Ray Charles
Live: In Concert
Concord Records
www.concordmusicgroup.com
By George W. Harris

Concord Records is doing a superlative job reissuing the Ray Charles
catalogue. Some of his more obscure stuff is available on digital
download, and others, like this cooking live concert in 1965 at the
venerable LA Shrine Auditorium, are juiced up with extra songs that
didn’t make the original 12 songed album. Here, Charles is in prime
form, teamed up with his HOT band that included David “Fathead”
Newman/ts, Hank Crawford/as and Julian Priester/tb, caught at the stage
in his career when he was just on the cusp of crossing over from R&B to
more mainstream soul and pop.

Charles himself is in vintage form. His piano work on “Swing A Little
Taste” as well as his organ oozing on “I Got A Woman” are both high on
the “Oh Yeah” meter. A previously unissued take of “Georgia” is spot
on, as is the dripping “In The Evening” that has Charles squeezing his
words out like seeds from a grapefruit. Newman gets some nice solo work
on “Georgia” as well, while the Raeletts bring out the gospel feel on a
rocking’ “What’d I Say.” Charles was a true one of a kind, that felt at
home at every genre of music, bringing his gospel roots into play no
matter what the tune. A real treat.