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Bobby Floyd and other local musicians remember Ray CharlesBy TOBIAS K. HOUPEContributing WriterWben Ray Charles died on June 10 at the age of 73, the world lost a music legend. But his legacy lives on and has been immortalized in the hit film “Ray,” which stars Jamie Foxx and Columbus native Christopher “McCall Sanders.The pioneer of Soul and RB music who blended Gospel and the Blues, was best known sitting behind the piano swaying along with the rhythm of his music, which would often move his audience to do the same.Also an accomplished saxophonist, Charles had a string of hits spanning from 1959 to 1993 and won 12 Grammy Awards.Some of his hits included “What’d I Say, “Hit the Road Jack, I Can't Stop Loving You, Take These Chains From My Heart (And Set Me Free), Busted, America the Beautiful, and ballads like Georgia on My Mind, which later became the official state song of Georgia in 1979. Charles had written his biography a year prior, entitled Brother Charles.Local Gospel/Jazz musician Bobby Floyd counts his experience on the road with Charles as one of the highlights of his career.Floyd, who has been playing Jazz and the Blues for 47 years, beginning his study of music at the age of two, once toured with Charles across the United States and Europe. It was in 1984 and the tour lasted a year and a half. Floyd joined the band as Charles' organist.It was due to the misfortune of Charles' piano player who became ill that led to the coveted opportunity. I had met him out in California at a jam session and he really liked my playing, so when he got sick, he called me to come out and take his place.Roger Hines and Rudy Johnson, both from Columbus were also playing with Charles and their influence helped land Floyd the gig.It was a very good experience, I learned a lot playing with him (Charles), said Floyd of that period in his life. We got along fine. I knew exactly what he wanted. He kind of had a Gospel/Bluesy style and that's pretty much what my music is all about, so I knew exactly where he was coming from. So in that respect, it wasvery enjoyable.”Floyd said that he also enjoyed playing venues with other music greats on that tour such as Sarah Vaughan, Glen Campbell, and Ornett Coleman. Floyd also had the opportunity to work with Charles on his Maxwell House coffee endorsement.That was a lot of fun, he said.He was an innovator.A very soulful musical innovator and he's had a lot of influence on lots of singers today. I can hear Ray Charles in Michael Bolton and Rod Stewart.There are a lot of people that sing with that same kind of feel and that same kind of soul. He was one of the first people to do that.“He also kind of bridged the gap between country and soul music, because he did both, and he did both of them the same way, in his own Ray Charles style. He was also one of the first musicians to ever do that. He will always be remembered and his music will go on and on for many years.The singer/musician, born Ray Charles Robinson on Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Ga., would later drop his last name out of respect for boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.He began his musical journey at the age of three, encouraged by a piano playing cafe owner. The talented artist learned to read andwrite music in Braille after losing his eye site and also wrote musical scores for big bands.Charles lost his site early in life at the age of seven and had lost both parents and a sibling by the age of. 15. Those experiences along with growing up in the segregated South contributedto his soul stirring music style, which would eventually earn him a legendary niche in music history.Being impacted by the political climate of the 1 9 6 0 s, Charles, a friend to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., became one of a group of artists who would refuse to play to segregated audiences in Apartheid South Africa.The passing of Ray Charles is just an ongoing sign that we are losing our great musical giants and I consider Ray Charles to be a part of that, said local Jazz artist and keyboardest Ed Clay.Certainly, he has been an influence to me from day one I can remember hearing the music played by my parents, and that music has stayed with me from elementary school until today. Even, to the extent of trying to imitate his playing and his songs. I can remember doing that at home on the piano.He has been very instrumental in my music life and I am very sad to know that he will no longer be with us physically, but certainly hismusic will be with us always because it is some of the great music that has stood the test of time.Gospel Musician Lee G Scott, who moved from St. Louis to Columbus in 1992. said, His (Charles') music has influenced my presentation when I play, and his music has influenced the minds of people. His connection with the people was through his style. His music was anointed.Scott said that he recently played several of Charles songs at a recent gig and the room fell silent, as people were noticeably moved by the music.He has affected so many other artists, but his style was so different than any other entertainer,’’ Scott said. “There are two types of players. There are people who play and then there are feelers. Not everyone can transmit a type of spirit, which he had. He represented a type of music coming out of slavery that had soul in it He represented the sprit of slavery in his musicBeing blind, he could see things that we can't see with our eyes. I feel that he was a bridge over troubled water. People can identify with the Blues because it helps them identify with their lives.One young local Jazz artist, 25-year-old Marc Lomax, who has traveled internationally as a musician, said his reflections from a younger generation, “Most people my age only know him from the Pepsi commercials, but even with that it was soulful, and what I learned from Ray Charles is that everything has to have some soul.From listening to his brother's compilation of Charles' music, Lomax said that he learned the value of pacing himself and taking his time in his own music to tell a story. A lot of his music was slow, like the Blues is anyway, but he would take it so slow that you could hear everything he said and everything he played made sense. It was just the value of a slow Blues, which a lot of people my age don't like to play.Charles once told the Washington Post in a 1983 interview, I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. And that he has.« %portraying the legendary Ray Charles.
Newspaper Details
Cincinnati Call and Post
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Thu, Nov 04, 2004
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Mach S.
AL, USA 07 Oct 2023
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