walking upstream…
Ray Charles
sourcesWikipedia
Ray Charles Robinson, blind by age seven and orphaned by fifteen, spent his early recording years imitating the smooth pop-jazz style of Nat King Cole before breaking from that mold in the mid-1950s and fusing gospel fervor with blues and R&B on records like 'I Got a Woman' — a combination so charged that some churches accused him of blasphemy. That fusion became the blueprint for soul music, and his 1960s crossovers into country and pop, especially 'Georgia on My Mind,' proved a Black R&B artist could command the entire American songbook.
the sound in question
1960
Georgia on My MindRay Charles
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Nat King Cole1950s · Jazz / Pop
Charles's earliest recordings so closely mimicked Nat King Cole's smooth piano-trio style and vocal phrasing that critics dismissed him as a Cole imitator, a comparison he later said pushed him to find his own, grittier gospel-blues voice.
listen: upstream & here
1943
Straighten Up and Fly RightNat King Cole
1949
Confession BluesRay Charles
listen forCole's 'Straighten Up and Fly Right' is light, urbane piano-trio pop, every edge sanded smooth; Charles's 1949 debut single 'Confession Blues' works from that same cool, unhurried Cole blueprint before he found the rawer sound that would define him.
Louis Jordan1940s · Jump Blues / R&B / Swing
Louis Jordan's jump blues — small combos playing danceable, riff-driven blues with a wisecracking vocal on top — was foundational listening for the generation of R&B musicians who came up in the late 1940s, Charles among them, and shaped the uptempo, band-forward side of his sound.
listen: upstream & here
1946
Choo Choo Ch'BoogieLouis Jordan
1953
Mess AroundRay Charles
listen forJordan's 'Choo Choo Ch'Boogie' rides a driving horn riff and a good-humored, talking-blues vocal; Charles's 'Mess Around' takes that same jump-blues chassis — a simple riff, a shuffling backbeat, a wry vocal — and pushes it toward the sound that would soon be called rock and roll.
Art Tatum1930s–40s · Jazz / Stride piano
Charles cited Art Tatum's dazzling technical command of the piano — the runs, the harmonic substitutions, the sheer speed — among his pianistic idols, a virtuosity he channeled into his own instrumental jazz-and-blues piano showcases.
listen: upstream & here
1933
Tiger RagArt Tatum
1961
One Mint JulepRay Charles
listen forTatum's 'Tiger Rag' is a torrent of runs and reharmonizations at a tempo that still startles pianists today; Charles's instrumental 'One Mint Julep,' arranged by Quincy Jones, is calmer and more big-band, but the same instinct for a piano that can carry a whole arrangement by itself is audible underneath.