According to Ray: Ray Charles’s Message to America
25 March 2025 Concert Review
On March 23rd, 2025, I had the pleasure of hearing MUSE/IQUE perform their outstanding show, According to Ray: Ray Charles’s Message to America. The show immediately captivated my attention with an explosion of artistry, passion, and talent. This mixture of a concert and a history lesson brings Ray Charles’s life to the next generation.
For those unfamiliar with him, Charles was a “genre-bending genius known for bending gospel, blues, jazz, and soul”. He grew up in Florida and went completely blind at the age of 7. He had a remarkable talent to be able to read music in braille and memorize it in a matter of minutes. Ray Charles moved around the country, as retold in this concert, explaining how the music of Thomas A. Dorsey, Albert Ammons, Bobby Troup, Guitar Slim, Nat King Cole, and Art Tatum inspired Ray Charles’s work.
For those unfamiliar with MUSE/IQUE, they are an artist collective in Los Angeles committed to “creating radically engaging live music programs aimed at inspiring creativity, building new empathy, and connections in their community, and fostering new generations of music lovers”. As perfectly described by their Artistic & Music Director Rachel Worby, their shows are “a museum of American music”.
This performance also featured Grammy Award-winning vocalist Brandon Victor Dixon and the DC6 Singers Collective native to Los Angeles. Brandon’s performance of songs such as “Georgia on My Mind” and “I Got a Woman” were truly masterful. His stage presence was fascinating, and I enjoyed how vibrant he was on stage. The DC6 singers had amazing chemistry with each other, and their voices blended so perfectly. Their rendition of gospel music was filled with passion and emotion that left me with shivers. The energy on the stage was amazing; it felt like watching a jam session with a group of friends excited to share their music with the audience.
The instrumentalists were incredible. I loved the string arrangements with these songs. I enjoyed how, at times, they accompanied the saxophones to fill out the section or provided their cinematic sound to accompany the iconic setlist. I was so pleased to hear their choice of organ, a rare Hammond B-3 organ. It was such a rich and authentic texture to hear and brought the unique character of the time to life. I also would like to comment on my amazement at the rhythm section. I especially enjoyed hearing the solos of Michael Abraham (guitar) and Michael Valerio (bass).
This concert was truly so engaging to attend and learn about the life and music of Ray Charles. MUSE/IQUE has more shows coming up this year in their series “Make Some Noise” featuring music about Hollywood’s First Golden Age, musicians censored by the Hollywood Blacklist in the Mid-20th century, the music of Harlem in the Mid-20th century, and the music of Etta James. I highly encourage and recommend everyone to visit the MUSE/IQUE events page to experience one of their shows. I am so happy I had the opportunity to see this concert.
by Bella Bravo, host of KUCI’s The Speakeasy