The Genius Sings the Blues is an album by Ray Charles, released in October 1961 on Atlantic Records. The album was his last release for Atlantic, but one of his most memorable, compiling twelve blues songs from various sessions during his tenure for the label. The album showcases Charles's stylistic development with a combination of piano blues, jazz, and southern R&B.; The photo for the album cover was taken by renowned photographer Lee Friedlan...
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The Genius Sings the Blues is an album by Ray Charles, released in October 1961 on Atlantic Records. The album was his last release for Atlantic, but one of his most memorable, compiling twelve blues songs from various sessions during his tenure for the label. The album showcases Charles's stylistic development with a combination of piano blues, jazz, and southern R&B.; The photo for the album cover was taken by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. The Genius Sings the Blues was reissued in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment with liner notes by Billy Taylor.
Because he hails from Greenville, Florida, Ray Charles has assimilated much of the Southern black man's musical heritage with its various kinds of blues stories, folk songs, and gospel revelations. Charles studied music at a school for blind children in St. Augustine, Florida and developed a personal modern jazz style of playing and writing by listening to Art Tatum, King Cole, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, and other contemporaries who...
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