In April of this year, Concord Records released “Genius + Soul = Jazz,” a deluxe two-CD set that borrows its title from Charles groundbreaking 1961 jazz album.  The new set combines digitally remastered versions of its namesake plus Charles’ three additional jazz albums:  “My Kind Of Jazz,” “Jazz Number II” and “My Kind Of Jazz Part 3.”

Global interest in Ray Charles was evident when Billboard Magazine recently featured several articles in tribute to Ray Charles and his 80th birthday celebration in their June 5th issue.  Editorial content was picked up by Reuters News Service and circulated around the world.

Later this year, the Ray Charles Memorial Library is slated to open.  The library will occupy the first floor of the RPM International building in Los Angeles where Charles worked and recorded since 1965.  The focus of the library is to educate school children about the life, works and accomplishments of Mr. Charles.

Another educational initiative will be the publication of a High School Curriculum for American History, 1930-2004, identified as “The Ray Charles Era.”  Teachers will be able to download the curriculum and ten Ray Charles recordings which will act as the soundtrack for each of the history lessons included in the curriculum.

The Biography Channel is currently completing a two-hour, prime-time Ray Charles documentary, titled “Ray Charles’ America” which will feature exclusive interviews and never-before-heard music from Ray Charles.  The program will be broadcast in November.

On Broadway, “Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical” will open in Spring, 2011.  The Broadway production will feature some of Charles’ most popular hits, including “Georgia On My Mind,” “I’ve Got A Woman” and “Unchain My Heart.”  With a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori-Parks and direction by Sheldon Epps, the musical is being presented by Stuart Benjamin, who produced the award-winning biopic “Ray.”

Here is a quick overview of some of the fine art choices now available for the Ray Charles fan and collector.

Ray’s longtime manager and friend Joe Adams, a man of many talents, had a fabulous eye as a photographer, and often clicked away when Ray was doing a television appearance, or on the bus traveling from gig to gig.  Backstage or onstage, Joe Adams had the exclusive access to one of the world’s music icons and with his photography produced some especially intimate and compelling portraits of Ray.

This unseen treasure trove of Joe Adams’ Ray Charles images can only be found in the limited edition book “Yes, Indeed,” published by Genesis Publications in the U.K.  All the photographs are printed to the highest standards alongside unpublished text from Ray Charles and interviews from 30 legendary performers, including Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones.  A DVD of rare performances accompanies the book.  For more info, go to www.genesis-publications.com/ray-charles-yes-indeed/

Morrison Hotel Gallery, the world’s leading purveyor of fine art music photography, has published a choice selection of three of Joe Adams’ images of Ray Charles as gorgeous lambda prints, 16×20″ size, each in a limited edition of 90.  Owner Richard Horowitz reports that they only have eleven prints signed by Joe Adams remaining.  To learn more,  go to www.morrisonhotelgallery.com

German photographer and musician, Juergen Lechner, officially licensed an image of Ray Charles which he shot during a jazz festival in Germany in November, 2001, to create a 31.5″ x 31.5″ x 1.8″ amazing giclee canvas print.  It is a photograph that looks like a modern painting, and would be the centerpiece in any decor.  It comes fully stretched on a cross-braced stretcher.  It is in a limited edition of 500.  Juergen has several available in the U.S. for easy delivery to American fans.  Check out this lovely artwork at Juergen’s website:  http://www.juergenlechner.de/limited

In 2000, Ray Charles received the Blues Foundation Lifetime AchievementAward which was sculpted by artist Paul Wegner.  It was so beautiful that it has remained on top of the piano in Ray’s office ever since.  The award-winning sculptor has won acclaim for his moving series of sculptures on Jazz and Blues greats, now into its 25th year.  Wegner’s free-floating style (called “fragmentation”) evokes an almost musical feel to the design itself, allowing figures to roll with the instruments in a wave of upbeat, visual enjoyment.  Paul Wegner can be contacted at 3rd Wish Studio.  Go to www.pauldwegner.com

In his original liner notes for Genius + Soul = Jazz, Dick Katz wrote, “The combination here of rare talent plus uncommon craftsmanship has produced a record that showcases the timeless quality and innate taste that is uniquely that of Ray Charles.”  Even though Count Basie does not appear on the album, he was a major model for Ray Charles jazz work.  He assembled a full-scale, working orchestra, which included members of the Count Basie Orchestra, and made use of organ in a jazz context.  The album was produced by Creed Taylor, with arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns.  Issued originally on ABC Records’ legendary Impulse jazz label, the record ascended to the #4 spot on Billboard’s pop album chart, and spawned the very first singles on Impulse, heretofore an album label.  Ray Charles’ version of “One Mint Julep” charted #1 R&B and #8 pop.

