Rhino / Wea
2005
Pure Genius - The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959)
About This Album
Ray Charles' seminal recordings for Atlantic have been boxed once before, as the triple-disc 1991 set The Birth of Soul. That box contained 53 tracks, the best moments of what is arguably the best period of Charles' career, but Rhino/Atlantic's 2005 seven-disc sequel, Pure Genius, doesn't bother with merely the highlights: as its subtitle makes clear, this is The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959). This is undeniably a major historical release, since it gathers all of the recordings Charles made at his creative peak, not just as a leader, but as a sideman for his saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman and sides he recorded with jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson. Also, it's not limited to studio recordings -- live sessions, later issued on the LPs Ray Charles in Person and Ray Charles at Newport, are here too. Despite the abundance of music here, there's not much that hasn't seen the light of day before. It may not seem that way at first glance, since the seventh disc contains nothing but unreleased material, but the great majority of that is devoted to a full-length rehearsal session with producer Ahmet Ertegun from 1953 -- something that is interesting to hear once, since it does give some insights into Ertegun and Charles' working relationship and how Ray acted in the studio, but even then, it's not exactly revelatory.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,22,23,24,25 and 27)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,3,4,6,8,12 and 15)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,4,5,6,7,10 and 11)

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Disc 4 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,16 and 17)

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Disc 5 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10 and 18)

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Disc 6 (try tracks 2,5,6,7,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 and 21)

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Disc 7 (try tracks 20,23,25 and 27)

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Disc 8

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