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1) He is probably not my favorite player, but I have to say that it seems in his prime George Benson could probably smoke anybody.
2) He and Metheny and Pass were probably the players who made the most impression on me back in the beginning and the first two gave me the mistaken impression that jazz players were supposed to play really fast a lot of the time.
3) I had Beyond the Blue horizon. What are the best Benson tunes? How many records did he do before he started singing?
4) I was watching some video and I kind of got the impression that he plays quite a bit by ear. Does he talk theory ever?
5) There is a transcription of "So What" that I have but can't find. It was done by Tim May back in 1980 roughly. Appeared in one of the magazines. Does anybody know where I can find a copy?
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05-19-2012 05:38 PM
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Check out Wolf Marshalls "The Best of Jazz Guitar" transcription book. It has a transcription of "So What".
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My favorite Benson recordings are:
George Benson & Jack McDuff (2 Disc set)
The New Boss Guitar
The George Benson Cookbook
It's Uptown
Giblet Gravy
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Ha! He was singing before he played guitar. In various interviews, he calls/considers himself a vocalist first.
Originally Posted by jster
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Benson is amazing player I've seen him a couple times back in his heyday so great. Checkout the early albums already mention and I would add White Rabbit, Bad Benson, and Body Talk from his CTI days.
Benson comes from the school of street Jazz players who start as ear players in "cut" sessions. Over the years they start learning a little theory and names as necessary. Nothing wrong with that the goal for all is to be able to play what you hear in your head or groan or sing.
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I heard him play live about 2 weeks ago and would have to suggest that in his late 70s he still seems to be in his prime! His singing was as good as ever. His playing was both blazing and tasty. For one tune I managed to sneak down right in front of the stage and couldn't believe how relaxed he was, especially his hands. On his picking hand, the three fingers not holding the pick were actually flapping.
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i would say that his singing has fallen off quite a bit, or rather his voice. its very raspy compared to the 70s and 80s. it happens when a singer strains his/her vocal cords. screaming, straining for notes over your range, etc. that'll do it.
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I was actually just thinking about starting a Benson thread. I've really been into some of his earlier records before he got into more poppy vocal stuff.
jster, I just got "Bad Benson," and I would recommend it. Two of my favorite tracks are "Full Compass" which has some cool unison playing between the whole band in it, and "Serbian Blue" which is long drawn out blues tune. It has some cool orchestral arrangements in it that reminded me of the strings from Wes Montgomery's "Bumpin' on Sunset."
I'd also recommend the record "The George Benson Cookbook." Just generally lots of good bop influenced blues playing there. Particularly "The Cooker." He smokes on that one. Learning the first few choruses from that tune took me forever but there are tons of good licks on that album to steal
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Man call me lame but I really love "Breezin"...lush violin pads...danceable disco beats...sweet tones and melodies...that album is the key to making "jazz" music that non-players and their girlfriends will love...don't call it smooth jazz call it Soul Jazz!
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I love it too, I was totally blown away when I heard Affirmation. Wow, that's 36 years ago....
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The first vocal tracks of Benson appear on It's Uptown, which was his 2nd release under his own name in 1966 after The New Boss Guitar. He sang Summertime and A Foggy Day.
Benson's earlier recordings are the ones with organ and bari sax and are mostly bop, swing with a little boogaloo thrown in. These are
The New Boss Guitar of George Benson
It's Uptown
Cookbook
Giblet Gravy came next which started adding a larger horn section and orchestral arrangements but stayed in that boogaloo mode. Billie's Bounce is on that recording (although I think it was tacked on at a later date) and is worth checking out for classic early Benson playing straight ahead.
After a few more recordings like The Shape of Things To Come and The Other Side of Abbey Road which also used orchestral arrangements but weren't that well received, Benson moved to CTI records releasing records like
Beyond the Blue Horizon (Check out So What)
White Rabbit
Body Talk (The title track is worth checking out)
Bad Benson (Benson's own interpretation on Take Five was a big hit)
Good King Bad (Benson singing Hold On I'm Coming seems like a strange choice to me.)
