The article explores Ray’s significant impact on the Jazz genre, interviewing a number of fellow musicians and colleagues who experienced the genius’s work first-hand. In reading the detailed accounts of the musical arranging and engineering for Charles’ many jazz albums, it’s impossible not to see the incredible influence he had,  for which, Cohen states, Charles is often unappreciated.

“It’s important for the world to know that while Ray Charles certainly transcended musical categories, he was also an important jazz musician and bandleader. Not only did much of his great music vividly include what he loved and admired about jazz, not only did he hire first rate jazz musicians to play in his groups (including, but not limited to, David “Fathead” Newman, Hank Crawford, Marcus Belgrave and Steve Turre), but he also inspired many other jazz musicians”, said Cohen about the idea behind his award winning article. “For some reason, he’s been largely left out of the accepted jazz pantheon— maybe because of his international popularity—but he definitely belongs in every jazz history syllabus.”

The ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards were established in 1967 to honor the memory of composer/critic/commentator Deems Taylor, who died in 1966 after a distinguished career that included six years as President of ASCAP. Over the years, tens of thousands of dollars have been distributed in cash prizes to winning authors, journalists and broadcast producers and personalities.

To view the online issue of the October 2010 edition of Downbeat Magazine, featuring the award-winning article “Ray’s Kind Of Jazz”, visit http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2010/DB201010/.

Aaron Cohen’s latest work Amazing Grace, about the making, and influence of, the Aretha Franklin album of that name, is currently available through Continuum publishing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG-tHlwRToI

Over 100 minutes of rare Ray Charles Concert footage from the legendary 1961 Antibes Jazz Festival in France will be released on DVD on October 25^th, 2011. The newly discovered footage, featuring an hour and 45 minutes of performances, show Ray Charles in his prime period with the original Raeletts and his most legendary band (including David “Fathead” Newman and Hank Crawford.) These concerts were Ray’s first-ever performances in Europe and helped to cement his place one of America’s most beloved international stars.

“Seeing and hearing Ray perform so brilliantly 50 years ago in France, is an inspiration and reminds us just how gifted this man was and what an amazing and special talent he had.” says Jamie Foxx, who received the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 feature film Ray. “This film is a fantastic way for us to continue to celebrate Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy.”

Ray Charles -- Live In France 1961 features 25 songs including the timeless classics “What’d I Say,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” and “I Believe To My Soul.” Also included are “Doodlin’,” “One Mint Julep” & “Hornful Soul” showcasing Ray’s jazz era, as well as the country-tinged Nat King Cole composition, “With You On My Mind,” a song Ray never recorded. Also included is a 25-minute bonus section that features six additional performances from the festival.

Produced by Eagle Rock Entertainment and Reelin’ In The Years Productions with the full cooperation of The Ray Charles Foundation, the project is the first to develop from a partnership between Reelin’ In The Years Productions, the world’s largest library of music footage and France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Ina), one of Europe’s most important footage archives.

“We’ve been archiving music performances (and producing films with archival materials), for many years, and this is some of the most important music footage ever to be uncovered,” said producers David Peck, Tom Gulotta, Phil Galloway, and Steve Scoville in the Producer’s Notes. “To find true long-form concert footage from 1961 is rare enough, but when it’s Ray Charles at his peak, with his legendary band, performing for over 100 minutes, it’s a truly historic event.”

Ray Charles -- Live In France 1961 will make its Hollywood (and world-wide) premiere at a special screening presented by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles on October 20th. Tickets are available to the public for this special event, which will be followed by a moderated panel discussion that will include director David Peck, one of the film’s producers Tom Gulotta, Ray Charles catalog authority James Austin and Rob Bowman, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Toronto’s York University, whose incisive liner notes are part of the Ray Charles -- Live In France 1961 package. For more information on the screening please visit http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/ray-charles-live-in-france-1961-0.

To pre-order the DVD now, visit http://amzn.to/nu0I8S.

The original Ray Charles Diet Pepsi campaign contained eleven commercials and aired from 1990-1992, including being broadcast in three consecutive Super Bowls. Featuring the famous “You Got The Right One, Baby! Uh Huh!” catch phrase, the extravagant television spots maintain worldwide recognition to this day.  An enormous success for Pepsi, the campaign received numerous advertising achievements awards, including the Cannes Lion Film Gold and Video Storyboard’s “Campaign of the Year”. Ray Charles received a Clio Award for “Male Performer of the Year” and was named Ad Age Magazine’s “Star Presenter of 1990”.

