The yellow background and parallel lines on the cover suggest a school notebook, apt since the album turned out to be a template for a lucrative pop career. 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. 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 FLUTE 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. His stage presence and fan interaction was fantastic.“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. I was absolutely impressed with the true talent of Kenny G. The set list included hits like “Havana”,”Forever in Love”,”Cadenza” and closed his set with “Songbird” and “Titanic”. Kenny played an amazing eleven song set list. Kenny made his way to the stage to play song “G Bop”. During the second song “Silhouette” he walked over to a riser in the middle of all of the fans and played. I looked around and Kenny was playing song “Home” from the soundboard. Kenny has released an amazing eighteen albums to date.Īs the lights went down the crowd began to cheer. Kenny’s main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also plays the alto and tenor saxophone and the flute on occasion. His fourth album, “Duotones”, brought him breakthrough success in 1986. Kenneth Gorelick, better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. George Benson and his band ended their European and U.S. In short, this guitar man is the complete package. Along the way, he has also established himself as a formidable jazz singer – one whose biggest career hits have showcased his vocals as well as his guitar chops. In a career that spans five decades, more than 30 albums, NEA Jazz Master, George Benson, has used his jazz roots as the foundation for an engaging mix of pop, R&B and other shades that add up to a style that appeals to a broad mainstream audience. Ten time Grammy award winning singer and composer George Benson thrilled fans at Treasure Island Resort & Casino on Saturday.
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