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.
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.
This album has sold over three million copies and I’m sure you’ve seen it at a record store, I found it for $1.“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. It was a turning point in the musical career of George Benson, and a transition into a different style that would be rewarded with pop music success. Affirmation is a great funky song that supports this strong album, while Six to Four features a MiniMoog solo from Ronnie Foster, who also contributed electric piano and keyboards to the album. The single Breezin’ was written by Bobby Womack and produced by Tommy LiPuma, who also produced a recording of the song by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo in 1971, but this is the version that became a smooth jazz classic and one of Benson’s best known songs. The rest of the songs are pretty accessible jazz performances, and represent a transition from George Benson’s signature jazz guitar style into what would become smooth jazz, along with some standout songs like Breezin’ and Affirmation.ġ976’s Breezin‘ showcases Benson’s guitar playing and the path to pop success he would take. records won two Grammy awards, including Record of the Year This Masquerade, the only non-instrumental song on the album and an unlikely success because of how rare Benson’s songs featured vocals.
Great album by George Benson that reached the top of the pop charts in the U.S., surprising for someone who had played with Miles Davis in the 1960’s and recorded jazz records on CTI to that point.