Ray Charles

Ray Charles – The Original Ray Charles (1961/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 31:19 minutes | 490 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hollywood Records

Originally a 1961 “Limited Edition For Collectors” vinyl-only release, The Original Ray Charles documents 12 of the earliest singles from Charles’ discography on the Hollywood Records label.

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Ray Charles – The Great Ray Charles (Édition Studio Masters) (1957/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:33 minutes | 786 MB | Genre: Soul, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

The Great Ray Charles is Ray Charles’ second studio album for Atlantic Records, released in 1957. It is an instrumental jazz album. Later CD re-issues often include as a bonus, six of eight tracks from The Genius After Hours. The original cover was by Marvin Israel.

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Ray Charles – The Genius Sings the Blues (1961/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 34:29 minutes | 658 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

Many musicians possess elements of genius, but it was the great Ray Charles who so fully embodied the term that it was bestowed upon him as a nickname. Blind since the age of six (from glaucoma), Ray Charles (Albany, Georgia, September 23, 1930 – Beverly Hills, California, June 10, 2004) combined elements of gospel, R&B and blues into a fervid, exuberant style that would come to be known as soul music.

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Ray Charles – The Genius After Hours (1961/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:18 minutes | 683 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RevOla

The Genius After Hours is a 1961 album by Ray Charles. All of the songs were taken from the same three studio sessions that created the album The Great Ray Charles which featured the use of both a trio and a septet; the later arranged by Quincy Jones.

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Ray Charles – The Atlantic Studio Albums In Mono (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 04:16:19 minutes | 2,73 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

A music legend like no other, Ray Charles earned the nickname “Genius” for recording countless jazz, country, R&B and pop masterpieces during a career that spanned seven decades. This Box Set features mono mixes for the seven outstanding solo studio albums he recorded for Atlantic Records. For this new collection, the following albums have been fully remastered from the original mono analog tapes, echoing the experience of the era, when most fans were hearing music on record players, jukeboxes and radios that played music monaurally: Ray Charles (1957), The Great Ray Charles (1957), Yes, Indeed! (1958), What’d I Say (1959), The Genius Of Ray Charles (1959), The Genius After Hours (1961), and The Genius Sings The Blues (1961).

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Ray Charles – Ray Charles At Newport (1958/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:47 minutes | 1,70 GB | Genre: Jazz, Funk, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

Ray Charles at Newport is a 1958 live album of Ray Charles’ July 5, 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. The detailed liner notes on the album were written by Kenneth Lee Karpe. All tracks from this Newport album, along with all tracks from his 1959 Herndon Stadium performance in Atlanta, were also released on the Atlantic compilation LP, Ray Charles Live. A later CD reissue of that compilation album included a previously unissued song from the 1958 Newport concert, “Swanee River Rock”.

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Ray Charles – Ray Charles And Betty Carter: Dedicated To You (1961/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:17:58 minutes | 1,49 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RevOla

Ray Charles’s decision to cut an album of duets with then-rising jazz singer Betty Carter defines the phrase “unerring instinct.” Charles responds to Carter’s gorgeous voice and compelling melodic changes with some of his softest singing; you might say that this already masterful conduit of emotion got in touch with his feminine side on this 1961 date. The opening and closing cuts of the girls’-names theme album Dedicated to You, another ’61 LP that fills out this 78-minute disc, demonstrate Brother Ray’s touch for transforming unlikely material into expressions of his own funky essence. His amused big-band celebrations of “Hardhearted Hannah” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” sit alongside sublime portraits of “Stella by Starlight” and “Ruby” on an underappreciated set that’s a perfect match for the Charles-Carter sides. –Rickey Wright

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Ray Charles – Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:43 minutes | 817 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

A treasure trove of newly discovered recordings, highlighted by a duet with fellow icon Johnny Cash (“Why Me Lord?”), Rare Genius was released by Concord Records in April 2010 to celebrate Charles’ 80th birthday (he would have turned 80 on September 23, 2010.

Culled from four decades worth of demos and other previously unreleased material, Rare Genius showcases the remarkable artistic vision, stylistic range and emotionally rich vocals that crafted Charles enduring legacy. An essential insight into one of the 20th Century’s greatest musical icons.

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Ray Charles – Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music, Vols 1 & 2 (2009/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:19 minutes | 1,47 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Volumes 1 & 2 are major landmarks in American culture. Charles demonstrated that great songs with signature performances work in all genres. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” was a standard in country, soul and R&B, as he proved. Modern Sounds also brought America together during the Sixties’ civil rights movement. Charles became one of the first recording artists to have ownership and complete control of the masters. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music has been listed among the greatest albums of all time, along with the Beatles, Dylan, Motown, Springsteen, Hendrix and the Beach Boys.

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Ray Charles – Ray Charles In Person (Live at Alonzo Herndon Stadium, Atlanta, GA, 5/28/1959) (1960/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:38 minutes | 356 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

Many musicians possess elements of genius, but it was the great Ray Charles who so fully embodied the term that it was bestowed upon him as a nickname. Blind since the age of six (from glaucoma), Ray Charles (Albany, Georgia, September 23, 1930 – Beverly Hills, California, June 10, 2004) combined elements of gospel, R&B and blues into a fervid, exuberant style that would come to be known as soul music.

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Ray Charles – Hit the Road Jack / The Danger Zone (Mono Version) (1961/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 08:22 minutes | 78 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BnF Collection

“Ray Charles ‎– Hit the Road Jack / The Danger Zone” was originally released in 1961 as 7″ 45 RPM vinyl EP by Véga Records, the French distributor for ABC-Paramount. ~ From the collection of Bibliothèque nationale de France.

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Ray Charles – Genius Loves Company (10th Anniversary Edition) (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:01:00 minutes | 2,18 GB | Genre: Blues, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

Upon its release in 2004, few could have predicted the extraordinary, game-changing effect that Ray Charles’ final recording would have on both his career and the industry as a whole.

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Ray Charles – Genius + Soul = Jazz (1961/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 37:12 minutes | 440 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Impulse!

Genius + Soul = Jazz is a 1961 album by Ray Charles featuring big band arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns. Charles is accompanied by two groups drawn from members of The Count Basie Band and from the ranks of top New York session players. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

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Ray Charles – What’d I Say (1959/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 30:17 minutes | 641 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

“What’d I Say” is a song by American rhythm and blues artist Ray Charles, released by him as a single in 1959. The composition appeared as a result of the musician’s improvisation at one of the performances in 1958, when he and his orchestra needed to fill in the remaining time before the end of the concert. The enthusiastic reaction of the audience to the composition forced Charles to present the song to the producers, who recommended it for recording.
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Ray Charles – Optimum (Remastered) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:40:55 minutes | 577 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Puzzle Productions

Ray Charles (* September 23, 1930 as Raymond Charles Robinson in Albany, Georgia; † June 10, 2004 in Beverly Hills, California) was an American singer, songwriter and composer. He is also referred to as the “High Priest of Soul”. His influence was stylistically formative for the development of rhythm and blues, blues, country and soul. In total, he has sold about 90 million phonograms.
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