Take a venerable, well-respected act past his commercial prime pair with a bunch of famous friends and admirers cross fingers that fans of the latter will flock to hear the combination. Los Angeles, February 1962.It’s the music-business equivalent of a gold watch: the all-star supersession, heavy on big-name guests. Both were combined on Concord’s CD CRE-31337, where their equal attraction and merit is confirmed.īye Bye Love You Don’t Know Me Half As Much I Love You So Much It Hurts Just A Little Lovin’ Born To Lose (18.45) – Worried Mind It Makes No Difference Now You Win Again Careless Love I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You Hey Good Lookin’ At The Club (19.23)Ĭharles (p, v) and his orchestra. This beautifully presented LP (the nice pressing is in violent blue plastic) with its robust sleeve leaves one hoping for Waxtime to follow up with part 2. The final track, At The Club, seems to have been omitted from all previous issues. Ray’s piano is featured only on the last three tracks. That’s irrelevant, because they’ve all been swept aside by the dominance of the great singer’s performance. Ray fights off a polished choir (not the Raelettes) that emerges Dracula-like every so often and Charles’s big band is tidier than usual in delivering what has been placed before them. It must be said that Marty Paich lets the side down with his cloying string arrangements (seven of them) while Fuller makes the brass shout. From a jazz partisan’s view, Ray easily transcends the material, although it’s suspicious that these substantial performances are often overlooked by jazz reviewers. Surprised by Ray’s request, his producer Sid Feller collected together sheet music and records of the best numbers in the medium. Possible controversy is killed stone dead by the knowledge that Ray had wanted to make the album for some years before his then label, ABC-Paramount, supported the idea. But the truth is that this and its partner album (the LP is the first part of a two-LP set) are amongst Ray Charles’s greatest achievements. On the face of it, the material for this album might have caused a waste of the great singer’s talents.
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