The Genius of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 24, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1959
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002I4U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,946 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Why you'd want to limit yourself to owning just one Ray Charles album is a question only you can answer, but if that's the case, The Genius is a strong contender for the slot. Half big-band settings of tunes as diverse as "Let the Good Times Roll," "When Your Lover Has Gone," and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and half string-drenched ballads like "Just for a Thrill" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'," this 1959 disc lives up to its title in more ways than there's room here to count. Suffice it to say that the album finds Charles at a peak of musical and emotional energy, working in thoroughly sympathetic settings with perfectly matched soloists like tenor men Paul Gonsalves and David "Fathead" Newman and arrangers on the order of Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns. And the closing cut, "Come Rain or Come Shine," may be Charles's single greatest performance. --Rickey Wright

Product Description
Remastered reissue in a digipak. Originally released in 1959. Contains the songs 'Am I Blue', 'Tell Me You'll Wait For Me', 'Indeed I Do' & 'Come Rain Or Come Shine'. Warner. 2005. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soulful ballads from Ray Charles's breakthrough album, June 10, 2004

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Ray Charles passed away today and the reason everybody is talking about him as the creator of soul music is because no other musician did more to develop the form. There is no argument that other singers, such as Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, were influential in pioneering soul music but it was Ray Charles who merged 1950's R&B with gospel-powered vocals into a new form of black pop music. This 1959 album produced by Atlantic Records lives up to its title, but you have to remember that this was originally a record album. That is not because "The Genius of Ray Charles" sounds old but because there are clearly two distinct sides to the album.

The "A" side has the Ray Charles band being complemented by members of the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington (such as David "Fathead" Newman and Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet) playing a half-dozen songs arranged by Quincy Jones. "It Had to Be You" and the old Irving Berlin standard "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are the most familiar songs, but the two best on the first half of the album are "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Deed I Do."

The "B" side consists of six ballads, arranged by Ralph Burns with the backing of a string orchestra. The two standout tracks here are "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'" and the final track, the truly outstanding version of Mercer & Arlen's "Come Rain or Come Shine." With all the orchestration Charles' piano playing is lost in the mix but what stands out is his voice. In terms of the vocal phrasing he displays on these ballads this is really a breakthrough album in terms of the singing.

How good is "The Genius of Ray Charles"? Well, listen to the classic saloon songs of Frank Sinatra's 1958 album "Only the Lonely," and Charles doing "Come Rain or Come Shine" does not suffer in comparison. Of course the fact that Ray Charles was that good is not news to anybody who loved listening to that man sing for almost fifty years. There are lots of hit collections that you can pick up to honor his memory, but there is something to be said for complete albums and in that regard "The Genius of Ray Charles" would be on anyone's short list.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The peak, July 27, 2003

By	John Stodder "a.k.a. Juan La Princi" (livin' just enough) - See all my reviews

This album boldly declares Ray Charles' genius. I've never heard anybody argue with the appelation. When this came out, he was established as a brilliant R&B singer, songwriter and performer. Here he hooks up (on what was side one) with an all-star jazz big band, featuring players from both Basie and Ellington, to make music that is hard to categorize as anything other than Ray. His piano envelopes the whole group in his R&B style, so while it's a lot of jazz players displaying their jazz chops, the result is something else. Then, on what was side 2, he takes another turn, playing with a small combo and a huge orchestra--pointing the way, with cuts like "You Won't Let Me Go" toward his brilliant take on country & western, and toward his (recently-unearthed) collaboration with Jimmy Scott on his timeless version of "Come Rain or Come Shine."

You can't really review this album, because it puts to shame all the other 5-star ratings I've given on Amazon. Every cut on here is a classic, a pathbreaker, a rich emotional experience, and a swinging time will be had by all.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best, December 21, 2001

By A Customer

Several great musical traditions flow through this album. How many albums have songs by Percy Mayfield as well as Irving Berlin, or big band arrangements by Quincy Jones as well as strings arranged by Ralph Burns? Nobody could bring it all together like Ray Charles; in his hands, it's all just great American music.