“As long as I can remember, music has always been something extraordinary in my life. It's always been something that completely captured my attention.” ~ Ray Charles

Dear patient readers.  I am sitting here at my key board and I am struggling with a massive case of writer’s block.  I just don’t quite know what to say or where to begin.

I’ve just finally had the time to view my copy of Ray Charles – Live at Montreux 1997 and I am ready to write a thoughtful review of a brilliant performance and yet here I am, completely stumped. My mind is blank and I’m at a complete loss for words.

I know; it’s insane. How can I be at a loss for words about the legendary Ray Charles; the genius of soul, the icon, the music pioneer?  Even if you‘ve never heard of the Mr. Ray Charles (say if you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past fifty years in a vacuum sealed soundless capsule on Mars or something), you just have to Google him (just when did Google become a verb anyway?) to find a ridiculous amount of information.

Born in 1930 in Albany GA., Ray Charles Robinson was blind by the age of 7 due to Glaucoma and subsequently attended Saint Augustine’s School for the Blind.  His professional career started in Jacksonville Florida in 1946 but he moved to Seattle in 1948 and changed his professional name to Ray Charles.  He released in first single “Confession” under the Swingtime label in 1949, had his first R&B hit with “It Should Have Been Me” in 1954 and his first crossover hit on the pop charts with “Swanee River Rock” in 1957.

However it was in 1959 that the legend that is Ray Charles was truly born with his mega hit and signature song, “What’d I say!”  From then on he went on to make Ray Charles history and created the very definition of Soul Music to this day.

But that, I realized is the problem with this review.  It’s a tricky thing reviewing a legend.  Where can I possibly begin? What can one possibly write that has not already been written, filmed, sung about, performed, or otherwise covered?  Who am I to sit in judgment of Ray Charles?  It’s a daunting task that I’m not certain I am worthy of attempting.  Nonetheless, I’ve been given this DVD and I made a commitment to write my humble opinion for you dear readers. So, calming my slightly nervous fingers, here goes.

Ray Charles has performed at the Montreux Jazz festival on more than one occasion and his 1997 concert that Eagle Vision Media decided to release as a part of its Live at Montreux series is considered on of his finest.   Mr. Charles is in very good company here as the Live at Montreux series includes the likes of such artists as Canned Heat, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, Steve Earle, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and of course, my favorite jazz/blues man, Jeff Healey.