Ray Sings Basie Swings - this surely sounds like a 50’s record, maybe a 60’s one. I’m sure Ray and Count would have had a wonderful time playing and arranging together but this is a “blast from the past.” It’s a bit odd because when the CD came out, both Ray Charles and Count Basie were long gone. A critic dubbed the release “Ghosts in the Machine,” and it was a perfect observation, the machine being modern production techniques and their unlimited potentials. Here is the story:
Concord Records’ A&R chief, John Burk, happened upon tapes marked “Ray/Basie” in the label’s Berkeley, Calif. vaults. Turns out they contained muddy recordings of a 1970s concert featuring Basie’s orchestra as the opening act, followed by Charles performing with his own band. At first, the tapes were judged unsalvageable. Then, Burk hit upon the idea of lifting Charles’ vocals (the quality of which was fortunately good) and mixing them with newly recorded music courtesy of the current configuration of the Basie orchestra, augmented by such guests as pianists Shelly Berg, Tom Scott and Jim Cox, B3 organist Joey DeFrancesco and, adding vocal counterpoint alongside a fresh coterie of Raelettes, Patti Austin. The arrangement wizards Quincy Jones, John Clayton, Roger Neumann, Larry Muhoberac, Shelly Berg, and Tom Scott did a tremendous job, writing for an already recorded vocal performance, but also the musicians who had to work in the opposite direction - providing a background for an already designed foreground. Patiently put together by engineers Seth Presant, Don Murray and Field, the final mix sounds like a real live performance, with lots of feeling, dynamics, as if they are together on the stage and not separated by thirty years, a generation of musician, and that fine line between life and death.
Personnel:
Ray Charles – vocals, piano
Grant Langford – alto saxophone
Marshall McDonald – alto saxophone, flute
Doug Lawrence – tenor saxophone
Doug Miller – tenor saxophone
John Williams – baritone saxophone
Clarence Banks – trombone
Dave Keim – trombone
Barry Cooper – bass trombone
Scotty Barnhart – trumpet
Shawn Edmonds – trumpet
Endré Rice – trumpet
Mike Williams – trumpet
Joey DeFrancesco – organ
Tony Suggs – piano
James Leary – double bass
Will Matthews – guitar
Butch Miles – drums
