A Genius Move?

February 19, 2010 By Mike Duquette — No Comments

Amazon has an April 6 date for a new reissue of Genius + Soul = Jazz, a 1961 instrumental album by Ray Charles. Backed by members of the Count Basie Orchestra, featuring orchestrations by Quincy Jones and propelled by a Top 10 hit, “One Mint Julep,” the LP served as his first for Impulse! Records and is now owned and distributed by the Concord label (which owns the rights to all his Impulse and ABC/Paramount material, from 1960 to 1973).

Concord’s done quite a bit of stuff with this part of Brother Ray’s discography in the past year, including a deluxe version of The Genius Hits the Road (1960), a two-for-one version of Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music Volumes 1 and 2 (both 1962), the CD premiere of Message for the People (1972) and several digital releases of other sets in the Concord catalogue.

In 1997, Rhino released this album on a double bill with My Kind of Jazz, an instrumental LP recorded for Tangerine nearly a decade later in 1970. No bonus tracks were had there and it remains to be seen what will be dug up now. Keep it here for the latest, as always.

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Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.