The Dick Cavett Show - Ray Charles Collection

Product Description 3 Complete Episodes of the Legendary Late-Night Talk Show Features Candid Interviews, Unforgettable Moments and 14 Live Performances Genius is a word that is often used too casually. That?s certainly not the case with Ray Charles. The word was so appropriate in his case that it became his nickname. The Genius was a guest on The Dick Cavett Show three times, including one where he was Cavett?s only guest. As a performer and a conversationalist, his magnetism is in full force. On this 2-DVD set Ray speaks candidly about his life and career and performs 14 songs. The Ray Charles Collection includes: Episode One - June 26, 1972 Ray performs: - America The Beautiful - Blues For Big Scotia - Am I Blue (duet with Dick Cavett) (Other guests: Tony Randall, Margaret Mead) Episode Two - January 26, 1973 Ray performs: - I Feel So Bad - Georgia On My Mind - Eleanor Rigby - I Can?t Stop Loving You - Lift Every Voice And Sing - America The Beautiful - Shake - Am I Blue (duet with Dick Cavett) Episode Three - July 9, 1973 Ray performs: - I Feel So Bad - Born To Lose - Am I Blue (duet with Dick Cavett) (Other guests: John Lindsay, Dr. Samuel Rosen) Plus New Episode Introductions and the Bonus Featurette Cavett Remembers Ray. Amazon.com A TV talk show studio may not be the optimal environment for live music, but Ray Charles effortlessly transcends that limitation throughout his three early '70s appearances preserved on the two-disc set The Dick Cavett Show - Ray Charles Collection. Then in his early forties, Charles performs more than a dozen songs altogether, seven of them on the second show (taped in September '72, but not aired until the following year), on which he's the only guest. His genius lay in making any style sound like his own, and typically, his material here runs the gamut, from blues, gospel (Charles' inimitable "America the Beautiful" is nothing if not church-based), jazz (pianist Oscar Peterson's "Blues for Big Scotia"), and soul (Sam Cooke's "Shake") to pop (a unique interpretation of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby"), country ("I Can't Stop Loving You," one of his biggest hits), and his signature "Georgia on My Mind." The conditions aren't ideal, what with the antiseptic studio sound ("Television is death to me," Charles says); and while the Raelettes are on hand, musical backing is provided primarily by the house band, good