Subjectively, he was one of my absolute faves. Objectively, Ray Charles was a giant of American music. All the raves and big claims you'll hear in the coming days are, if not true, at least defensible: he was a titan, perhaps THE great American popular singer. His legacy is vast in intrinsic value and influence. His discography is also vast and can be intimidating to a newcomer. I'll put some thought into it and make some recommendations tomorrow. At one point I thought that he didn't make a bad record from roughly 1954 to 1965 or 1966 (the Atlantic and ABC years.) I have since delved into his catalog deeply enough to know that isn't true -- I find Have a Smile with Me almost unlistenable, and I think the Betty Carter duet is really overrated (although I blame most of that on her) -- but the ratio of good to bad astonishing, especially considering how prolific he was. The Genius of Ray Charles, Ray Charles Live, The Genius Sings the Blues (all Atlantic) and Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul are particularly good. And that leaves out most of his biggest and best hits.
Willow ,'Help'
Buffista Music II: Wrath of Chaka Khan
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
I'm a huge Ray fan too. He bent every genre to his own profoundly individual style so that country songs became Ray Charles songs, and jazz instrumentals became Ray Charles songs. He was his own genre.
I think he's better on uptempo and salty numbers than he is on crying ballads (though he's famous for those as well. Take this note with the qualifier that I own and love his LP Crying Time ). I just think he's a little too vital, a little too freakin' ALIVE to ever sound completely desolate. But sexy? Funny? Rockin'? Cool? Unbearably jumping grooves? That's Ray for me. Even through the mid-sixties he could crank out a rocker like "I Don't Need No Doctor" that made the Stones sound like British schoolboys.
Don't get sucked in by the geniality of his public image. Ray was a very tough bandleader, arrogant, egotistical, horny bastard at times - and knew exactly how much talent he had. As the joke went...
How do you get to be a member of (his backup singers) The Raelettes?
You let Ray.
One writer talked about riding on the back of a motor scooter while Ray drove listening to the sound of the scooter in front of him. He was also an airplane pilot - he didn't let much stop him or slow him down.
He was a junkie for 20 years too - so I guess he did know a thing or two about hard times. But like I said, I always got the feeling that even at his lowest Ray knew he could bend the world to his will.
Yep. Way back when I worked the Detroit auto show he drove out one of the new (then) Thunderbirds.
Our little airport has a 'Ray Charles runway.' Apparently back in the 80's he was flying in to do a concert at the university when his private jet skidded off the tiny and inadequate runway, damaging the plane and scaring everyone on board half to death. No, Ray was not the pilot.
Anyway, he could have gotten pissed and sued the airport, but instead he gave a killer concert (noting 'Since I almost died today I'm going to take things up-tempo') and then donated enough money so the airport could build a decent runway. Damn fine gentleman, according to the folks here.
Hayden, Misha & any other fans of The Baffler, Thomas Frank is being interviewed on Fresh Air right now.
Actually, my relationship to the Baffler is one less of fandom than of occasionally bemused quasi-solidarity. But I will seek out the interview nonetheless.
I learned of Ray Charles's death from an LED display in Times Square, shortly after I came out of the building that inter alia holds the headquarters of MTV. There's got to be a name for that level of irony.
Farewell Ray Charles.
As I was driving home last night, I listened to a monster Ray Charles set on the radio. Just as I was thinking how badly I wanted to hear "America the Beautiful," it came on and accompanied me on my last miles home. That man shows a love of country in those few moments that puts all the empty praise of a dead president to shame.
It felt good not to be embarrassed to be American again.
AND he was on Sesamee Street. Which is just cool.
I have a music question...
I've been asked to find Hugh McCracken's best four or five recordings. Any thoughts? His not being a headliner guy makes it a tough Google.
Don't know what to tell you, Trudy. I checked his All Music Guide listing, but while he's on a lot of recordings I know quite well his playing doesn't stick out in my mind at all. I'm looking at the track listings for Donald Fagen's The Nightfly, one of my favorite albums, and of the many many instrumental bits that I love (pick hit: Greg Phillinganes' piano intro on "Maxine") and that stick out in my mind on it I can't swear that any are his. Sorry.