Jammin with a master The New Boss Guitar of George Benson
Written: Feb 25 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Guitar licks, awesome Tenor sax playing. Terrific Jazz
Cons: Zilch, nadda, none
The Bottom Line: This is a great Jazz CD featuring George Benson on guitar and Red Holloway on Tenor Sax.
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| klueger's Full Review: The New Boss Guitar of George Benson by George Ben... |
One thing I enjoy in life is listening to music. I enjoy most kinds, but I do have my favorites one being Jazz. While I was at the library I picked up a CD The New Boss Guitar Of George Benson with the Brother Jack McDuff Quartet this CD certainly fits the bill of good jazz.
Now some of you may be familiar with George Benson as a rhythm and blues singer and guitar player, however in the 1960’s and 1970’s he played Jazz. He had no or very few lyrics to the music It was simply good Jazz with plenty of jamming in them. This album, which was recorded in 1964, was George’s first solo album. He had played for the Brother Jack McDuff Quartet for several years before making this album as the leader and composer of most of the songs. That was one of the nice things about Jack McDuff he gave all his members a chance to be the leader and tagged along with the band to add accompaniment. Now I must admit I never really heard of Jack McDuff before getting this CD out. However, George Benson and his fabulous guitar playing I was familiar with. I guess this is a case of the student surpassing the teacher.
Some of my favorite songs on this CD are The Sweet Alice Blues this song certainly is a swinging tune. Though it is considered medium tempo the guitar solos that George plays can take you away. You can picture yourself sitting in the middle of a cigarette filled smoky lounge just moving your feet and head back and forth to the music. I for one have always pictured myself the one playing the solo. I am sure that many of us have at one time or another pictured are selves as these great musicians just jamming away and having fun.
I also thoroughly enjoyed Rock-A-Bye. This song is an all out jam fest. The main features are George on guitar and Jack on organ and Red Holloway on tenor sax. These three just blast the cover off this CD with such a fast upbeat song that you can’t help tapping you feet to and “air playing” along with. (I don’t know what it’s called when one pretends to be playing the instrument one is listening to but I dubbed air playing.)
All right now George Benson, Jack McDuff, and Red Holloway are not the only talents on this CD. Ronnie Boykins joins in on the bass, and Montego Joe is on the drums. Montego has a big play with the intros to most of the songs. Joe Dukes plays the drums on the last song My Three Sons which is a bonus song on the CD which was not on the original album.
Now as my tradition for music reviews here is a listing of all the tracks.
1. Shadow Dancers (4:45)
2. The Sweet Alice Blues (4:36)
3. I Don’t Know (6:45)
4. Just Another Sunday (2:58)
5. Will You Still Be Mine (4:25)
6. Easy Living (6:33)
7. Rock-A-Bye (3:55)
8. My Three sons (5:37)
I mentioned earlier that the majority of songs where composed by George Benson. I feel I should give credit to the wonderful composing ability to those who wrote the songs that George did not do himself. Will You Still Be Mine was composed by Dennis and Adair. Easy Living was composed by Robin and Rainger. The only other song not composed by Benson was the bonus song My Three Sons which McDuff and Dukes composed.
As I mentioned earlier this was first recorded in 1964. It was digitally remastered in 1990 at the Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. I feel it is a great job I am sure they cleaned up the roughness that you get from the old albums that some of us still listen to once in awhile. The CD is definitely smooth with no background static. The songs flow one into each other at times you are not totally sure when one ends and the other begins. I accredit this to the remastering and also the great musicianship of those involved with this recording.
Wrapping up do I recommend this CD? Oh yeah, if your are in the mood for some great Jazz featuring great guitar licks and some awesome Tenor Sax playing I highly suggest you check this CD out.
Thanks for reading my review and I hope you have found it helpful in someway.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
klueger
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Location: Somewhere east of the missippi
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Trying to serve God and not my earthly desires. Know that I love you all
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