“Mr. Charles stated that the Diet Pepsi campaign was one of the highlights of his career and that “You’ve Got The Right One Baby, Uh-Huh!” was one of his most popular songs,” said Valerie Ervin, president of the Ray Charles Foundation.

It was not just the career of Ray Charles that was impacted by this campaign.  At first, “Uh-Huh Girl” Gretchen Palmer (pictured above left) thought the Diet Pepsi ad shoot with singer Ray Charles would be just another gig. But after it wrapped, she knew they’d done something special.

“After we finished and the music stopped … it was like a euphoric feeling came over the room,” she says. “Something special happened in that moment, and the ad person … said, ‘Put those girls in the next three commercials.’ ”

Over the next three years, they appeared together and, though they lip-synced in the ads, they met with music executives about a CD.

The album never happened, but Palmer, 49, went on to act in TV shows such as The Young and the Restless and The Parkers. Now, between acting jobs, she teaches acting and dance and sells real estate in Pasadena, Calif. She remains close to the other Uh-Huh Girls, who are modeling and making music. “We are like sisters.”

The new commercial follows the recent introduction of retro Ray Charles “Uh Huh!” tees, available at Urban Outfitters, Kitson, and in the online Pepsi Shop at http://shop.pepsiusa.com/products/search/?terms=Uh+Huh. The Ray Charles Facebook Page has also recently incorporated the campaign by posting all of the original Diet Pepsi spots during a Ray Charles Diet Pepsi Prize Pack giveaway, culminating in a grand prize to be awarded on what would have been Charles’ 81st birthday, September 23rd.

In an unprecedented tie-in with “The X Factor” television show, Pepsi will feature the winner of the reality competition in a PepsiCo Super Bowl commercial, where he or she can join superstars like Ray Charles who have lent their talent to the global soft drink company. The Super Bowl commercial, along with a $5 million recording contract with Syco/Sony Music, will make the prize for winning “The X Factor” the largest in television history.

Special features included on the Blu-ray release include an introduction by director Taylor Hackford, commentary with director Taylor Hackford, U-Control: Scene Companion and the Music of Ray, deleted scenes with commentary by director Taylor Hackford, extended musical scenes, and much more.

Film critic Kenneth Brown calls the film “an absorbing biopic blessed with a tour de force performance, a stellar cast and the truly indispensable music of Ray Charles.” Brown names the video quality of the Blue-Ray edition “one of Universal’s finest catalog transfers to date”. Elaborating on the audio, he states “Unless you find a way to visit the Ritz Theater in 1945 or sit in on a Swing Time Records recording session in 1951, the best way to experience the fullness and soulfulness of Ray Charles’s music is via Universal’s lively DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track.”

“A stunning video transfer, a powerful DTS-HD Master Audio track, an extensive, engrossing supplemental package… each one perfectly suited for film fans and music lovers of all stripes,” concludes Brown in his review. Surely a must-have for all Ray Charles fans, the Blu-ray version of “Ray” can be purchased online at Amazon.com.

Click Here to Purchase

“Mr. Charles stated that the Diet Pepsi campaign was one of the highlights of his career and that “You’ve Got The Right One Baby, Uh-Huh!” was one of his most popular songs,” said Valerie Ervin, president of the Ray Charles Foundation.

Current designs are authentic to the merchandise that originally launched in conjunction with the campaign in the early ‘90s and incorporates the Diet Pepsi logo, Ray Charles images, the “Uh-huh” girls and the iconic tagline. The nostalgic appeal also aligns with the current Pepsi Throwback beverage line, which offers vintage Pepsi packaging from the ‘70s and ‘80s and a real sugar blast from the past taste.

Select t-shirt styles are currently available at Urban Outfitters retail locations and online (www.urbanoutfitters.com), Kitson retail locations and online(www.shopkitson.com), and on Pepsi’s ecommerce shop (shop.pepsiusa.com) beginning in mid-July. Retail prices range from $24.00-$38.00. Kitson’s Robertson and Melrose locations in Los Angeles will feature an exclusive Pepsi Throwback window promotion for two weeks starting July 16th and for an additional two weeks at the Santa Monica location starting August 1st.

