Ray Charles at Tanglewood, 7/4/98

by Seth Rogovoy

(LENOX, Mass., July 4, 1998) -- For the way in which he took different genres of music, fused them into something shockingly original, and topped the result off with his uniquely personal approach, Ray Charles probably stands shoulder-to-shoulder with such 20th-century musical giants as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Bill Monroe and Bob Dylan.

Charles's particular innovation was to graft the spiritually- oriented, vocal emotionalism of gospel onto sensually-oriented rhythm and blues, making for a fiery, languid stew called soul.

This probably reached its apogee with Charles's 1959 hit, "What'd I Say," a six-and-a-half minute celebration of carnality patterned along the lines of a church service, replete with testifying, call-and- response and glossolalia, so hot that it was banned on some radio stations.

Other hits followed in this style, including "Hit the Road Jack," "Unchain My Heart" and Charles's signature tune, "Georgia On My Mind." Then in 1962, Charles blazed a new trail with the first of his "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" albums, a pioneering crossover effort which included covers of honky-tonk tunes by the likes of Hank Williams and Floyd Tillman.

As it turned out, this was to be the last of Charles's creative innovations. While he has to varying degrees continued to be a commercial success and a cultural icon, since the early-'60s that has been in spite of rather than because of Charles's artistic choices.

On Saturday night at Tanglewood, Charles, now 68, turned in an inspired set, one that for all its faults still revealed the majesty of Charles's soul.

After Charles's big band jammed on generic swing tunes for 20 minutes, Charles joined them and kicked off his hour-long program with a blistering version of the obscure Seals and Crofts' chestnut, "Ridin' Thumb," a blues juiced up as big-band disco-funk.

In what apparently is de rigueur for a Ray Charles show -- or part of the shtick? -- Charles muttered angrily about the sound in his monitor after the first number, just as he did the last time he was at Tanglewood six years ago.

But dressed as he was in a suit of gold lame, Charles wasn't about to let his legendary irascibility ruin the fun on Independence Day, and as he launched into "Georgia On My Mind" early on, he showed glimpses of the old Genius of Soul. While his voice hadn't yet warmed or opened up sufficiently -- it would later on in the hour -- Charles worked with what he had at his command, including the moans, cracks, whispers, falsetto and gluey tone that made him famous.

Charles mixed show tunes and standards -- "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" and "You Made Me Love You" done as brassy swing tunes -- with bluesy ballads. While the band did a great job of keeping out of Ray's way on the former, it was the latter numbers on which the old Charles emerged. He served up the old bluesy, gospel-tinged emotionalism in torrents on "Say No More" and Leon Russell's "Song for You."

About two-thirds of the way through, Charles brought out his five- member female chorus, the Raelettes, who did a few numbers of their own, including the cabaret favorite, "Guess Who I Saw Today." Then it was a race to the finish line on old hits including "Hit the Road Jack," "I Can't Stop Lovin' You" and "What'd I Say," which nearly 40 years later, is still a titillating romp.

Charles has long been entrenched in the unfortunate trappings of Las Vegas-style showmanship, and where his voice once boasted a legendary smoothness it is now a topographical map of nearly 50 years on the road. That in spite of these factors Charles is able to break the hearts of thousands of listeners merely by opening his mouth and crooning is a tribute to his everlasting genius.

Deborah Henson-Conant warmed up the crowd with her utterly unique solo act of harp and vocals. To Henson-Conant, the harp is an instrument like any other -- mostly like a guitar -- and she used it to accompany herself on blues, jazz, Mexican folk, new age, calypso, flamenco and Broadway tunes.

[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 6, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]

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