Late in 2005, Concord Records’ A&R chief John Burk, discovered some tapes simply marked “Ray/Basie,” while surveying his label’s vaults in Berkeley, CA. The tapes turned out to be archived reels from the 70's...concert tapes of the great Ray Charles, made by legendary producer Norman Granz.“The quality of these reels wasn’t great,” Burk recalls. “They appeared to be recordings from the live soundboard with Ray’s vocal way up front, and the band way in the background. At first, the tapes seemed unusable, but Ray sounded amazing.”Ray Sings Basie Swings just released this week; from Concord Records and Starbucks Hear Music, the two companies that co-released Ray Charles’ 2004 Gramy award winning album Genius Loves Company.
Further investigation found that Charles was in fact performing with his own band and that the Basie Orchestra played earlier in the set. “I was disappointed that Ray wasn’t performing with the Basie band. But, then I thought that we could re-record the music with the current Basie Orchestra.”
Ray Sings, Basie Swings gives listeners the unprecedented experience of hearing Ray Charles at the height of his powers with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. “The end result is a beautiful, authentic and irreplaceable piece of music,” muses Burk. “These tapes were just waiting for technology to catch up so we can help Ray do what he always did so naturally...make magic happen.”
Source: Concord Records press release Aug. 17, 2006
Audio: “Georgia” RealPlayer “Saturday Night” RealPlayer
Official Website: raysingsbasieswings.com
Related Tags: Music, Rock and Roll, Classic Rock, Ray Charles, Count Basie Orchestra, CybersMusic
Posted By:Mike
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