Fretplay.com Ray Charles CD reviews Ray Charles guitar tabs Ray Charles CD reviews Ray Charles tabs Ray Sings Basie Swings


Ray Charles - Ray Sings Basie Swings Audio CD

A fair review of the Ray Charles "Ray Sings Basie Swings" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ray Charles reviews here, or go back to the Ray Charles tabs.

Ray Charles Band: Ray Charles
Title: Ray Sings Basie Swings
Rating:
Release Date: 2007-09-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Oh What a Beautiful Morning 2: Let the Good Times Roll 3: How Long Has This Been Going On? 4: Every Saturday Night 5: Busted 6: Crying Time 7: I Can't Stop Loving You 8: Come Live With Me 9: Feel So Bad 10: The Long And Winding Road 11: Look What They've Done To My Song 12: Georgia On My Mind

Strange but Strong
But as disturbingly ghoulish and potentially exploitative as this post-mortal collaboration between the voice of Ray Charles and the legacy of Count Basie may be, the signing and swinging are both quite lively. The immortality of Ray Charles refuses to die, and ghost bands still have rent to pay. The producers of this recording have combined the vocal track from an old Ray Charles concert performance with arrangements for the Basie band, blending them together to create a swinging session of Charles standards that is truly delightful. .


Ray Sings Basie Swings by Ray Charles, Count Basie Orchestra
Full blown big band sound. Greatly recommended. Swings, dances, rocks and space-surfs. Nothing greasy or phony throughout the whole CD. Still easily digestible for occasional Jazz listeners. Perfectly fitting vocal arrangements. All one piece. No "seams" or "glues" audible regarding the combined recordings. Very inspired and soulful singing from Ray Charles.


Ray SIngs Basie Swing is right on.
Ray's vocals and the band integrate smoothly and it makes a great listening experience. The title on this said it all. The mix puts Ray hovering right in front of you and the band surrounds you. An excellent SACD.


Amazing Sonics
. This recording is amazing in both stereo and multi-channel, both in terms of clarity and detail.


Astonishing but. . .
Crying Time and I Can't Stop Loving You can go the way of the dodo. I admit I'm not a great Ray Charles fan, but the closer he gets to jazz, the better I like him. But Oh! What a Beautiful Morning is a gass, and Let the Good Times Roll gets cooking. I'm not sure the pop/country oriented fans will like this album as much as jazz aficionados. And somewhere the Count is smiling at how his namesake band can still flat-out swing.

This recording is a miracle of modern technology. The vast difference in time between the two recordings just isn't audible. The vintage Charles' analog recording was copied to digital using 96 Khz, 24 bit technology, and the Count's band was recorded that way. Telarc then assumed the task of making a surround SACD version of it. Unfortunately, engineer Michael Bishop chose to place Charles' voice in all 5 (or 7) speakers. Why? Keep the voice up front where it belongs. Second, Bishop also put instruments in every speaker. Likewise, wrong. Surrounds generally are best served by carrying ambience, which would have been real easy to simulate. Frankly, if there were a two-channel version available in HDCD, that would be a better sonic choice than this SACD, or just play the two-channel version. Not that the sound is bad. Heavens no! Telarc isn't capable of making bad-sounding recordings. It's their philosophy to which I object in this particular instance, although Concord may have called the technical shots.


You can see a complete list of all Ray Charles discography, or go back to the Ray Charles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

Search guitar tabs

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
[ Search tabs | Guitar tabs | Bass tabs |
Easy guitar tabs | Guitar solo tabs |
Acoustic guitar tabs | Guitar chords |
How to read guitar tabs ]
Forum topics
Music forums
- Bands and artists - Songwriting and lyrics - Tablature talk - Promote your band
Instrument forums
- Guitar basics - Gear & accessories - Bass guitar
Community
- The pit - Site Feedback - Reviews
[ User survey | About us | Privacy statement ]