Topix — John Coltrane, Ray Charles celebrated as part of 'Impulse! Nights' at the Jazz Standard. more info

Guardian Music — Bootsy Collins is one of the last men standing from the wild early days of funk. He tells Rob Fitzpatrick about his misadventures in LSD and orgies – and why Hendrix is still GodIf you have ever suspected that, just perhaps, modern popular music ha... more info

Aquarium Drunkard — An inherited copy, on wax, of Ray Charles’ Live In Concert has been in my regular rotation for years. Last month I read (via the LA Times) that the classic set was finally seeing a CD release. The following bit further grabbed my attention: “The ... more info

Detroit Free Press — The patriarch of the Detroit jazz scene — “the epitome of soul and taste,” according to Wynton Marsalis — settled in Detroit in 1963 after five years with the Ray Charles band. His world-class musicianship, charisma, swing and commitment to m... more info

L.A. Times - Pop & Hiss — Two years after the Red Headed Stranger and one of the prime purveyors and chief defenders of New Orleans culture collaborated in 2007 at New York’s Lincoln Center for “Two Men With the Blues,” Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis reconvened... more info

Pop Crunch — A woman who claims to have been the mistress of late music legend Ray Charles for more than 20 years has revealed that she secretly aborted his baby and even [...] more info

ContactMusic — Ray Charles' alleged mistress has revealed she once robbed the superstar blind - to pay off her house. In her new book, Ray & Me, Marci Soto claims she had a steamy affair with Charles when both were married to other people.... more info

VH1 Blog — There are a whopping 2,000 or so acts performing at South By Southwest in Austin this year. A few are household names (Duran Duran, Erykah Badu, The Strokes), some are respected indie veterans (Low, Hieroglyphics) and others feel like they’re about... more info

L.A. Times - Pop & Hiss — A recording of Ray Charles performing at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1964 will be issued on CD for the first time with the April 5 release of “Ray Charles Live in Concert.” The original 12-song LP, which... more info

Altsounds — Given the rousing artistic and commercial success of the first recorded collaboration of legendary country troubadour *Willie Nelson* and jazz statesman *Wynton Marsalis* on 2008's Blue Note album Two Men With the Blues, it's not surprising that... more info