Its Nice to Go Travling - Si Zentner CD

Its Nice to Go Travling - Si Zentner CDIts Nice to Go Travling by Si Zentner and His OrchestraAdditional Info: Ray Charles was one of the best and most versatile American artists of his generation, a singer, composer, and instrumentalist who refused to be hemmed in by genre or convention, but he also loved to collaborate with others, and on his 1984 album Friendship, Charles recorded duets with ten major country music stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs, and Mickey Gilley. Playlist: The Very Best Ray Charles Duets repackages the Friendship album, including all ten tracks in full, and adds three more duets, in which Ray shares vocals with Tony Bennett, Billy Joel, and Willie Nelson. Nothing here is quite up to the level of Charles' classic recordings of the '50s and '60s, but Ray is in fine voice on these performances, sounding robust and playful while trying not to show up his duet partners, and if this isn't the definitive look at Charles' work as a vocal partner, it's at very least a solid expanded version of Friendship, which was one of his most popular albums of the '80s. ~ Mark Deming

Specifics

• Album: Its Nice to Go Travling
• Artist: Si Zentner
• Label: Sony