Ultimate Hits Collection

Performer: Ray Charles
Artist: Willie Nelson; Chaka Khan; Quincy Jones; James Ingram
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Ray Charles (vocals, acoustic & electric pianos); Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, Margie Hendrix, Renald Richard (vocals); Wesley Jackson, McHouston Baker (guitar); David Newman (alto, tenor & baritone saxophones); Donald Wilkerson, Sam Taylor (tenor saxophone); Emmitt Dennis, Cecil Payne, Bennie Crawford, Dave McRae (baritone saxophone); Marcus Belgrave, Lee Harper, Joshua Willis, Joe Bridgewater, Charles Whitley, Riley Webb, John Hunt, Jessie Drakes (trumpet); Paul West, Roosevelt Sheffield, Jimmy Bell, Edgar Willis, Lloyd Trottman (bass); David Francis, William Peeples, Milt Turner, Glenn Brooks, Connie Kay (drums); Jerry Wexler (tambourine); James Ingram, The Raeletts, The Cookies (background vocals); Quincy Jones. Producers include: Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson, Jerry Wexler, Nesuhi Ertegun, Sid Feller. Compilation producers: James Austin, Billy Vera, Michael Johnson. Recorded between 1953 & 1989. Includes liner notes by David Ritz. This "ultimate" collection conveniently merges the two major phases of Ray Charles' career. It moves from the R&B Atlantic years in which Charles single-handedly invented the concept of "soul" to the broader pop triumphs at ABC-Paramount, including his definitive 1960 version of "Georgia On My Mind" and the landmark album MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC. Charles was hardly the first R&B singer to incorporate gospel technique into his style. Rather he was one of the first pop singers to do so. Charles always had bigger fish to fry than just carving out an innovative niche in rhythm & blues, one reason he left Atlantic in the first place. The scope of his eventual achievement is well documented over the span of these two discs, including his ultimate "crossover" single, 1972 's "America The Beautiful." For the most part though, the collection wisely sticks to the superior tracks of the '50s and '60s.

There are few musicians in modern pop music who can truly be called "genius," but in the case of Ray Charles, the term applies. His innovative singing, drawing on both gospel and pop, has inspired legions of great singers. With a long, prolific recording career that began in 1949, Charles became perhaps the finest interpreter of pop music in the postwar years. A gifted pianist, songwriter, and vocalist, he was a master of every style he attempted, be it R&B, country, blues, or soul. The man who wrote such indelible R&B classics as "I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say" passed away in 2004, a legend several times over. The same year, a remarkable performance by Jamie Foxx in the biopic RAY served as a fitting cinematic eulogy.

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