Atlantic/Rhino's 2005 Genius and Friends is the end result of a project Ray Charles initiated a few months before his death in June 2004. According to James Austin's liner notes, Charles called Austin in December of 2003, asking if he could find the masters to an unreleased duets record Ray recorded in 1997 and 1998.Austin found the tapes, but Charles was too sick to work on them, so after his passing -- and after his final studio album, the duets record Genius Loves Company,became a number one hit in August of 2004 -- Atlantic/Rhino decided to finish off the project, bringing in producer Phil Ramone to oversee the completion of the album.