Mission Statement: to do very little, for very few, for not very long. Disappointing the easily pleased since 1819. Not as good as it used to be from Day One. History is Bunk - PT Barnum. Artificially Intelligent before it was fashionable. Fat camp for the mind! Nothing lasts, but nothing is lost. The Shock of the Old! Often bettered, never imitated.
Scowling jazzbo purists will be betting on the young punk who cut It's Uptown in '66, but the seasoned fight enthusiast will bankroll the 1980 Benson of zillion-selling Give Me The Night, saying class and experience win over youthful pep, vim, and moxie!
Place yer bets in the comments, pals!
I'll go with the bottle service crowd and take the It's Uptown era. I was lucky enought to see him then, and unfortunate enough to see the latter.
ReplyDeleteAll my bets are on George! There's no way that chump George can take him. As a not entirely "pure" scowling jazzbo, I'm still going to have to wager against mr. pmac, wise and mature (i.e. old) though he be.
ReplyDeletetwice George ?
ReplyDeleteYou almost had me at "scowling," but I prefer (whenever
ReplyDeletepossible) not to traffic in feelings. On the one hand, I've
never so much as heard "Give Me The Night." On the other
hand, I've very definitely heard "It's Uptown," which I have
over here in not only vinyl but also digital form. Those are
just the facts, and what they tell me is that the earlier
album is of course the better of the two.
Count yourself, and your ears, lucky to have avoided Give Me The Knight. Rumor has it that when Rudy Van Gelder heard it, he became enamored with Renoir.
DeleteAs a FoamBonus®, Giblet Gravy is included.
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/UuSk7V4sbHG
I gots to be honest wit' youse bums - I KNOW I should like the early, "real" stuff more. I was getting that reaction when I was digging White Rabbit and his other CTI recordings and my hipster friends sneered at me. But - I play Give Me The Night more. So I must dig it more. It's swell. For one thing - great songs. For another - great singing. Wotta set a pipes th' guy gots!
I'm sure pmac has the live thing right, and I'd be with the bottle service crowd.
So - I declare a DRAW.
The best by Benson? No, the butler DIDN'T do it...
ReplyDeleteIt's "It Should Have Been Me #2." His '54 Groove inaugural waxing.
Fergit ALL that came after!
And this isn't just Eat'cher peas n carrots "I KNOW I should likey" jazz.
It's a pip-squeak's response to Brutha Ray!
Dig it, cats!:
https://cmoa-collection-images.s3.amazonaws.com/teenie/22561/13360.jpg
CWCD: "CMOA Collection - Carnegie Museum of Art
Young George Benson holding guitar, seated next to his manager Harry Tepper, in front of seascape background, in Harris Studio")
NOT that there's anythin wrong with early-ish ('60s?) GB.
Who knows, I might even like it, if I'm in a dentist's orifice waitin room... And have had a dosie dose of laffin gas...
..Just don't give us any "early" John Tesh, Kenny G or Yanni...
Fergot this (interestink readin bout lil Georgie) linkage:
ReplyDeletehttps://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/jazz/modern-era/george-benson
http://doo-wop.blogg.org/the-altairs-a119442954
Oh Pittsburgh.. George wasn't left-handed as a kid, but he is in your photo.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of looking at things in a reflective mode or mood (perhaps that is what happened here... Surfin' the Isle o' Foam in a MIRROR...???)
ReplyDeleteThat there " CMOA Collection - Carnegie Museum of Art " pic shows him as a "rightie"... amiright?
"Young George Benson holding guitar":
https://cmoa-collection-images.s3.amazonaws.com/teenie/22561/13360.jpg
"Whats-yew-talkin'bout-Willis?" ?
Oh, I see...
"Ne-e-e-e-e-e-ver mind...!" (Emily Litella)
https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/_/rsrc/1291842450936/pittsburgh-music-story/jazz/modern-era/george-benson/george%20benson.jpg?height=317&width=400
(Still a bit rattled after that de-base... er DEE-bate last night...)
"Shut up man!" (!)
. . .
'Will You Shut Up, Man?'
2 hours ago - 'Will You Shut Up, Man?' Amazing that just five words from the debate may tip voters who are undecided between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
(Sorry, and feel free to lop this po'-lit-ick-ill junk off this MESSage, so as to keep things Foamie & not Frothing on the Isle...)