Curt's Jazz Cafe

Though John Coltrane gets most of the birthday ink today, Ray Charles Robinson was also born on this day, in 1930; four years after Trane.

Both were born in the South, both spent seminal portions of their careers recording for Atlantic Records and both were major influences on countless numbers of artists.

Just think; wouldn’t a Coltrane – Ray Charles record date have been something?

Happy 81st birth anniversary to “The Genius”, Ray Charles.

Here are some great video clips of Brother Ray in his prime, “makin’ it do what it do, baby!”

“I Believe to My Soul” – performed live at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival

“Let The Good Times Roll” – also from Newport 1960

“What’d I Say” – from the mid ’60’s 

Ray blows the alto sax on this clip from a 1963 Brazilian Concert!

“In the Evening, When the Sun Goes Down” –  Ray stretches out a bit on the 88’s…

This entry was posted on September 23, 2011 at 9:56 pm and is filed under In Memoriam, The Jazz Continues..., Video Vault with tags jazz, jazz videos, Ray Charles, soul jazz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.