Ray Charles à l'Olympia

Ray Charles à l'Olympia

I love Ray Charles to bits, but if I have to pick a favourite part of his music, it tends to be the small ensemble stuff rather than the big orchestral arrangements with strings and horns. Unfortunately for me, past the early Atlantic sides, a lot of his output was big orchestral stuff, so when I found this quartet live at the Olympia (recorded when Ray was 70) I thought I would be delighted. Sadly, I was not. There are some peripheral issues, like the fact that instead of a lush double bass the band features a funky bass that (in my mind) really doesn't work on Ray's material. They guy's good, just not appropriate. But the core issue is that Ray's playing is... sloppy I suppose is the best way to put it, much as it pains me to write this about Ray Charles. Sure, Ray's sloppy is another man's amazing skill, but it just pains me to hear these well known tunes with less mastery and flair than I've heard them before. I can't in conscience recommend this live record...