What good would it do him to cover a song that had already been recorded by the Carpenters and Helen Reddy? After a couple of days of rehearsals, Benson and his group got it down in a few takes, and with a little engineering help to get Benson‘s vocal the way he heard it in his head, and though he didn’t expect anything to come of it, “This Masquerade” introduced the airwaves to a voice that would soon be everywhere.īreezin’ was Benson’s 15th album as a leader. And Benson wasn’t too keen on the Leon Russell song that producer Tommy LiPuma kept pushing on him. Records.Īccording to Benson’s 2014 memoir, he was skeptical when WEA exec Bob Krasnow approached him for a major league deal. Still, as successful as his CTI records were, he entered a whole new level with his debut for Warner Bros.
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By the ‘70s, Benson had moderate commercial success with the slick fusion of the CTI label his 1974 album Bad Benson is one of the highlights of this era, with an inspired version of the Paul Desmond standard “Take Five.” Even at his most inventive, Benson never went outside-Robert Christgau complained in a pithy dismissive review of the 1977 album In Flight, “Turn those amps up!” But even in a middle-of-the-road jazz tradition, Benson had a defining tone and recognizable swing.
BREEZIN GEORGE BENSON LIVE PROFESSIONAL
The Pittsburgh-born guitarist began his professional career as a sideman for soul jazz organist Jack McDuff in the early ‘60s, when Benson was just 19. And in the case of Breezin, this experience, in the vinyl format for which it was made, is as accessible as your local thrift store, where Benson’s albums are in generous supply. In each of these cases, it’s like the scales fell off one’s ears. It can also be said of a listener who cut their jazz teeth on shredders like Sonny Sharrock and Pete Cosey, but after long dismissing Top 40, learned to appreciate the simple pleasures of a perfect pop song. The same might be said of jazz guitarist George Benson’s pivot to pop music with his 1976 album Breezin’, a multi-platinum seller that became one of the best-selling jazz records in chart history. He has participated in fundraising efforts to support music education for various organizations over the years, such as donating one of his signature Ibanez guitars to support All You Need Music's collaboration with the Canada Music Academy scholarship fund.“It was less a shift and more akin to a conversion.” That’s how author Haruki Murakami, in his 2017 novel Killing Commendatore, describes an aging Japanese artist’s unexpected development from young modern artist to elderly traditionalist.
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A child prodigy, Benson started his musical studies at age 7 on the ukulele because his hands were too small for the guitar.He made his GRAMMY stage debut at the 30th GRAMMY Awards in 1988 with a rendition of "On Broadway" for a special New York segment of the telecast. Benson earned his first career GRAMMY wins for 1976 for Record Of The Year ("This Masquerade"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("Breezin'") and Best R&B Instrumental Performance ("Theme From Good King Bad").The song was featured on 1976's Breezin', which peaked at No.
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He made his claim to fame in the '70s as a solo artist when "This Masquerade" hit No. Guitarist George Benson got his start playing for jazz organist Jack McDuff in the 1960s.Born on March 22, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The right reason to play music is that you love it. "If you play music for the right reasons, the rest of the things will come.