Ray

The Genius of Ray Charles is a 1959 album by Ray Charles. In 2003, the album was ranked number 263 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Some players from Ray Charles' big band are joined by many ringers from the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands for the first half of this program, featuring Charles belting out six songs arranged by Quincy Jones. "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Deed I Do" are highlights, and there are solos by tenorman David "Fathead" Newman, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, and (on "Two Years of Torture") tenor Paul Gonsalves. The remaining six numbers are ballads, with Charles backed by a string orchestra arranged by Ralph Burns. Charles' voice is heard throughout in peak form, giving soul to even the veteran standards.

The new Fischer-Z album 'X-Ray Serenade' which will be released in September 2026, reflects the 50th anniversary of the Fischer-Z shows. It has seven new tracks, and also four reimagined versions of classic hits - re-recorded by the current band in a contemporary 2026 form. The new tracks deal with the same subjects that John Watts has always written about - human stories and the current state of the world, from the point of view of an observer with a dark sense of humour. Musically, Watts’ signature vocals are central to the new sound. Even one of the new tracks, Strings, has been reimagined in a fashionable ‘Official bootleg’ mix by DJ Ingo Wörner. Band stalwarts Dave Purdye and Marian Menge have now been joined by Olly Newton and Chloe Leigh.

Released in 1995 by Bear Family Records, The Honky Tonk Years: 1950-1966 is an exhaustive 10-CD boxed set chronicling the absolute peak of Ray Price's legendary career. Featuring 266 tracks, this definitive collection covers his transformation from a Hank Williams disciple into the pioneering architect of the 4/4 Texas shuffle. It compiles all of his classic Columbia recordings alongside his legendary backing band, The Cherokee Cowboys, including essential honky-tonk anthems like "Crazy Arms," "Heartaches By The Number," and "City Lights." Mastered from the original session tapes and packed with rare alternate takes, instrumental cuts, and unissued masters, this set stands as a towering monument to one of country music's most influential eras.

Stevie Ray Vaughan's second album, Couldn't Stand the Weather, pretty much did everything a second album should do: it confirmed that the acclaimed debut was no fluke, while matching, if not bettering, the sales of its predecessor, thereby cementing Vaughan's status as a giant of modern blues. So why does it feel like a letdown? Perhaps because it simply offers more of the same, all the while relying heavily on covers. Of the eight songs, half are covers, while two of his four originals are instrumentals – not necessarily a bad thing, but it gives the impression that Vaughan threw the album together in a rush, even if he didn't. Nevertheless, Couldn't Stand the Weather feels a bit like a holding pattern, since there's no elaboration on Double Trouble's core sound and no great strides forward, whether it's in Vaughan's songwriting or musicianship.

It’s no disrespect to the man to not believe, in part or in whole, every word that Ray Wylie Hubbard writes, sings, or speaks — and frankly, he’d probably respect you a little less if you did. As celebrated songwriters of the outlaw poet/down-home-country-blues persuasion go, Hubbard’s credibility is unimpeachable. And to be fair, even as a somewhat notorious raconteur, his overall truthiness is a lot more bankable than your average politician or fundamentalist grifter. But fold your cards every time he goes all in across a table from you, or swallow as fact every nugget of wisdom he sharpens into verse or stretches into a yarn without catching the gleam in his eye or wry tell between the lines, and odds are you’ve been played.

Cheer Up is an explosive and brilliantly inventive avant-garde jazz trio recording released in 1995 on the prestigious Swiss label hat ART, featuring American trombonist Ray Anderson, legendary Dutch free-jazz percussionist Han Bennink, and Swiss-Irish guitarist Christy Doran. Spanning nine adventurous tracks across nearly fifty-two minutes, the album showcases extraordinary musical dialogue, playful humor, and fiery virtuosic improvisation. Anderson's expressive trombone and tuba work blends effortlessly with Doran's delay-soaked electric guitar lines and Bennink's notoriously wild, swing-laden polyrhythms. Highlights include cheeky original compositions like My Children Are The Reason Why I Need To Own My Publishing, the driving groove of BucketHead, Tabasco Cart, and the spirited title track Cheer Up. Recorded with pristine audiophile warmth, this album remains a celebrated landmark for fans of modern creative jazz, free-form improvisation, and avant-garde post-bop.

Azurety is an inventive and fearless free jazz trio album recorded in 1994 and released on the acclaimed Swiss avant-garde label Hat Hut Records. Bringing together three master improvisers—American trombonist/tuba player Ray Anderson, Dutch avant-garde percussionist Han Bennink, and Irish-Swiss guitarist Christy Doran—the recording captures an extraordinary acoustic and electric dialogue full of humor, virtuosic interplay, and spontaneous soundscapes. Spanning eight tracks across fifty-five minutes, the album navigates from complex collective improvisations and angular rhythms to soulful blues inflections and playful deconstructions of classic standards like Duke Ellington's Just Squeeze Me. Doran's versatile guitar work and delay textures mesh seamlessly with Anderson's vocalized trombone growls and Bennink's explosive, unpredictable drumming. Digitally captured in high fidelity, this release remains a landmark document of modern European and American avant-garde jazz collaboration.

While 2002's Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble is the place to go for the complete picture, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan works well as a nice single-disc introduction to the work of the influential blues guitarist. Perhaps a few more hits could have been included to make this more attractive to the curious buyer, but with a previously unreleased live version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and a track listing that dodges much of the 1995 Greatest Hits collection, this does offer an alternative for longtime fans.

Epic's The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble gathers two discs' worth of the late blues guitarist's work, including many live performances and a few tracks with the Vaughan Brothers. The collection presents Vaughan's material in roughly chronological order, from the 1980 live recording "Shake for Me" to 1989's "Life by the Drop." It also touches on most of Vaughan's definitive songs and performances, including "Tightrope," "Wall of Denial," "Couldn't Stand the Weather," and "Cold Shot," and live versions of "The Sky Is Crying," "Superstition," and "Rude Mood/Hide Away." Though this album doesn't offer anything that hasn't already been released in some form or another, it does go into slightly more depth than several of the other Stevie Ray Vaughan retrospectives by presenting both his greatest studio hits and some of his best live work.