Who'll inherit his Rhodes?

Ray Charles is dead. His music will live forever. He’s one of my absolute total incredible favourite love-his-stuff-with-my-whole-body-and-soul guys on the planet. When I heard of his death today, I went to my stack of CDs for my Ray stuff. Funnily (or strange) enough, my favourite Ray Charles song I don’t have with Ray himself. It’s “What’d I Say”. I only have it with Jerry Lee Lewis…
Ray is also the King of the Fender Rhodes. I love my Rhodes, so did Ray. Even if they give you a full grand costing-a-bloody-fortune piano, for real soul stuff the Rhodes is essential. Although my latest MIDI modules have a number of different Rhodes sounds, it doesn’t sound the same as the Real Thing. Just as Ray notes in the Blues Brothers movie about a keyboard’s “action”, so do I. A few times when playing gigs and we’ve allowed other musicians to use our gear, other people using my Rhodes does not sound right. They don’t have the soul. I’d say there’s soul food in Valhalla tonight. Ray is rocking the joint. There’s no stopping, no end. The music goes on. Play it again, Ray!