The Great Ray Charles

The Great Ray Charles
The Great Ray Charles
Studio album by Ray Charles
Released	August 1957
Recorded	April 30 – November 20, 26, 1956 in New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	37:37
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler
Ray Charles chronology
Alternative cover
	CD re-issue with six extra tracks from The Genius After Hours

The Great Ray Charles is the second studio album by American musician Ray Charles, released in 1957 by Atlantic Records. An instrumental jazz album,^[1] it features cover art designed by Marvin Israel. Later CD re-issues of The Great Ray Charles often include six out of the eight songs from the 1961 album The Genius After Hours, as bonus tracks.

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]

The Great Ray Charles was released by Atlantic Records in August 1957.^[2] Due to frequent airplay of two tracks off the album, "Doodlin'" and "Sweet Sixteen Bars", Atlantic released those two tracks as an EP later that same year.^[3]

Track listing

Original LP release

All music is composed by Ray Charles, except where indicated

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Ray"	Quincy Jones	4:00
2.	"My Melancholy Baby"	Ernie Burnett, George A. Norton	4:20
3.	"Black Coffee"	Sonny Burke, Paul Webster	5:32
4.	"There's No You"	Tom Adair, Harold Hopper	4:47

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Arranged by	Length
1.	"Doodlin'"	Horace Silver	Quincy Jones	5:54
2.	"Sweet Sixteen Bars"			4:07
3.	"I Surrender Dear"	Harry Barris, Gordon Clifford		5:08
4.	"Undecided"	Sid Robin, Charlie Shavers	Ernie Wilkins, Quincy Jones	3:40

Note: Some sources list "Ain't Misbehavin'" in place of "Black Coffee".

1987 CD reissue

All music is composed by Ray Charles, except where indicated

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Dawn Ray^[a]"		5:03
2.	"The Man I Love^[a]"	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	4:26
3.	"Music, Music, Music^[a]"	Bernie Baum, Stephen Weiss	2:53
4.	"Black Coffee"	Burke, Webster	5:43
5.	"The Ray"	Jones	3:55
6.	"I Surrender Dear"	Barris, Clifford	5:08
7.	"Hornful Soul^[a]"		5:29
8.	"Ain't Misbehavin'^[a]"	Harry Brooks, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller	5:40
9.	"Joy Ride^[a]"		4:39
10.	"Sweet Sixteen Bars"		4:06
11.	"Doodlin'"	Silver	5:53
12.	"There's No You^[a]"	Adair, Hopper	4:49
13.	"Undecided"	Robin, Shavers	3:40
14.	"My Melancholy Baby"	Burnett, Norton	4:22

Personnel

Ray Charles – celesta, piano
Oscar Pettiford, Roosevelt Sheffield – bass
Joe Harris, William Peeples – drums
David "Fathead" Newman – alto and tenor saxophone
Emmot Dennis – baritone saxophone
Joe Bridgewater – trumpet, soloist
John Hunt – trumpet

Technical

Earle Brown, Tom Dowd – recording engineer
Marvin Israel – design
Lee Friedlander – cover photography

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g One of six tracks from The Genius After Hours.

References

^ ^a ^b Yanow, Scott. "The Great Ray Charles Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
^ Evans, Mike (2005). Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1844497645.
^ "Ray Charles EP Selling Like a Hit Single!". Billboard. Vol. 69, no. 48. November 25, 1957. p. 48. Retrieved June 18, 2022.

[bonus-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g One of six tracks from The Genius After Hours.

[AllMusic-1] Yanow, Scott. "The Great Ray Charles Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 18, 2022.

[2] Evans, Mike (2005). Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1844497645.

[3] "Ray Charles EP Selling Like a Hit Single!". Billboard. Vol. 69, no. 48. November 25, 1957. p. 48. Retrieved June 18, 2022.

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