Pepsi has been making history for over 100 years with trendsetting advertisements and campaigns with worldwide appeal and were recently named one of the world’s most “Influential Brands” in Retail Merchandiser’s 50th Anniversary Supplement. Memorable Pepsi commercials have debuted during Super Bowls, Academy Awards and Grammy’s telecasts for decades and have featured pop culture icons such as Michael Jackson, Cindy Crawford, Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie, Britney Spears, and most recently, Sofia Vergara and David Beckham.

“Pepsi’s ability to maintain youth appeal over the course of multiple generations has made it a true pop culture icon” said Joanne Loria, Executive Vice President of The Joester Loria Group, “Whether it’s connecting with the latest trends in music, sports, fashion or culture, Pepsi is always reinventing itself – remaining relevant and youthful— while staying true to its heritage.”

As part of Ray’s 80th birthday celebration year, Diet Pepsi is pleased to revive the Ray Charles partnership with current product that represents the brand’s rich heritage and new generation appeal. This is slated to be the first of a series of collaborations re-introduced into the marketplace through licensed merchandise.

Titles featured in the collection include American classics such as “Georgia On My Mind”, “What’d I Say”, “Over The Rainbow”, “Hit The Road Jack”, “America The Beautiful”, and “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. Seven of the twenty eight songs are Grammy Award winners, and three have been inducted the Grammy Award Hall of Fame. This important book marks the first publication of an entire collection of Ray Charles sheet music since 1960.

“Ray Charles’ legacy has influenced musicians at all levels, from Grammy Award-winning artists to ambitious beginners,” says Tony Gumina, president of The Ray Charles Marketing Group. “We feel that the 80th anniversary of his birth is the perfect time to make available a new sheet music collection of his most popular titles and hope it allows fans both young and old to experience the timeless music of Ray Charles in an entirely new way.”

The book can be purchased on the Alfred Music Publishing Website at http://alfred.com/Products/The-Ray-Charles-80th-Anniversary-Sheet-Music-Collection–00-37217.aspx. A portion of all proceeds will benefit The Ray Charles Foundation.                                                                                                  Ray Charles Song Folio, 1960

]]> http://raycharles.com/2011/06/30/ray-charles-80th-anniversary-sheet-music-collection-now-available-from-alfred-music-publishing-co/feed/ 1 http://raycharles.com/2011/03/07/rare-ray-charles-photograph-available-as-limited-edition-print/ http://raycharles.com/2011/03/07/rare-ray-charles-photograph-available-as-limited-edition-print/#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:02:02 +0000 admin http://raycharles.com/?p=1231 The Ray Charles Marketing Group has announced a limited edition run of fifty premium photo prints by acclaimed German photographer Jürgen Lechner has been made available to the public. The print, featuring a smiling Ray Charles in motion after finishing a show-closing performance of “What’d I Say”, is beautifully made in gicléeprint-technique on canvas and has been officially licensed by The Ray Charles Marketing Group.

The photo was taken in November of 2001 at the Ingolstädter Jazztage in Germany. During the show’s closing performance, professional photographer Jürgen Lechner was fortunate enough to capture a moment that represents the spirit of Ray Charles, both as a musician and a man, remarkably.  Ray’s signature grin, with his head thrown back and his arms clasped around his chest, is recognizable to music fans the world over and has served as the inspiration for countless paintings and pieces.  As photographer Lechner has said, it was “a click at the right moment” that developed into a beautiful snapshot of music history.

A photographer since 1989 as well as a musician, Jürgen Lechner is a longtime fan of Ray Charles and was delighted at the chance to photograph the music icon during his time in Germany.  Awards and recognition for the artist include eight medals at the International Aperture Awards in Australia, a Certificate of Excellence from the Agora Museum in New York, and the title of Honorary Spider Fellow from the Spider Awards in the USA.  Lechner has had his work in exhibits around the world including museums in Germany, New York, Mali, and Uzbekistan, and is a member of the Federal Association of Fine Artist of the Fine Arts in Germany. Most widely known for pinhole photography, Ray Charles is the only personality featured in the artist’s portfolio.

