Yes Indeed!

Yes Indeed! is a studio album by Ray Charles, released in 1958 on Atlantic Records and produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, continuing the soul and gospel-influenced R&B formula that Charles had established on the 1957 albums while expanding the range of the material to include more blues-influenced and uptempo content. Charles wrote or co-wrote several tracks; 'Talkin' 'Bout You,' 'What Kind of Man Are You,' and 'Get on the Right Track Baby' are among the principal tracks, reflecting the Atlantic-era Charles at his most directly blues-influenced. The album reflects the mature Charles Atlantic formula, small group R&B with gospel-influenced vocals, jazz piano, and the particular Baptist emotional intensity that gave his Atlantic recordings their defining character, at a moment before his commercial breakthrough on 'What'd I Say' (1959) expanded his audience dramatically. Yes Indeed! is primarily regarded as a consistent statement of the mid-Atlantic period Charles rather than a defining release, but it captures the same authentic synthesis of gospel, jazz, and blues that makes the entire Atlantic catalog significant as documentation of the invention of soul music. The album is part of the core Atlantic body of work, along with the 1957 self-titled album and The Genius of Ray Charles, that constitutes the documentary record of the invention of soul music, and its consistent quality within the genre Charles was simultaneously creating makes it an essential document of the Atlantic period even in the absence of a single defining track.