Customer Reviews for A Man and His Soul
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Rosemary V
Location: from Brooklyn, New York
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
July 8, 2011
A Man and His Soul
Hardly any Ray Charles in these songs; just basic song and it's up to the player to add in the Blues or beat,--the Ray Charles soul. One good point, there were many songs I never heard of. I play in a Church and like inspiration from all kinds of Jazz, Classical, Irish and African harmonies (hard to find), and others.
18 of 36 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Seattle Washington
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
April 13, 2009
Riuby
I bought this collection because I wanted the music to "Ruby" which was nowhere to be found in single sheet. The description said that words were not included in these scores. But words, are indeed, included. And the arrangement for Ruby gives that haunting sound that is so integral to this beautiful piece.
24 of 50 people found this review helpful.
Mitch Russell
Location: from Maryville Tennessee
Difficulty Level:
Early intermediate
December 3, 2008
Ray Charles Unchained
This music book has many of the favorite songs that Ray Charles has made popular. His songs take you back to a time when music was a joy to listen to and one could understand the lyrics that were spoken. Truly a joy to have this book.
29 of 61 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from Westerly RI
Difficulty Level:
Early intermediate
May 5, 2008
Could be better
Most of the arrangements do not do Mr. Charles justice........
20 of 40 people found this review helpful.
TY
Location: from AUBURN, AL
Difficulty Level:
Early intermediate
July 27, 2007
WORTH THE TIME
A MAN AND HIS SOUL IS CERTAINLY A COLLECTION OF SONGS THAT ONE WOULD LIKE HAVE AVAILABLE IN THEIR LIBRARY. THE MUSIC IS VERY EASY TO FOLLOW AND PLAY FROM THE START, HOWEVER, TO REALLY ENJOY THE MUSIC REQUIRES THAT YOU ADD MUCH OF YOUR OWN INTERPRETATIONS.
24 of 51 people found this review helpful.
Reg
Location: from Arkansas
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
April 22, 2007
Transposing
I dont own this insturment as of yet, but on the yamaha ypg-625 and probably a million other keyboards you can transpose the notes which Ray Charles probably did when he wrote the song. You can do what ever you want to a song to make sound the way you want it to sound.
18 of 30 people found this review helpful.
JT
Location: from South Carolina
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
December 5, 2005
Just okay
The book has many hits that are famous with Ray Charles, however I was dissapointed that they were not even remotely close to the way he plays them. This is a great book to by if you simply want to mimic Uncle Ray and impress friends. However, if you want to "play like Ray" then you'd better save your money.
5 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
December 3, 2005
Yep
My review merely concurrs with the two previous reviews. Read those and don't believe the ones before it.
4 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Stephen Weibust
Location: from Shreveport, LA
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
September 14, 2005
Don't buy it? Need to take music classes
This review by Don't Buy It is one of the least intelligent I have read.No wonder he/she felt the need to remain anonymous. Of course it wasn't the same as some recording you heard - listen to a number of recordings and you'll see that Ray himnself did not do songs the same every tme. In terms of keys, most if not all bands have to transpose a singers range. What you hear on recordings or concerts is simply Ray Charles' interpretation of the music and anyone is allowed to anad encouraged to interpret a piece in their own way.This is not a symphony - anad even they are interpreted to an extent. It sounds like you learned these pieces by ear and are now upset because you can't read music well enough to play the any other way. This book, in my opinion is wonderful and a valuable addition to anyone's collection.
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Seth Burk
Location: from Eaton Rapids, Mi
July 17, 2005
Listen to me
No one has lied, but they need to give the whole picture. I'll tell you what you need to know. Most of the songs are not exact transcriptions. That shouldn't surprise you. Some songs are no where close, but some songs you could easily figure out what was played by cutting ou/adding just a few notes. You need to have soul to play like ray charles with or without exact transcriptions, obviously none of these jokers have it. As for the wrong key thing, it called transposing, I hope you read this and realize how stupid that comment was. Unless you have more than one instrument playing you can't have something in the wrong key. No, its not exact but it's good enough if you have any soul to you at all. Stop complaining.
4 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from
July 13, 2005
Don't buy it!
This book is terrible the piano music is inccorrect for the songs and some songs are even in the wrong key! It skips the begginings of the piano peices for the songs and is not what Ray Charles plays. Do not buy this book unless less you don't want to play what the truly talented musician does but only a cheap, not even similar by ear, version of his songs. If you disagree listen to a CD or record of Ray Charles and relate it to the sheet music. And if you don't believe me read the rating titled "I say "What!?!"".
6 of 13 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from sf bay area
April 9, 2005
missing some good songs...
i really wish it had "let's go get stoned." that's one of my favorite ray charles songs. plus a lot of the songs aren't transcribed well. if you want to play like ray charles, then sit at the piano and figure it out yourself, it will sound better. i might only be 13 years old, but after playing piano for most of my life I can say this isn't worth it.
5 of 13 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from MI
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
April 4, 2005
You all expect too much.
Most of the songs in this book are played by the whole band, the piano alone is not going equal that. Taking into consideration you don't have a band playing with you, this is a pretty good book. And if it doesn't show exactly he played, IMPROVISE. It's soul, and you can't find that on a piece of paper. [...]
6 of 14 people found this review helpful.
Anonymous
Location: from my computer
Difficulty Level:
Beginner
March 11, 2005
LEGEND!
Ray Charles is a legend! And I'm glad I got this book!
5 of 11 people found this review helpful.
James Rivers
Location: from Winston-Salem, NC
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
March 3, 2005
I say "What!?!"
Others glow about this book, but I was incredibly disappointed. The four songs that I tried to play were 1. not in the same key that Ray recorded them in and 2. included hardly any signature Ray runs. Most of the songs with words just played along with the sung melody, which isn't always how Ray recorded it either (see: Ga on my Mind). Songs that I found faulty: Living for the City, Ga on my Mind, What'd I Say. How do you have a Ray Charles collection and not transcribe these songs correctly? I'm giving 2 stars b/c the other transcriptions could have been good, but I didn't even bother.
4 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Susan
Location: from Emmaus, PA
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
February 27, 2005
Quality Control
The music in this book is excellent - I love the variety of songs included in it; however, the book fell apart the very first time I opened it. The binding process was simply a gluing process and after one week of use, it looks beaten. For anyone who is reading this and has ANY influence in the publishing world: I would gladly pay extra for a book (spiral bound would be nice) that will remain intact longer than this one has!
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Abby Fowler
Location: from Memphis Tennesee
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
May 29, 2002
This Man has hits and a great soul
I do admit I am the biggest Jerry Lee Lewis fan but Ray has good hits. So if you like ray and his songs you should buy this book it is easy to read and fun to work with!
6 of 12 people found this review helpful.
bill griffith guitar teacher
Location: from Sydney Australia
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
December 10, 2000
well worth the money
every musician and music student should have this book. easy to read with a good selection of songs
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.