To preserve the integrity of the photograph, only fifty limited edition prints will be produced and each will be numbered and signed by Lechner himself. More information on this rare piece, including instructions for placing an order, can be found on the artist’s website at http://www.juergenlechner.de/limited.htm.

Though its inception could be perceived as accidental, Ray’s innate talent to read a crowd and improvise accordingly, not to mention his ability to write and perform lyrics on a moment’s notice, is a likely reason the song achieved such wide success. In his biography, Ray states that during the very first performance he “could feel the whole room bouncing and shaking and carrying on something fierce”. After playing it live again several nights in a row and receiving the same reaction, Ray Charles and his orchestra would record it at Atlantic’s 56th Street studios on February 18, 1959.

Despite, or perhaps helped by, controversy over the suggestive lyrics, “What’d I Say” shot to #1 on Billboards R&B singles chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was described by the magazine as “the strongest pop record that the artist has done to date”.

In addition to strong sales, the cultural and musical significance of “What’d I Say” is immense. It is presently one of only 300 recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.” George Harrison of The Beatles has said that in the band’s early years they covered “What’d I Say” at every show, with one performance of the song lasting an entire 90 minutes. Music historian Robert Stephens attributes the birth of soul music to the merging of gospel and blues found in “What’d I Say” and NPR named it of “The 100 Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century”.  Cited as an influence by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Van Morrison, “What’d I Say” was listed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”.  The influential song was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2000.

Ray Charles closed every show with “What’d I Say” until his death in 2004. He told NPR “What you want to do is build the people up. You start ‘em off and you give them this first half, and their feet are moving, and next thing they got their heads goin’, and the next thing they got their mouths open and they’re yellin’ and they’re screamin’ — it’s a great feeling when you can have your audience get involved with you…where everyone can jump in and have a real good time.” Fifty two years later, we still are.

“What’d I Say, Pts. 1 & 2″ can be found on the album The Best of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years. To purchase the album or song on iTunes, click here.

In his autobiography, Ray states:

“Martin knew exactly what he was doing. And he told his people: Look if you come with me, you might get hurt. You might get beat up. You might get put in jail, or even worse, you might get murdered. But if someone hits you, he said, you just got to take it. If someone beats on you, you look the other way. That’s how we resist. That’s how we make our point. That’s how we cross over.

And then Martin said something which closed the deal for me: “I’ll be on the front line, right there next to you.”

Ray met Dr. King in the early 1960’s and was an avid supporter, both morally and financially, of his causes. On August 28, 1963, over two years after Ray’s scheduled Augusta performance, Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” Speech, calling for an end to racial inequality. Now considered a defining moment in the American Civil Rights movement, the historical speech was the beginning of the end of segregation in America. It is today that we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the legacy of equality and justice that he left behind.

On March 7, 1979 Ray Charles took the stage in Georgia again when he performed “Georgia On My Mind” before the Georgia State Assembly. The performance was to an unsegregated audience. Six weeks later, on April 24, 1979 the Ray Charles version of “Georgia On My Mind was designated as the Official State Song of the State of Georgia by the Georgia State Legislature.

Featuring Ray Charles on organ and accompanied by members of the Count Basie Orchestra, Genius + Soul = Jazz has been described by Will Friedwald, jazz writer for The Wall Street Journal, as “a bold and innovative album but, at the same time, a direct step forward from [Charles'] earlier work”. It includes arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns and contains such memorable tracks as “One Mint Julep”, which reached No. 1 on the R&B Charts, “I’ve Got News For You”, and “I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town”. The album joins 30 other diverse recordings, including The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” and Jackson 5′s “I’ll Be There”, as this year’s GRAMMY Music Hall Of Fame® selections.

“The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame represents all genres of music, acknowledging the diversity of expression for which The Academy has become renowned,” said Niel Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. “These musical treasures have brought us timeless recordings, and each of them deserves to be memorialized. These recordings are living evidence that music remains an indelible part of our culture.”

In 2010, Concord released a deluxe edition of Genius + Soul = Jazz which includes digitally remastered versions of Ray Charles’ four influential jazz albums: Genius + Soul = Jazz, My Kind of Jazz, Jazz Number II, and My Kind of Jazz Part 3. For more information on this or other digitally remastered recordings, please visit http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/Genius-Soul-Jazz/.