Hour Five of this week’s Blues Before Sunrise brings the night full circle — from early blues legends to the modern master who defined soul. The final hour unfolds in two movements: first, a graceful Soul Breakfast of elegant ballads and jazz-infused moments, then a deep dive into Ray Charles’s Atlantic Records studio sessions, captured in a series of takes that reveal the man behind the myth. These recordings from The Complete Atlantic Recordings show Brother Ray as arranger, bandleader, and perfectionist — shaping rhythm, horn charts, and vocal phrasing until they became immortal.
The warm-up begins with the timeless vocal blend of The Ink Spots on “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain.” Their trademark spoken interludes and tender harmonies offer an ideal dawn moment — that quiet before the day catches up. From there, Johnny Hodges slips in with “Going Out the Back Way,” his alto sax gliding like smoke, embodying the elegance of Ellington’s school of sound. Hodges’s phrasing connects jazz sophistication to blues emotion, proving why his tone remains one of the most recognizable in American music.
Then the mood turns to heartbreak and reflection with Ray Charles’s “Two Years of Torture,” a slow-burning lament that foreshadows the work we’ll hear later in the hour. Ella Fitzgerald’s “Then You’ve Never Been Blue” follows, pure and effortless as a morning breeze, before Jimmy Smith contributes a Hammond B-3 moment of soulful warmth with “My One and Only Love.”
A trio of tracks from Una Mae Carlisle — “It Ain’t Like That,” “You Mean So Much to Me,” and “It’s Sad But True” — brings us into a forgotten but essential corner of jazz-blues history. Carlisle, one of the earliest African American women to front her own radio program, was both singer and songwriter, and her recordings sit right at the intersection of swing and early R&B. Her crisp piano work and light, conversational tone add a perfect prelude to the main event: Ray Charles in the studio.
The heart of the hour is drawn from The Complete Atlantic Recordings, Disc 7 — a series of rehearsal takes, false starts, and spontaneous bursts that reveal the alchemy behind Charles’s sound. On “Heartbreaker,” we hear him not as a finished icon but as a working musician — talking to the band, adjusting the rhythm, sculpting the phrasing until it feels right. The instrumental take of “Heartbreaker” exposes his band’s deep groove, while “Sinner’s Prayer” and “Come Back Baby” are glimpses of soul in its rawest form. “Low Society,” in three separate takes, captures Charles experimenting with tempo and feel, constantly fine-tuning the emotion.
Then comes “Tell Me How Do You Feel,” a piece that demonstrates his gift for fusing blues structure with gospel fire — that call-and-response electricity that became his signature. By the time we reach “It Had to Be You,” Ray has fully transformed the standard into something personal, bittersweet, and unmistakably his own.
As a gentle epilogue, Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross” drifts in — that instrumental seascape closing the show on a note of calm reflection. After the labor and soul of Ray’s studio, it feels like floating out of the smoke-filled studio into daylight.
Hour Five of this Blues Before Sunrise broadcast is more than a listening session — it’s a rare invitation inside the creative process. We don’t just hear Ray Charles; we hear him think, shape, and feel. It’s a closing hour that honors genius not as mystery, but as craft.
Hour 5 Playlist
I’D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN – INKSPOTS
GOING OUT THE BACK WAY – JOHNNY HODGES
TWO YEARS OF TORTURE – RAY CHARLES
THEN YOU’VE NEVER BEEN BLUE – ELLA FITZGERALD
MY ONE & ONLY LOVE – JIMMY SMITH
IT AIN’T LIKE THAT – UNA MAE CARLISLE
YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME – UNA MAE CARLISLE
IT’S SAD BUT TRUE – UNA MAE CARLISLE
HEARTBREAKER + DIALOG – RAY CHARLES
HEARTBREAKER (INSTRUMENTAL) – RAY CHARLES
SINNER’S PRAYER – RAY CHARLES
COME BACK BABY – RAY CHARLES
LOW SOCIETY (1, 2, 3) – RAY CHARLES
TELL ME HOW DO YOU FEEL – RAY CHARLES
IT HAD TO BE YOU – RAY CHARLES
ALBATROSS – FLEETWOOD MAC