In praise of George Benson

[sunvalleylaw]

In our recent influence threads, I neglected to properly mention one man and his band. I was doing my thing I sometimes do on Sundays and pulling out old vinyl to listen to, and found this gem. "George Benson Live: Weekend in LA." (1977) http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,51112,00.html It has to go on my 5 albums that shaped me list. I own a couple of his commercial studio albums from those late 70's days, but the Live album blows it away, being stripped of some of the excessive strings in the background, and focusing more on the players. (though they did add some synth strings after the fact on some of the numbers.) His tone (maybe the beginning of my love of warm cleans?), his lines and phrasing, chords and comping, timing and note choices truly captured and influenced me. I remember comparing him in my mind to Jimmy Page, who I also listened a lot to back in those days, and thinking this light jazz guy plays better as far as I am concerned. I can't believe I left him off my influence lists. Anyway, here is a sample or two:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdGSlbWCxk
Title track to the Live album and good example of the elements I am talking about above, though he plays a bit more cleanly on the 1977 live album itself, and I wish the sound on the recording was better.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn27IcAapPI&feature=related
This one is just freaking amazing. If you pick only one vid to watch on this thread, this is it. :AOK:


This one (not my favorite Benson number) I include just because of how it shows him in his hey day and because the intro by Glen Campbell is classic. You could skip to about 3:40 to see the good stuff where is skats along with his guitar.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHu8TvCV5I

Closing with a classic that is probably way overplayed, but you cannot deny the skill and talent displayed. Oh and check out the bass player also working the tambourine with his foot! :bravo:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QjTK0pL1go&feature=related

Well, if I could get to one tenth of the playing ability and skill displayed I would be ecstatic. Hope you like it!

[oldguy]

Sunvalley............. I remember hearing George Benson playing guitar and scat singing on the radio and being instantly focused on the sound. He has his own way of doing a song that was identifiable........you knew it was him as soon as you heard it. Great talent!
"Masquerade" was never a favorite of mine by Benson either. I heard it years earlier when "Carney" came out. Leon Russel's version will always convey the right sound, feeling, and emotion. Nobody else came close IMO. Maybe because Leon wrote it, but it'll always be the real deal when I hear him sing it.
(I'm not trying to hijack your Benson thread here, Steve........ but if you haven't heard Leon do his tune, you should give it a listen.)

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[Blaze]

I like Georges s early days, late 60 s ,he was into real jazz then after, dispite the fact that he played awesome ,it became bubble gum for my taste..

Here s my man ,Bireli :

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[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, I know a lot of his stuff in the era I became aware of him was dumbed down some. But he did bring great playing to a larger audience. I would hazard to guess that most people know only stuff like Masquerade and Breezin', and don't know of his great guitar work on his less pop oriented stuff. That is what was great about the Weekend in LA album. Though it has the pop stuff, the instrumentals are the gems.

Check out the tracks "California PM" and "Ode to Kudu" on the track samples in the link to the album to see what I mean if you (meaning anyone reading) have not heard it, or just look at the first two vids above.

[SuperSwede]

Amazing guitarist and performer.. awesome jazz player and I really like his pop songs too.

[Robert]

He was amazing back in the day. Just listen to his playing on Take Five here:

Tn27IcAapPI

Rippin' it up! :master:

[sunvalleylaw]

Oh, you mean the second video i posted ;) :D

[Robert]

Sorry Steve! I got so excited I missed that... :) Hot playing fo sho!

[sunvalleylaw]

No worries. Just funnin' ya!

As I watched the older vids, and that Take Five one in particular, with his cut off sleeves, I was thinking it was hardly fair for him to have all that talent, and those "Apollo Creed" type looks and biceps as well.

[just strum]

Sorry Steve! I got so excited I missed that... :) Hot playing fo sho!

Hey, it made me feel good after my P90 oversight.

[sunvalleylaw]

New album coming out August 25th! Makes me excited!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TT-kaojDeo&feature=channel

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[jpfeifer]

One of my friends works as a sound engineer at a studio in the Phoenix area. Recently he had the opportuntiy to work on a session with George Benson. He lives in the Scottsdale area. He booked some time at this studio where my friend works.

My friend said that George is a very nice guy, and very easy to work with. He showed up with only a small fender amp and his guitar.

I would have loved to have been there just to watch him work. He is an amazing musician, and one of my all time favorite players.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow, that would be great to sit in and watch. Also great your friend was able to work with him. Nice!

[oldguy]

Thanks for bringing this up to date, Sun. Those vids were great.
That was a cool story JP, nice to hear when people are nice.

[kiteman]

Good stuff, good artist. :)

I have a piece of benson's song I got from a library book, it was about jazz. I don't know what the song was since it was years ago before the internet.

Anyway I just use it in my jams, they're good riffs. :dude:

[jpfeifer]

My friend is just an intern at this studio and very young (just out of high school). He has recently finished a training program for recording and production, and he picked up an internship at this local studio. He didn't know how famous George was before doing this. Marcus Miller was with them in the studio that day also (apparently he is the producer for this new project). Later after this session (on the following week) he asked me if I knew who these guys were, and I nearly fell over. I told my friend to Google both these guys to get some idea of the importance of them in the industry. He was blown away after he found out more about them. He now has a very nice credit to put on his resume.

-- Jim

[Jimi75]

Nice to see that George gets his mentioning here at least. I wouldn't consider George an influence to me, but he is a very great player. I love the stuff he did in the mid 70's. Later on he was getting to smooth, too poppish for my personal taste.

[Jipes]

If you really dig the guitar style of Georges Benson be sure to listen to his albums with the great line-up including the fantastic Ronnie Cuber Baritone sax player and the amazing Lonnie Smith on the B3 organ they are several CD including the great Cook Book which contains some delicious and tasty grooves.

Some of the early recordings of Lonnie Smith including Live at Club Mozambique features Georges Benson at his best (guitaristicly speaking)

[bigG]

I owned my record store when the Breezin' LP came out. I didn't much care for it - that too lite, muzak jazz fusion stuff was just so watered down.

But I did notice that he played Ibanez, and that one album is credited for putting Ibanez on the map in a big way.

Some of those vids you guys posted are pretty good. It's good to know he has some real chops! Bravo!

[Robert]

I have the album "Uptown", and it features some incredible jazz guitar by George Benson. He has an incredible feeling in his playing. He is one of the best jazz guitarists ever, in my opinion.