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Ray Charles & the Count Basie Orchestra - “Ray Sings, Basie Swings”

Ray Sings, Basie Swings Ray Charles and Count Basie

There’s an old saying that applies to “Ray Sings, Basie Swings” – It ain’t nice to fool with Mother Nature. Not only have the cuts on this posthumous offering appeared in more definitive versions on Brother Ray’s other albums, the performances owe more to technology than talent. Brother Ray’s vocals are powerful, vibrant -- and old, having been recorded at a live gig with his touring band in 1973. The recently discovered tapes also featured a performance by the Count Basie Orchestra. Only Charles’ vocals were deemed salvageable, but someone in the marketing department had a warped idea – why not bring the current Basie bunch back into the studio and have them lay down a new music alongside Ray’s vocals? Great idea. Too bad many of the classics re-recorded here seem to have been changed just for the sake of change. A few songs swing harder than Jose Canseco at a flat fastball, but most roll over and play dead.

Despite an organ riff worthy of Jimmy Smith, the gussied up version of “I Can’t Stop Loving’ You” is sabotaged by an bouncy arrangement that drains the song of it’s emotion and makes Ray sound like Joe Piscopo imitating Frank Sinatra. “Cryin’ Time,” served well in its original weepy country western format, is transformed into a sluggish, hushed Vegas lounge ballad that’s immediately forgettable. Three of the four final feature the most adventurous and sadly, failed arrangements. “Feel So Bad,” a bluesy, bass heavy stomper popularized by Elvis Presley gets homogenized in the translation, and it’s not helped by Ray’s stuttering rap that gets lost toward the end. Never a swinging tune to begin with, “The Long and Winding Road” is interminable. Ray gives it his all – you can practically see him swaying at the keyboard – but he’s let down by an intrusive arrangement and a blitzkrieg of horns that blare at all the wrong times. The primary offender on the CD is a growling, hurried version of Melanie’s impish “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma.” The Raylettes are on hand to warble haughtily in French and try to take the weight off Ray, whose enthusiastic scats, raps, and ad-libs can’t conceal the trite arrangement.

“Ray Sings, Basie Swings” is not without its high points. Basie Band Director Billy Hughes should have used the punchy charts on “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” as his template, and he’s adept at creating a creating an appropriately carefree Vegas style atmosphere for “Let the Good Times Roll.” The emotive strings on “Georgia on My Mind” are missing, but it’s still too great a song to be ruined by a big band. The unexpected highlight of the album is “Every Saturday Night.” For once the orchestra drops its veneer of sophistication and gets down, dirty, and on the same funky plane as Ray.

Producers Gregg Field, Joe Adams and Joe Burke have created a pretty monster in “Ray Sings, Basie Swings,” it’s still a monster. The orchestra can’t cut loose because they have to fit their arrangements around a ghost. Only on “Every Saturday Night” do they really rise to the occasion. Otherwise while Ray soars, the orchestra bores, filling the empty spaces with standard riffs. If Ray were alive he’d say with distaste, “Look what they’ve done to my songs, ma.”

2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson - Talk about it here