Ray Sings Basie Swings

Make It Yours – See Your Price On Amazon!

Your Sales Price $93.34 - $12.79

A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Henry Cooper
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Pure Magic coming from Basie’s Big Band Swinging along with Brother Ray Singing
Review: The Best Collaboration CD I ever once bought and still loved ever. I still can’t get enough of it because its so good, tenderly and real soulful on the inside and out. Ever since Brother Ray left us in 2004, his spirit, music and legacy continues to aspire us for years to come. Even I dug the movie Ray (Full Screen Edition) starring Jamie Foxx, later the books including Brother Ray: Ray Charles’ Own Story and Ray Charles: Man and Music, Updated Commemorative Edition and much more, I started to appreciate his music, his message and the legacy he left behind. To tell you this there can only be one artists i.e. one Ray Charles and one Count Basie.Now back to the music, listening to the entire CD have me going thru memories and in tears. Going back from Oh, what a Beautiful Morning which open up until the last track of Georgia of My Mind with great sweetness and beauty coming from the new raelettes along with Patti Austin and the entire band. It still sounds good. If you wanna hear or discover music like this check into GRP All Star Big Band first two releases All Star Big Band and Grp All Star Big Band Live, any of Maynard Ferguson’s early recordings during the British days i.e. M.F. Horn M.F. Horn 2 and M.F. Horn 3, Marvin Gaye’s then unreleased album Vulnerable or Romantically Yours, I can still go on and on but you know the rest.Still have some favorites that craves me the most i.e. How Long Has This Been Going On and Come Live With Me, Look What They Done To Me. We still cannot forget Let the Good Times Roll!!!

Reviewer: Kristy Carson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Perfect marriage of jazz and standards merges two musical tastes preferred by my parents
Review: Even though the two performers never shared a studio, this recording is an excellent marriage of Ray Charles’ archived recordings with the live Count Basie orchestra — the version of the band that exists today since the Count left our world to play in the heavens. And speaking of marriage, it turned out to be the perfect wedding anniversary (their 55th) gift for my parents’ differing musical tastes: Mom is a trained singer who loves the standards; Dad is a straight-up-jazz lover who plays the drums and at least one Sunday a month would go see the original Count Basie orchestra play on Disneyland’s Main Street in the mid-’70s, when we lived near Anaheim, Calif. [Here’s a piece of Basie history: the Count and his orchestra had a standing outdoor gig on Sunday afternoons at the Happiest Place on Earth, and back then you could buy a $10-or-so admission-only ticket to the park that didn’t include rides, so we often went just to enjoy live music. For those who never experienced old-school Disneyland, ride passes were purchased separately from admission, with different prices for various “levels” of A-E. For example, the now-legendary “E” Tickets were the priciest, and were used for the most popular/intense rides in each themed “land” area of the park (e.g., Tomorrowland, Adventureland, etc.). Also, today’s “California Adventure” section of Disneyland back then was a city street peppered with retail shops/restaurants that had catered to tourists since the park’s 1954 opening.]

Reviewer: Gretchen Collier
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: not bad at all!
Review: i’m kinda new to listening to ray charles in album form– i heard a lot of his songs on the radio as i was growing up.i heard about this record on NPR and was intrigued about the concept. at first i thought it was a session actually WITH basie, but then read the liner notes and saw how it actually came about.there are a few times where it sounds a little canned, and you can tell he’s not actually singing to the band.this is my thing: all the time singers record to canned tracks of bands and back up music: why can’t a band play to the musician and vocals and make it work!? i think they do rather well here. it’s all music and taste and opinion after all; isn’t it!ok so there are a few tracks that are kinda “boring” in terms of not being up tempo or whatever.here’s one thing about the sound overall: IT”S BIG! put it on a stereo where you can turn it up loud! who cares what the neighbors think- it’s not eminem– how could you get mad at having to listen to this!this record will be one that will be a pleasure to listen to for along time. i think it is worth the investment, and it such a refreshing break from all the crap that is being put out anymore!

Reviewer: Dominic Lopriore
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Lovely Album
Review: I grew up listening to this album. It seems like there are not any streaming services that have it, so I purchased a new CD for the first time in ten years to relax with Ray and Basie.

Reviewer: Socrates Socrates
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great piece of work
Review: I first heard of this work from youtube and decided to buy the CD. First off, there’s no way of telling that the instruments were not part of the original singing by Mr. Ray Charles, or for that matter that the singing was done some decades back. Secondly, listening through the CD one get to appreciate the work that went into producing the CD. It’s a great CD indeed and probably among a few I can listen from the first to the last track without skipping a track.So, if you enjoy jazz-blues-big band-type of music you sure will not regret buying this CD, it has been BEAUTIFULLY done! I am sorry that I can’t quite express so much in words my true appreciation of this CD; so I hope my taking of time to write this review will assuage you give the CD a try.

Reviewer: J. Sharkey
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The title says it all. Two incredible artists put together albeit from separate recordings. With each song you can admire both the voice and talent of Ray Charles and the incredible skill from the Count Basie Orchestra. The idea of putting two tracks together in this way may not sound very appealing at first but I think the people involved have done an amazing job. The song listing is pretty good, however, in an ideal situation I would have preferred more of the songs that these artists are known for but it’s understandable that it wasn’t possible. All in all a great little CD fit for fan of either or both artists but may not be a sensible purchase for a musical purist.

Reviewer: P. Pascal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Très bel album, avec un Ray Charles vocalement parfait dans des arrangements très jazz.A noter la très bonne qualité sonore de l’enregistrement.

Reviewer: Marcos de Lima
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Pensei que encontraria músicas com o ritmo de swing de Count Basie, mas Ray Charles insiste em músicas melódicas, lentas e chatas.

Reviewer: jacklondon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Un lavoro di ingegneria sottile ed eccezionale. Ray si impasta alla grande con gli arrangiamenti scritti per la CBO, performance vocali tra le migliori.Come già saprete, non è un disco di Ray Charles ma un “montaggio audio” (parola che non rende l’idea della bellezza e della cura con cui questo sia stato realizzato) tra alcune performance di Ray in Germania (anni ’80) e degli arrangiamenti scritti ad hoc per l’orchestra.Davvero, ineccepibile capolavoro che fa correre l’immaginazione se per un momento non state troppo a pensare che si tratta di un’opera di audio editing.

Reviewer: Ferdinand, Thomas
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Mit der Platte habe ich zu lange gewartet!Die hätte ich schon gerne ein paar Jahre im Plattenschrank.Klar, Basie ist der ultimative Swing. Aber er konnte auch anders und daran ist der Blinde schuld der immer den Durchblick hatte, wie man hier hören kann.Ich weiß jetzt schon, bei einigen Autobahnkilometern und auch in den unvermeidlichen Staus wird bei der Platte die Stimmung nicht kippen.

Price effective as of Jul 02, 2025 13:36:32 UTC

As an Amazon Associate Dealors may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.