Ray Charles Ray Sings, Basie Swings
- 18 years ago
Concord Records and Starbucks Hear Music, the two Companies that co-released Genius Loves Company, announced today that they will partner again to co-release and co-market Ray Sings, Basie Swings, which marries archival, never-before-released Ray Charles recordings with brand-new performances by the Count Basie Orchestra. A painstaking labor of love that combines cutting-edge technology and musical ingenuity, Ray Sings, Basie Swings due out October 3rd, 2006 at Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada and at traditional music retail, showcases the late artist at his dazzling peak. Although Ray Charles and Count Basie shared the same bill during their careers, Ray Sings, Basie Swings marks the first and only recordings in which the “Genius” is backed by the legendary bandleader’s orchestra.
John Burk, Concord Records’ A&R chief and producer of Ray Charles’ 2004 multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning blockbuster album Genius Loves Company, came upon the lost tapes simply marked “Ray / Basie,” in late 2005 while surveying the label’s vaults in Berkeley, CA. While documentation about the original recordings is scarce, the archival reels that served as source material for Ray Sings, Basie Swings were apparently concert tapes made in the 1970s by legendary impresario-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.” 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.”
John Burk, Concord Records’ A&R chief and producer of Ray Charles’ 2004 multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning blockbuster album Genius Loves Company, came upon the lost tapes simply marked “Ray / Basie,” in late 2005 while surveying the label’s vaults in Berkeley, CA. While documentation about the original recordings is scarce, the archival reels that served as source material for Ray Sings, Basie Swings were apparently concert tapes made in the 1970s by legendary impresario-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.” 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.”