally released on the Roulette label.
Encyclopedia of Jazz is an album released on the Verve label compiled by jazz journalist Leonard Feather featuring tracks which were recorded to accompany Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties. The album features three tracks by the Encyclopedia of Jazz All Stars arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson along with one track each by Jimmy Smith with Wes Montgomery, Count Basie and Johnny Hodges with Earl Hines.
All the Cats Join In is a song written by Ray Gilbert, Eddie Sauter and Alec Wilder, and first recorded by Benny Goodman. It later was a track on an LP with the same title by trumpeter Buck Clayton.