Query on movie 'Ray'

[keith_h]

Regarding the Movie on Ray Charles, in the control booth during the Atlantic recording sessions [[my absolute fave scenes) there are actors playing Ahmet Ertugun, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, but who is the inluential Black guy with the shaved head?

[juicefree20]

Hi Keith,

Most likely you're speaking of Jessie Stone. Jessie was an integral part of Atlantic Records during their early days. Before joining Atlantic he was a musician, bandleader at the Apollo Theatre & musical director for the all female band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

At Atlantic he served as a producer, songwriter, and arranger. Some of his most notable hits are "Shake, Rattle & Roll", Money Honey", "Sh-Boom", "Idaho" [[which became a huge smash for Benny Goodman & Guy Lombardo), "Your Cash Aint Nothing But Trash" & "Don't Let Go".

His career was as wide as it was diverse. Google him on Wikipedia for a more in-depth overview of his career. It's pretty deep.

[keith_h]

Hi Juice, thanks for that. I was aware of Jessie Stone as a writer, and that he also wrote under the alias of Charles Calhoun, but didn't know what a pivotal role he played in the history of R&B. Amongst his many credits it appears he discovered and encouraged Louis Jordan, someone I think of as a founding father of R&B.
I also found this, http://www.soul-patrol.com/soul/jessiestone.htm. What a man, and he also lived to the great age of 97.

[juicefree20]

Anytime Keith.

Until I did more reading up on him I had no idea that his career was as diverse as it was. I believe that for the first time, the movie "Ray gave most people an idea as to how important he was to the success of Atlantic in their fledgling years.

Imagine a man who Duke Ellington thought so highly of that he set himup in his own home for months, then helped lead him to a job at the prestigious Cotton Club?

Man, what a career!

[keith_h]

Hey Juice, the strange thing is, nowhere in the movie 'Ray' does he get a mention by name, which was why I had to ask my initial question.

[splanky]

Ray was a very good movie about an iconic figure in American music but it was still basically at root a standard Hollywood
movie. That means it wasn't a documentary and so it has become routine for these movies to feature altered historical views, eliminations of certain facts or even addiction of characters or events that never occurred in real life. As Fathead
Newman [[RIP) told wbgo about Bokeem Woodbine's portrayal of his character in Ray, "No, it really wasn't like that at all.."
Same with Walk The Line, the Johnny Cash movie, Beyonce portrayal of Etta James in Cadilac Records, and so on and so on.
I enjoy these flicks when I see them but I don't take them to be gospel. BTW, Bokeem in real life is NOTHING like any of the
characters he usually plays on film...