MP3 Exclusives New Arrivals   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Metal Pop Punk R&B Rap/Hip Hop Reggae Rock   Top Downloads Features Archive Contests Control Panel MUSICBLITZ Alert!   METALBLITZ REGGAEBLITZ BLUESBLITZ Musician's Friend   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Hip Hop Metal Pop Punk R&B Reggae Rock   Getting Started Free Players	Welcome !      George Benson He’s one of the biggest beneficiaries of the boundaries opened up by fusion, but George Benson’s silky-smooth guitar skills and equally polished vocals would likely have found their way to success anyway. Another of Pittsburgh’s many contributions to jazz history, Benson was just a teenager when he formed his first rock and roll band in 1960. But he ended up catching the ear of organist Jack McDuff, whose quartet he joined twice during the ‘60s, developing a smooth but fiery style similar to another McDuff collaborator, Grant Green. Benson’s growing rep led to dates with big names like Miles Davis band members Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter; Miles himself wanted Benson for the group’s new, R&B and rock-influenced direction, but was rebuffed. Instead, Benson made a turn toward the middle of the road, hooking up with Creed Taylor, the former producer of jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery. Taylor set Benson’s guitar to the same syrupy, easy listening settings he’d picked for Montgomery -- 1969’s The Other Side of Abbey Road, a collection of Fab Four covers, was one example -- and Benson followed Taylor to his new label, CTI, in the early ‘70s. But Benson made his most successful crossover move later that decade with a cover of Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade” that got inside the pop Top Ten. It drove the 1976 album, Breezin’, to the top of the charts, and set the compass for Benson’s next several years: the focus was on his personable vocals and pop-friendly tunes, with his guitar sometimes an afterthought. Weekend In L.A., the 1977 double album followup, had a memorable hit cover of the Drifters’ “On Broadway,” and “20/20,” another double out the next year, was even slicker. Benson’s run of pop hits continued into the mid-80s, but he also began to try reclaiming some of his jazz roots by decade’s end, issuing a well-received album of standards, Tenderly, in 1988, and the brassy Big Boss Band with Count Basie’s big band two years later. Those releases seemed at least to convince Benson to keep his guitar out of the case; he’s since featured it prominently, even when his material has crept back to slick pop-jazz, as on 1996’s That’s Right, cut at Prince’s Paisley Park studios, or the better Standing Together in 1998. Benson’s latest, Absolute Benson, released in May 2000, was a mix of R&B covers (Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway) and jazzier fusion, partly courtesy of collaborator Joe Sample.     George Benson All Blues MP3 Jazz Benson gets blue on Miles’ modal masterpiece. No singin’ and no funk, just liquid guitar runs that also pack some punch.
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