A Tribute to Ray Charles: Pianist, Singer and All Around Musical Genius‏

Image via WikipediaRay Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson on the 23rd of September, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. He was the son of poor parents. His life was a tragic story. He and his family were plagued by poverty. His mother had to bring up both him and his brother on her own. When he was five, he was witness to a mishap due to which his younger passed away after he drowned in a laundry tub.

Ray Charles started becoming blind when he was five. Two years later by age seven, he was completely blind. Though there is no confirmed reason, as to why he lost his sight, the two probable reasons why he could have lost his sight is either due to glaucoma (an optic nerve disease) or from an infection in his eyes from soap water that was not treated in time.

He studied in St Augustine School for the Deaf and The Blind. During his school years, tragedy stuck when his parents died - his father two years after his mother. Before he was out of school, he was able to write music and play a number of musical instruments. Well before he was out of school, he was gigging with bands which played varied styles of music. One such stunt with a band called The Florida Playboys is from where he caught on with the style of always wearing shades.

In 1947 at age 17, he moved to Seattle. He was signed to Swingtime Records and had his first hit Confession Blues with them in 1949. Confessing Blues was his only hit with Swingtime Records other than the 1951 recorded number Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand. Confession Blues reached the no 2 spot on the R&B charts.

In 1952, he signed with Ahmet Ertegun's record label Atlantic Records. He scored big early in the deal with two huge hits in 1953 - Mess Around (composed by Ahmet Ertegun) and It Should Have Been Me. His 1955 song I Got A Woman topped the charts. A string of hits - Drown in My Own Tears. This Little Girl of Mine, The Night Time (Is The Right Time), Mary Ann and Lonely Avenue - which were released all the way up to 1959. He conquered more group with his improvised hit What I'd Say when it made the top ten on the pop charts.

After four years with Atlantic, he got a better deal with ABC which made him switch labels. His time with ABC saw him make a successful crossover in pop music with Hit The Road Jack, Unchain My Heart and Georgia On My Mind. It was with the ABS that released the landmark album in 1962 Modern Sound in Country and Western Music and its sequel Vol. 2.

He was arrested of heroin possession in 1965. He managed to get himself out a jail sentence, by opting to go to rehab. While recuperating, he continued to have hits. Crying Time reached the No. 6 spot on the charts. Georgia On My Mind was made the state song of Georgia. He further etched himself into history by rendering America The Beautiful on TV - the version of the song which is the most revered.

In 1980, he made a cameo in the film The Blues Brothers. He appeared in a Coca Cola advertisement in the early 1990's and said "You Got the Right One Baby". He graced two Presidential occasions - Ronald Reagan's second and Bill Clinton's first inauguration.

Ray Charles continued to be active until his death on the 10th of June, 2004. In 2002, he was part of a Rome peace concert - the first event in the Colosseum since AD 404. Ray Charles was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame by his fan blues singer Van Morrison with whom he sang Moondance. He gave his last performance on the 30th of April, 2004 singing the two songs he is most known for - America The Beautiful and Georgia On My Mind, at the dedication ceremony of his music studio in Los Angeles.

His album aptly titled "Genius & Friends" was released two months after he passed away. It had him collaborating with many singers whom he personally choose. An album with the accompaniment of the Count Basie orchestra followed - Ray Sings, Basie Swings.

A free email newsletter on exciting piano chords and chord progressions from author-teacher Duane Shinn is available free at: http://www.playpiano.com/musicterms.htm

A Tribute to Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett was born in Allentown in Pennsylvania on the 8th of May, 1945. A prodigy at a very young age, he had his first public appearance when he was six years old. He had lots of support to the extent that he was offered a chance to study and learn composition with Nadia Boulanger, the revered French piano teacher, in Paris.

He admitted once that what ticked on his interest in the jazz was a Dave Brubeck performance that he attended. He took to jazz when he was a teenager and soon started becoming good at it. As he played more of jazz, he had the strong urge to join the local jazz scene.

After he graduated from school, he shifted base to Boston, Massachusetts. It was here that he did a stint at the Berkeley College of Music. He also had a gig playing cocktail piano while studying at Berkeley. Upon finishing his tour, he went to New York and where he had a regular gig in a club - Village Vanguard. What followed was his association with many groups. One of the first groups on that list is The Jazz Messengers. He met his future long time collaborator Jack DeJohnette while playing for another group Charles Lloyd Quartet.

The group recorded one of the most important jazz recordings of the 60's - their 1966 album Forest Flower. He was leader in a trio with Paul Motian and Charlie Haden and He made his debut recording as leader the following year Life Between The Exit Signs which was followed by another in 1968 - Restoration Ruin. It was one of the most impressive in the list of works that he is known for. Restoration Ruin was unique mainly because he did everything except play the piano including playing every single other instrument and the vocals in the album which was anything but jazz. It was by any definition folk rock hence different from most of the work that he has recorded so far. The trio had one last release - a live album titles Somewhere Before.

The next stint that Keith had was with Miles Davis playing with the legend in the Davis group. After Miles saw Keith play, he was so impressed that he invited him to play along with the group. When he joined the group, the playing of the Contempo electric organ and Rhodes electric piano was shared by him and band mate Chick Corea. After Chick Corea left the band, he handled both the instruments at times playing both at the same time.

Playing an electric instrument was not an option that he preferred to exercise. Despite this, he stuck with the band out of a stronger wish to play with Miles Davis and also with Jack DeJohnette who was a part of the group at the time. His long time association with Miles Davis resulted in him playing with the genius on five of his releases including The Cellar Door sessions recorded live at the Washington DC nightclub, Miles Davis at Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East, The Cellar Door and Live-Evil which consisted of edited recording of live performances at The Cellar Door.

More extensive recording from live performances there were put together as The Complete Cellar Door Sessions. Another similar series of compositions had Miles and Keith sharing company - The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions - which was recorded for a documentary on boxing champ Jack Johnson.

The Haden - Motian - Jarrett continued to play for six years from 1971 to 1976. They had Dewey Redman on the saxophone after which they became the American Quartet. They had sidemen play with them at times on guitar and percussion. One common feature of the original trio members was that they were multi-instrumentalists. You'd hear each one playing different instruments on their recordings and live shows.

Jarrett's versatility went as far as the saxophone and percussion in addition to the piano, Redman as far as a Chinese double reed instrument musette and the remaining two members on various forms of percussion. They group experimented with their sound a lot. Hayden devised a way to play the acoustic bass producing from it new percussive and plucked sounds. He played it through a wah-wah pedal on the track Mortgage On My Soul.

Jarrett achieved a lot more with groups like the European Quartet and his solo piano outings. His solo piano concerts had him leaving the audience at suspense. The extreme point of this habit was when he didn't play for minutes while the audience got restless. Then someone shouted "D Flat" after which he immediately created an improvisation in D Flat.

A free email newsletter on exciting piano chords and chord progressions from author-teacher Duane Shinn is available free at: http://www.playpiano.com/AuldLangSyne.htm