Ray Charles

THE COMPLETE CONCERT! NEVER BEFORE ON LP!

This edition contains, for the first time on vinyl, Ray Charles’ splendid 1960 live set at the Newport Jazz Festival, which was taped two years after his first appearance there (the 1958 concert issued on the Atlantic LP Ray Charles at Newport). By the time this 1960 performance took place, Charles had already left the Atlantic label, so the concert didn’t originally make it onto an LP. The eclectic repertoire includes Neal Hefti’s “Lil’ Darlin’”, made famous by Count Basie on his classic 1958 Atomic Mr. Basie album. The studio versions of both “Let the Good Times Roll” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” were included on the 1959 album The Genius of Ray Charles, and bear arrangements by Quincy Jones, which were played by a big band on the record and adapted to an eight-piece band for the concert. Ray Charles’ set at Newport ’60 would be followed by the Oscar Peterson trio with Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. Ray Brown remembered years later: “When Ray was through with his set, we turned to each other and asked just one question, ‘Who wants to follow that?’”NEVER BEFORE ON LP!

PERSONNEL:

RAY CHARLES, vocals & piano,
BENNIE “HANK” CRAWFORD, alto sax
DAVID “FATHEAD” NEWMAN, tenor sax
LEROY “HOG” COOPER, baritone sax
PHIL GUILBEAU, JOHN HUNT, trumpet
EDGAR L. WILLIS, bass
MILT TURNER, drums

THE RAELETTES:
Gwen Berry, Margie Hendrix, Mae Moseley & Betty Smith], backing vocals

Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island, on July 2, 1960.

SIDE A:

1 THE JAMES MOODY STORY
2 LIL’ DARLING
3 BLUES WALTZ
4 LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
5 DON’T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYIN’

SIDE B:

1 STICKS AND STONES
2 MY BABY! (I LOVER HER, YES I DO)
3 DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS
4 WHAT’D I SAY
5 I BELIEVE TO MY SOUL