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Past Events

Inspired by Ray: The Ray Charles Symposium
Ray Charles and the Jazz Community
September 22, 2012

Moderated by Loren Schoenberg

Ray Charles is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses in all of American music. In this artistic and academic symposium slated for Friday, September 21st to Sunday, September 23rd, we will use Charles as a prism through which to examine, discuss, and celebrate various aspects of American musical life.

This panel will use the early influence of Nat Cole on Ray Charles' first trio and the posthumously issued collaboration with Count Basie as bookends, pointing to the large and continuing presence of jazz in Charles’s music. The presence of first-rate jazz horn players, choice of material, and special recording sessions (with Quincy Jones and Milt Jackson) will also be explored. Many don’t know that Charles played a very good Charlie Parker-inspired alto sax!

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