309. Mitchell Froom on Ray Charles 'The Genius of Ray Charles' (1959)

Legendary record producer Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Sheryl Crow, Randy Newman) joins me to unpack ‘The Genius of Ray Charles’, the audaciously titled classic album where Charles took his first ambitious step outside of R&B into full on jazz. We unpack Charles’s brilliant piano solos, Quincy Jones’s arrangements, the combining of Ray’s band with musicians from Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, how to breathe new life into songs that have been recorded many times and how Mitchell bonded with Randy Newman over their shared love of this record. Plus, Mitchell talks about writing and producing ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ with Sheryl Crow, why he won’t write his memoirs, what it’s like to hear songs he’s produced while out in the world and gives insight and updates on the new upcoming Crowded House record he and the rest of the band have been working on during isolation.