Product Description

This disc of all-new duet recordings commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Genius' birth and spotlights the legendary Ray Charles collaborations with superstar partners John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, George Michael, Angie Stone, Diana Ross, and more! Before Ray passed away last year, he laid out plans to use a set of recordings produced in 1998 to create an album of duets with some of his favorite contemporary artists. It was among his last requests to his management that the project be completed and released. Now, the Genius must be smiling from up above as this stunning collection finds him in tremendously strong voice on a lineup of memorable songs. Released on Rhino and produced in conjunction with Ray Charles Enterprises, Genius & Friends follows on the heels of the phenomenally popular Genius Loves Company and it shines throughout as Charles and an all-star roster of partners serenade in sublime harmony. 2005.

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It doesn't take a lot of marquee names to sell a Ray Charles record, but the Genius proved long before 2004's Genius Loves Company that he was a master collaborator as well as a very natural one. On Genius & Friends, Rhino Records smartly capitalizes on Charles's gift for investing any duet with both backbone and bluesy, velvety soul by rounding up recordings he made in 1997 and 1998 and swelling them with the sounds of artists he inspired. The result is both brilliant and frustrating: brilliant because artists like Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, and Patti LaBelle so reliably tread their tracks with care and affection, reining in all that raw vocal power where a song requires it; and frustrating because it would have been incredible to hear each of the very different artists gathered here trading verses with Brother Ray in real time--producer Phil Ramone fused these songs together. (In two cases, we do get the pleasure: "Big Bad Love", recorded in 1994 with Diana Ross for the film The Favor, and "Busted," recorded live in 1991 with Willie Nelson.) To the producers' credit (add Ahmet Ertegun and Quincy Jones to Ramone) the audio wizardry required to make this disc does not once interfere with the sense it conveys that the chosen artists really were Ray Charles's friends. Hear it especially on the Idina Menzel heartwarmer "I Will Be There" and Blige's "It All Goes By So Fast," as silkily convincing as it is bittersweet. --Tammy La Gorce