2017 reissue on 180g vinyl and in a gatefold jacket - On July 5, 1958, Ray Charles and his band played a set at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. The performance shows Ray at ease on stage, jumping in and out of musical styles at will, and casting a spell over the appreciative audience. Part of the small-venue show was released in October 1958 as Ray Charles At Newport (Atlantic 1289).
The Newport Jazz Festival had begun in 1954, and while already well-known and well-loved by jazz fans, the yearly event caused significant tension in Newport: this unfamiliar new black music attracted not only black audiences to white Newport, but also white college kids who descended on the town and had an easygoing, hedonistic bent that made many uncomfortable.
This tension could often propel the performers to greater heights, and several performances from the festival’s early years are now legendary. Ray Charles’ At Newport album is one such document.
| A1 | The Right Time |
| A2 | In A Little Spanish Town |
| A3 | I Got A Woman |
| A4 | Blues Waltz |
| B1 | Hot Rod |
| B2 | Talkin' About You |
| B3 | Sherry |
| B4 | A Fool For You |
