The Genius Sings the Blues

Infobox Album
Name = The Genius Sings the Blues
Type = album
Longtype =
Artist = Ray Charles


Released = October 1961
Recorded = 1952–1960
Genre = R&B, soul, piano blues
Length = 34:19
Label = Atlantic
SD-8052
Producer = Ahmet Ertegün
Jerry Wexler
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kifuxqw5ldse link]
*"Music City" Rating|5|5 [http://www.music-city.org/Ray-Charles/The-Genius-Sings-the-Blues-39068/ link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://books.google.com/books?id=lRgtYCC6OUwC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA155&ots=QA33Me2v2y&dq=The+Genius+Sings+the+Blues+review&sig=ACfU3U2XY5Z7KvTbNCnaMSaSa4JK-24Hzw link]
Last album = "Genius+Soul=Jazz"
(1961)
This album = "The Genius Sings the Blues"
(1961)
Next album = "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music"
(1962)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = album


Lower caption = "Atlantic Masters" reissue cover

"The Genius Sings the Blues" is an album by Ray Charles, released in October of 1961 on Atlantic Records. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kifuxqw5ldse allmusic ((( The Genius Sings the Blues > Overview )))] . All Media Guide, LLC. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.] The album was his last release for Atlantic, but one of his most memorable, compiling twelve blues songs from various sessions during his tenure for the label. The album showcases Charles's stylistic development with a combination of piano blues, jazz, and southern R&B. The photo for the album cover was taken by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. "The Genius Sings the Blues" was reissued in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment with liner notes by Billy Taylor.

Music

:Article adapted from reissue liner notes.

Because he hails from Greenville, Florida, Ray Charles has assimilated much of the Southern black man's musical heritage with its various kinds of blues stories, folk songs, and gospel revelations. Charles studied music at a school for blind children in St. Augustine, Florida and developed a personal modern jazz style of playing and writing by listening to Art Tatum, King Cole, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, and other contemporaries who played in the styles fashionable around the time Ray moved to Seattle. He has molded many elements which are poles apart, musically, into a style which is a unique harmony with traditional rhythmic patterns.

Jazz composer Billy Taylor further discussed Charles' innovative music and his reaction to hearing it:

The innovation of Ray Charles is presented on this compilation LP. "The Blues" finds Charles delivering wailing and emotional numbers ("Hard Times", "Night Time Is the Right Time") to uptempo arrangements of country blues ("I'm Movin' On", "Early in the Mornin'"). Covering ground from his first session for Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour") to his last ("I Believe to My Soul"), "The Genius Sings the Blues" began as a simple cash-in LP after Charles' split from Atlantic Records and ended up as one of Charles' most well-known compilations.

Track listing

"All songs written by Ray Charles, except where noted." [ [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=4273&aid=4052 Billboard.com - Discography - Ray Charles - The Genius Sings the Blues] . Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.]

ide one

# "Early in the Mornin'" (Hickman, Jordan, Bartley) – 2:48
# "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)" – 2:56
# "The Midnight Hour" (Sweet) – 3:02
# "(Night Time Is) the Right Time" (Brown, Cadena, Herman) – 3:25
# "Feelin' Sad" (Jones) – 2:50
# "Ray's Blues" – 2:55

ide two

# "I'm Movin' On" (Snow) – 2:13
# "I Believe to My Soul" – 3:01
# "Nobody Cares" – 2:41
# "Mr. Charles' Blues" – 2:48
# "Some Day Baby" – 3:01
# "I Wonder Who" – 2:46

Chart history

Album

Notes

References

*cite book| title = The Genius Sings the Blues album liner notes by Billy Taylor | publisher = Atlantic Recording Corp.