farewell Ray Charles

I really got Georgia on my mind now............

Standing ovations for a lifetime of good music.
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
 
I know that you are not supposed to speak ill of the dead, and I know many will chime in with "he essentially founded an entire genre of music and was a giant" stuff, but. . . .

IWhile that is all true, I cannot in good conscience let that go without also noting the negatives.

Admit it. He totally copied REO Speedwagon.


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My brother-in-law played trumpet as a Ray Charles sideman for a year in the late 70's; he was interviewed in Toronto giving his recollections. He recalls Ray as being involved in every aspect of his music, from musician tryouts (which really surprised my bro-in-law) to mixing, to business, everything. On the road 10 months of the year, he was constantly flying back to LA to attend to one thing or another. Musicians being human, each sideman had good days and bad days, sick days and down days--but my bro in law "never saw Ray give less than 110%" He has been the example of the consummate professional (let alone incredible musician) my bro in law has tried to emulate for over 25 years.

As for his music...I wish I had the words here to quote directly. Paraphrasing...if you take the top handful of names in Soul, or in Gospel, or in Country, or R&B, or Blues, or Jazz, it is fairly easy to come up with just a small number of people at the very top of their genre. In each of those areas, Ray could fit in with the top handful and not be out of place. He was the ultimate crossover artist, with solid contributions in so many musical genres.

Anyway, my brother in law put it much more eloquently and passionately...but then, he was lucky enough to get paid to tour with an idol...
 
I spent the National 'Day of Mourning' grieving for the great American that we lost...........Ray Charles.

'America the Beautiful' was never more beautiful then with his voice. We are the poorer for his passing.


Boo
 
Mercutio said:
My brother-in-law played trumpet as a Ray Charles sideman for a year in the late 70's;
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Wow, good for him. And I say that because it sounds better than voicing the raging, seething envy I actually feel. ;) (Not that I ever could have realistically played in Ray's band anyway, since he obviously played his own piano and, I believe, used the same organ player for the last 30 years or so. But still...)

I've met a few guys who played in his band on and off, and while not all the reviews were, shall we say, as glowing as your brother-in-law's, they all agreed that his professionalism and musicianship were beyond reproach. I know he was tough on his sidemen; I've personally seen him dress down a drummer, a backup singer, and a sound man in front of large crowds (all of whom, to be fair, had screwed up). If your B.I.L. managed to avoid that, he must have had his own act together very well.

There's an infamous bootleg recording of Ray's guitarist absolutely going off on him during a show, apparently without provocation. They start into a song, and suddenly you hear someone on mic yelling, "Ray Charles, you're a motherf***in' dog! You dirty bastard!,"etc. The band stops awkwardly, but the smoothness with which Ray handles it is astonishing. Without ever losing his cool, he says something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, but this man is drunk. Can we get him off the stage please? God bless him, I love him, but he had a little too much to drink tonight. Security, please escort him off." He gets dragged offstage, still yelling, and Ray counts off the song again as though nothing ever happened. Now that is grace under fire.

I've heard that what set the guy off was the fact that Ray was raking in vast amounts of money, and yet opened every show with the song "Busted," singing about how broke he was -- all while not paying his band much at all. Eventually this just got to the guy, and he snapped.
 
Quinn said:

I've met a few guys who played in his band on and off, and while not all the reviews were, shall we say, as glowing as your brother-in-law's, they all agreed that his professionalism and musicianship were beyond reproach. I know he was tough on his sidemen; I've personally seen him dress down a drummer, a backup singer, and a sound man in front of large crowds (all of whom, to be fair, had screwed up). If your B.I.L. managed to avoid that, he must have had his own act together very well.
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Oh, well...um...he does say that Ray rarely talked to the trumpets, except to yell at them...(with one notable exception, which I'll write about after I get the names right)...but as a result, if he did not have his act together before Ray, he certainly did afterward!
 
Quinn said:

I've met a few guys who played in his band on and off, and while not all the reviews were, shall we say, as glowing as your brother-in-law's, they all agreed that his professionalism and musicianship were beyond reproach. I know he was tough on his sidemen; I've personally seen him dress down a drummer, a backup singer, and a sound man in front of large crowds (all of whom, to be fair, had screwed up). If your B.I.L. managed to avoid that, he must have had his own act together very well.
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Of course, Albert King was known to fire guys after a show and re-hire them the next day. If you ask around some of the older players in St Louis, they can tell you how many dozens of times each of them was fired.
 
Well I have to post in every Ray Charles thread. It’s a matter of honor.

He was sincere in his music and he was honest in his music.

I say this because I recently saw an interview with him where he was asked how he wanted to be remembered. He said he really didn’t care as long as people said he was honest and sincere with his music.

So I’ve said it and I meant it.

He was living proof that you don’t have to chase every passing fad to remain hip for life. You either are or you aren’t.
 
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