How did Ray Charles blend musical genres?
It wasn't some complicated formula, brother. It was about listenin'. Listenin' with your ears, sure, but more importantly, with your heart, with your gut. I'd hear a gospel choir singin' with so much passion, and I'd think, 'That same passion, that same feeling, it belongs in a song about love, or about hard times.' So I'd take that fervor, that call and response, and lay it over a blues chord progression, or let a jazz horn player weave around it. It's like puttin' different colors on the same canvas to make a richer picture. 'Hit the Road Jack' has that gospel stomp, even though it's a story about somebody leavin'. It's just about feelin' the rhythm and lettin' it carry you.
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