Ray Charles Concerts To Be Released on DVD | “Live In France – 1961”

“Seeing and hearing Ray perform so brilliantly 50 years ago in France, is an inspiration and reminds us just how gifted this man was and what an amazing and special talent he had.  This film is a fantastic way for us to continue to celebrate Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy.”  Jamie Foxx, Academy Award Winner/Best Actor for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray.

New York, NY—Eagle Rock Entertainment and Reelin’ In The Years Productions are proud to announce the October 25th worldwide release of Ray Charles – Live In France 1961 on DVD. The newly discovered concerts, featuring an hour and 45 minutes of performances, were filmed at the 1961 Antibes Jazz Festival in France and show Ray Charles in his prime period with the original Raeletts and his most legendary band (including David “Fathead” Newman and Hank Crawford.) These concerts, Ray’s first-ever performances in Europe, helped him become one of America’s most beloved international stars. Issued with the full cooperation of the Ray Charles Estate, the concerts have been newly transferred from the original 16mm films and have been digitally restored and remastered. [Pre-book Order Date September 30, MSRP $14.98]
Ray Charles – Live In France 1961 features 25 songs including the timeless classics “What’d I Say,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” and “I Believe To My Soul.” Also included are “Doodlin’,” “One Mint Julep” & “Hornful Soul” showcasing Ray’s jazz era, as well as the country-tinged Nat King Cole composition, “With You On My Mind,” a song Ray never recorded. Also included is a 25-minute bonus section that features six additional performances from the festival.
 
This historic discovery is the first project to develop from the new partnership between Reelin’ In The Years Productions, the world’s largest library of music footage and France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Ina), one of Europe’s most important footage archives. Reelin’ In The Years is confident that Ina’s vast, well-documented archive will provide music footage for many more projects of this caliber in the near future.
 
Ray Charles – Live In France 1961 will make its Hollywood (and world-wide) premiere at a special screening presented by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles on October 20th.  The film’s producers and other notables are expected to be on hand at the event for which tickets are available to the public. The screening will be followed by a moderated panel discussion that will include director David Peck, one of the film’s producers Tom Gulotta, Ray Charles catalog authority James Austin and Rob Bowman, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Toronto’s York University, whose incisive liner notes are part of the Ray Charles – Live In France 1961 package.
 
Reelin’ In the Years has produced some of the most highly-regarded anthology DVD series in music history including the four-volume, GRAMMY-nominated American Folk Blues Festival series, the multi-platinum selling Definitive Motown series (Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles), The British Invasion series and the award-winning Jazz Icons series. This fall will also see the release of The Hollies: Look Through Any Window 1963 – 1975 and six new titles in Volume 5 of the Jazz Icons series, bringing the total number of titles in the series to 36.
 
Eagle Rock Entertainment is an international media production and distribution company operating across audiovisual entertainment programming. Eagle Rock Entertainment works directly alongside talent to produce the highest quality programming output covering film, general entertainment and musical performance. Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices based in London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Hamburg, & Paris.
 
Producers David Peck, Tom Gulotta, Phil Galloway and Steve Scoville are available for interviews. For further information, please visit www.reelinintheyears.com or www.jazzicons.com.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Facebook: