The 1001 albums book entry starts with "during the 1950s Ray Charles had trouble sitting down at his piano without pioneering a new style of American music"
Though that is clearly an exaggeration, it really is crazy that Ray was still only in his 20s when he sat down to work on 'the Genius of Ray Charles'. He seemed to already have had a pretty full career, forging his soul, gospel, rhythm & blues sound. On 'Genius' he branches out further with an album that really utilises the 'side A/side B' format that LP albums were originally based around, with side A containing big band jazz songs, arranged by Quincey Jones and Ray, and featuring members of the Count Basie orchestra. The tracks are bright, brassy and upbeat, with my personal favourite being Ray's reading of 'Alexander's ragtime band' which builds to an almost orgasmic euphoria.
Then, side B switches the mood totally; stripping out the brass section, with Ray singing a series of ballads backed with strings and a choir. Side B offers up a series more subdued and melancholy tracks to offset the Side A. My favourite for this side being 'come rain or come shine'
Some reviews at the time criticised the album for being too abrasive in its hard mix of styles, but in some ways you could almost see it as an early 'concept album'. Definitely, it serves to highlight Ray's different strengths; or to be a precursor for the future of music, where styles would be mixed and matched a little more freely.
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