Fans of Ray Charles’ jazz repertoire will now have all four of his jazz album releases collected in this new deluxe two-CD edition, available on April 6, 2010.

“We will be rolling out exciting events and announcements every month through September 2011,” states Valerie Ervin, President of The Ray Charles Foundation. “It’s not only a chance to connect with Mr. Charles’ ongoing fan base on various levels but to also engage a new generation of fans as we re-introduce his enduring legacy and catalog of work. Fans throughout the world will be able to learn more about Mr. Charles— not only as a music legend but as a global icon of historical significance.”

Enhanced by links to various social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the newly renovated raycharles.com web site offers news stories and updates about forthcoming music releases and events, a “This Day in Ray Charles History” feature and official Ray Charles merchandise. The site—netting a 1000% increase in visitors since its launch—debuted with complete discographies of new album releases and vinyl singles recorded by the 17-time Grammy Award winner. A special “80^th Birthday Celebration” logo has been designed for all product releases and events.

These discographies will eventually be expanded to include compilation albums and boxed sets, soundtrack albums and early songs recorded by Charles when he was the vocalist and pianist for the McSon Trio (also known as the Maxim or Maxin Trio) in the 1940s. “There are few things more exhausting to compile than all of the songs recorded by Ray Charles,” says Janet Macoska, Brand Manager/Archivist for The Ray Charles Marketing Group, the licensing arm for The Ray Charles Foundation. “The volume of work he produced during his career is incredible. The two discographies now contain more than 600 unique recordings. When everything is complete, there will be more than 700 recordings.”

Several of those recordings provided the musical backdrop for the seventh season opener of CBS’ popular television series, “Cold Case.” Premiering Sept. 27, 2009, the episode was seen by over 9,000,000 viewers. Over the coming 20 months, key events tied in with “The Ray Charles 80^th Birthday Celebration” include new music releases, a documentary DVD and the opening of the Ray Charles Memorial Library in Los Angeles.

The Ray Charles Marketing Group

“We’ve planned a series of events and a rollout of new products designed to draw attention to, and celebrate, this historic anniversary.  The RAY 80 logo will be used on all product packaging and at all authorized Ray Charles 80th Birthday Celebration events,” stated Janet Macoska, Brand Manager for the Ray Charles Marketing Group.  “The RAY 80 campaign is about us connecting to Ray’s worldwide legion of fans and creating opportunities for them to connect to each other,” added Macoska.

The logo was designed by Abbey Anna and Jeffrey Spector of Concord Music Group, and utilizes one of the many inconic Ray Charles portraits by legendary photographer Norman Seeff.  Another of Mr. Seeff’s photos of Ray Charles, from this same session,  graced the cover of Mr. Charles’ best-selling album, “Genius Loves Company.”

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Grammy award winning recording for Ray Charles for his 1959 recording of “Let The Good Times Roll”. Mr. Charles would go on to win 16 other Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. In addition, Ray Charles was the only vocalist to record a Grammy award winning work in every decade from the 1950’s through the 2000’s.

January 28th is the 20th anniversary of Ray’s first Super Bowl commercial for Diet Pepsi. In 1999 TV Guide ranked this commercial from the 1990 game on its list of “50 Best Television Commercials of All Time”. Pepsi’s “You’ve Got The Right One Baby, Uh-Huh!” series of commercials remains one of the longest running and most successful campaigns in the history of the Diet Pepsi brand.

March 7^th commemorates the 25^th Anniversary of the release of the single, “We Are The World”, the fastest selling American pop single in music history. This song, recorded by Ray Charles with many other music industry icons, went on to raise over $60,000,000 for humanitarian aid in Africa.

March 25th is the 50th anniversary of the recording session for Ray’s definitive version of the Hoagy Carmichael/Stuart Gorrell classic song “Georgia On My Mind”. This recording earned Ray Charles two Grammy awards, was his first Billboard #1 Pop Chart Single and was the first commercial recording to become an official state song.

June 20th marks the 30th anniversary of the theatrical release of Universal Pictures’ “The Blues Brothers”. Ray’s portrayal as the owner of “Ray’s Music Store” proved to be an audience favorite as did his musical performance of “Shake Your Tailfeather”.

“The official re-launch of the www.raycharles.com website will start the celebration on January 8th and we plan on creating exciting events and announcements every month through September of 2011, making this a twenty month celebration”, stated Tony Gumina of The Ray Charles Marketing Group, the licensing arm for The Ray Charles Foundation.

“On the new website Ray Charles fans throughout the world will be able to learn more about Mr. Charles not only as a musical legend but as a worldwide icon of historical significance”, Gumina added.