After CTI he moved to Warner, released Breezin', In Flight, Weekend In LA (which has some killer playing, really worth listening to) and his career took off.
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Originally Posted by setemupjoe
there were no vocal tracks on the Good King Bad LP. maybe on the CD that came out later?
the LP was "instrumental R&B" greatness. I believe that he won a Grammy for best jazz solo performance on the title track.
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That's likely. Also this explains why that track doesn't really fit with the rest of the record. Originally Posted by fumblefingers
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BTW, as we're on the subject of Benson, has anyone listened to his latest release, Guitar Man? There's some terrific solo guitar tracks on there.
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Yeah, I actually just heard a few of the tracks for the first time the other day. Can't wait till I'm back home and I can get a copy of it from my local record store
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And musicians have been trying to emulate that record and it's success ever since. Very influential, but in it's way a little paralyzing for jazz guitar. Originally Posted by eddy b.
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+1 for these. Originally Posted by Jazzpunk
All really great recordings. Blue Benson has some of the same tunes as the above, but some others as well. Also the album and song "Body Talk" was smoking hot, even if you don't like the brassy arrangements.
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the ultimate guitar bad ass!
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nailed it, as ever! Originally Posted by Jazzpunk
add to that his sideman work,
Live @mozambique with Dr Lonnie Smith
Midnight Creeper w/ Lou Donaldson
Finger Lickin Soul Organ - Dr Lonnie Smith
and an album with Red Holloway....cant remember the name
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Those Lonnie Smith records are great! 'Red Soul' the Holloway record you were thinking of? Originally Posted by whosgarethparry
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i saw benson a couple of times in chicago. what impressed me the most? his soloing? his clothes? his guitar? nope. what got me was his total enjoyment — he made it look as if playing music was the absolute best thing in the world.
that also explains why i have so many herb alpert LPs in my collection. friends going through my record were always pleased to see freddie hubbard, lee morgan, art farmer, miles davis, etc, but would stop short and look horrified when they came across my herb alpert albums. i'd always tell them that, as much as i loved watching jazz musicians on TV as a kid, it was herb alpert who made playing music look like fun and something that anyone could do. that was very appealing to me as a youngster.
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I rented a live DVD a few months back. It was fairly recent (2000's?) and filmed in Belfast I think.
Anyway, I was really impressed - great playing and singing and also a great entertainer. Quite a varied set list but with a definite bias towards the late 70s/early 80's stuff (not that that's a bad thing!).
Also, had some interesting bonus stuff - interviews and rehearsals etc.
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Benson is definitely in my top 5 for jazz guitarists. I think he has to have the best chops ever - he's just unreal. His sound is so exciting. I feel like a lot of what he does were ways to make his guitar sound like the organ players he was performing with when he came up. Originally Posted by jster
All of my favorite stuff is his early work in the organ groups. I'm not a great fan of his "pop" work, but can appreciate how good it is. I've never been hugely impressed by his singing.
There are some absolutely killer YouTube videos out there of him playing with the Basie band that are really cool to hear. The ones with McCoy Tyner are also really incredible.
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A little known blowing album for Benson fans is "Off The Top" by Jimmy Smith. Check out the band.....
Jimmy Smith
George Benson
Grady Tate
Ron Carter
Stanley Turrentine
!!!!!
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I just read the Smithsonian interview with Benson. Thought-provoking. It appears that he was a commercial musician from childhood, first as a singer, because that was literally what it took to survive, as a young man with little education.
Mr. Benson's work is what "popular music" at its finest should be, in my view. He aims for a wide audience. At the same time, he plays jazz guitar at the highest level possible.
An acquaintance of mine put GB down for singing pop music. But who wouldn't want to sing like that, if you could?
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