George Benson

March 17, 2024
Blessings / Hanging Out

My jazz hero is George Benson.

I count myself lucky to have hung out with my music hero. I found, first hand, George Benson to be a gracious, giving, grateful and gifted Legend.

The first jazz album that I ever bought is his “In Flight” (1977) album. It contained only six songs. Every song was tight, upbeat, economical, and “in the pocket”. My favourite song on that album was “Gonna Love You More” by Morris “Feelings” Albert. The song and the album never fail to lift my spirits up. The other songs from the album that I gravitated to was “Everything Must Change” and “The World Is A Ghetto“, a great War (band) song.

I subsequently explored Benson’s preceding album “Breezin'”. Another phenomenal album with the legendary Tommy LiPuma as producer and Al Schmitt as recording engineer. His tight band members comprised of Phil Upchurch, Harvey Mason, Ralph MacDonald, Ronnie Foster, Stanley Banks and other top-tier musicians. To me, they are akin to the jazz version of the Wrecking Crew – top notch, sought-after recording sessionists in the rock and pop world. Both albums were mastered by the great Doug Sax. I took note of these names whenever I bought any jazz albums.

Then I explored his ambitious “Livin’ Inside Your Love” double album. My favourite album songs were “Love Ballad“, “Unchained Melody“, “Soulful Strut“, “Hey Girl” and “Livin’ Inside Your Love“.

My select George Benson CD albums and treasured signed concert pass (above image).

I was lucky to have acquired an early hard-to-find CD copy of “The Other Side Of Abbey Road”, from Tower Records in Bangkok. So sought-after, I bought two different copies.

The George Benson jazz -version album was released only a year after the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album was released.