CD1
1. I Wonder
2. Sticks and Stones
3. My Baby
4. Just for a Thrill
5. Margie
6. Moanin’
7. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
8. I Believe to My Soul
9. My Bonnie
10. I’ve Got News For You
11. Yes Indeed
12. Hit the Road Jack
13. What’d I Say
14. Let the Good Times Roll
15. Come Rain or Come Shine
16. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
17. I’m Going to Move to the Outskirts of Town
18. Georgia on My Mind
CD2
1. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
2. I Wonder
3. I Believe to My Soul
4. Hit the Road Jack
5. What’d I Say
6. Georgia on My Mind
7. Margie
8. Come Rain or Come Shine
9. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
10. Careless Love
11. I Got a Woman
12. Doodlin’ Warm Up
13. Doodlin’
14. One Mint Julep
15. Let the Good Times Roll
16. Untitled Blues
17. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
CD3
1. The Right Time
2. Hit the Road Jack
3. I Believe to My Soul
4. My Bonnie
5. Unchain My Heart
6. I Can’t Stop Loving You
7. Bye Bye Love
8. Yes Indeed
9. What’d I Say
10. Georgia on My Mind
11. Hide Nor Hair
12. Careless Love
13. Danger Zone
14. Marie
15. Drown in My Own Tears
16. Yes Indeed
17. Ray’s French Intro
18. One Mint Julep
19. Let the Good Times Roll
20. Margie
21. Tell the Truth
Ray Charles – Vocals, piano, organ
Marcus Belgrave, Wallace Davenport, Phil Guilbeau, John Hunt – Trumpets
Henderson Chambers, James Lee Harbert, Keg Johnson, Leon Comegys – Trombones
Hank Crawford, Rudy Powell – Alto sax
David Newman - Tenor sax, alto sax, flute
Don Wilkerson - Tenor sax
Leroy Cooper - Baritone sax
Bruno Carr – Drums
Sonny Forriest – Guitar
Edgar Willis – Bass
The Raelettes:
Gwen Berry, Margie Hendricks, Pat Lyles, Darlene McRea – Vocals
In my review of one of Ray Charles’ albums, I noted that he flowered when performing before an audience. That is certainly true of this triple-CD
collection, which gathers together recordings of his Paris concerts in October 1961 and May 1962. The 1961 tracks fill the first CD and the first five
tracks of the second CD, while the 1962 concerts occupy the remainder. One feels that the audience’s presence and the live settings at the Palais des
Sports and the Olympia Theatre encourage Ray to improvise and add many a yell and shout to emphasise the emotion in the songs.
The atmosphere might not have been so well suited to the enjoyment of music, as this was the period of the Algerian War. Algerians had been letting off
bombs in Paris, and the French police had arrested thousands of Algerian demonstrators and imprisoned them in the Palais des Sports, where some of them
still were on the day of the concert. As Ray Charles recounts in his autobiography, he received an assurance from the Algerians that there would be no
bombing on Ray’s route to the venue.
1962 was the year when Ray released Modern Sounds in County and Western Music, an album which suggested that Ray was adventurous enough to branch
out into a genre he had never previously tackled. Yet most of the repertoire on these discs is familiar fare, although he does perform Careless Love, Bye Bye Love and I Can’t Stop Loving You, which were on the “C & W” album.
The concerts include many of Ray’s hits, including his most popular successes like Hit the Road Jack, I Can’t Stop Loving You and Georgia on My Mind. The last of these benefits from Ray’s organ accompaniment, David Newman’s flute obbligato and the way that Charles takes the
song very slowly and quietly. In fact Ray’s use of the Hammond organ adds quite a lot to the effect of these tracks. His use of this instrument accentuates
the gospel influences on much of his work.
The first CD illustrates the wide range of Ray’s talent: from the blues (e.g. What’d I Say), soul and gospel (My Baby, a
touching duet with Margie Hendricks) to jazz (Alexander’s Ragtime Band). Margie is a good example of Ray’s ability to keep a song riding
on an intrinsic pulse while the vocalist varies the beat and the expression. He uses his voice like a jazz instrumentalist: improvising freely and varying
the dynamics.
The other CDs follow very much the same pattern, even including some of the same songs., but Ray injects them with the same intense energy as he always
does. My favourite track from the 1962 recordings is the one entitled humbly Untitled Blues. It lets Ray loose at the piano, accompanied only by
bass and drums (and Ray’s humming), for a glorious eight minutes of jazzy blues, displaying his often-overlooked skill at the piano.
The sound quality is variable, with some of the acoustics sounding like the inside of a tin box. The sound in the Olympia is better than that in the
cavernous Palais des Sports. The Raelettes’ vocals can have the occasional touch of shrillness. But this three-CD album shows Ray Charles at his most
crowd-pleasing. He may please you too.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Frémeaux & Associés 
