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Inside "Ray Sings, Basie Swings": An Interview With Producer Gregg Field

"Ray had such tremendous respect for Basie and often expressed a desire to work with him on a recording project. Now through the miracles of technology, we are able to fulfill one of Ray’s unfulfilled dreams. His vocal performance here is one of the best I have ever heard." - Joe Adams, Ray Charles' longtime manager

The new album Ray Sings, Basie Swings captures a collaboration that never really happened, but should have. Although Ray Charles and Count Basie shared the same bill many times during their careers, they never recorded together. But in 2005, Concord Records A&R chief John Burk, the man who produced Charles' Grammy-winning album Genius Loves Company, discovered some lost tapes that set the Ray Sings, Basie Swings project in motion.

Those tapes, which Burk found in the vaults of Concord's recently acquired Fantasy Records division, were simply labelled "Ray/Basie." They were not an actual collaboration as Burk at first hoped, but rather recordings from a tour on which the two legends were on the same bill. "They appeared to be recordings from the live soundboard with Ray’s vocal way up front, and the band way in the background. At first, the tapes seemed unusable, but Ray sounded amazing." So Burk, inspired by the notion of that dream collaboration, had an idea -- why not re-record the music on those tapes with the current Count Basie Orchestra, accompanying those amazing Ray Charles vocals?

To help realize his vision, Burk enlisted the help of multi-talented musician, producer and engineer Gregg Field, who toured and recorded with both Charles (as drummer and arranger) and with Basie’s band. Field answered a few questions from the editors at ARTISTdirect to help shed some light on this unique project.

What was your reaction when you heard those original tapes of Ray's vocals from the Fantasy vaults?

I was amazed at the intensity of Ray’s vocals. It reminded me of the first time I worked with him. The vocals were recorded around the same period.

How many songs were on those original tapes? Was it hard to narrow it down to just 12 songs?

Most of the songs are included, though we narrowed it down to the most compelling vocals to create the album. There is even a song never before released by Ray. ["Every Saturday Night."]

You toured with Ray Charles as a young man and later played with Count Basie. How would you describe the similarities between the two men and their music?

Ray and Basie are originals and had very different personalities, though Ray often spoke of his love of Basie’s band. Of course in Basie’s case, the band was also the star. Sinatra, Ella and Tony Bennett all recorded with the band and now Ray can be added to the list.

Can you tell us something about either man that most people don't know?

Ray could really see, I’m convinced of it.

The sound quality on this album is amazing. What was the process like in splicing the two halves of these performances together? How long did it take?

Thanks, there were more than a few challenges in making the recording, not the least of which was making Ray’s vocal sound like he was in the studio with us yesterday. Engineer Don Murray and others worked nearly five months on the recording and really pushed the technology limit.

How closely do the new charts for the Basie Orchestra match those of the original recordings? Were there any places where the performers were free to improvise or was it more a matter of creating a note-for-note re-enactment?

Great question. Since this is the first collaboration of Ray and Basie’s band, Tom Scott and Shelly Berg retooled the arrangements to feature the band. We did the same with the Raelettes. Patti Austin put together the best background singers on the planet and created 21st century Raelettes, as well as arranging the new vocal parts. Our own Concord artist, B-3 player Joey DeFrancesco is also featured throughout the album.

What do you think Ray and the Count would have thought of this collaboration?

What took so long?

Ray Sings, Basie Swings is available now in the ARTISTdirect Store.