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George Benson Is 'Breezin'' Again
01/17/2001 1:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Matt Ashare
(1/17/01, 1 p.m. ET) - Guitarist George Benson's breakthrough 1976 album Breezin' has been digitally remastered and re-released this week. The deluxe reissue CD includes three bonus tracks, including the single edit of the smash hit "This Masquerade," which reached Number Three3 on the R&B chart and Number 10 on the pop chart at the time of its release. The two additional tracks are the Lalo Schifrin tune "Down Here On The Ground" and a Benson original titled "Shark Bite."
The players listed on the original album notes are: Benson, lead guitar, vocals; Phil Upchurch, rhythm guitar, bass on "Breezin'" and "Six To Four"; Ronnie Foster, electric piano, minimoog; Jorge Dalto, clavinet, acoustic piano, electric piano solo on "Affirmation"; Stanley Banks, bass; Harvey Mason, drums; and Ralph MacDonald, percussion.
Benson re-recorded the classic title track "Breezin'" for his most recent album, Absolute Benson. He told LAUNCH, "Well, there are a lot of elements that are the same. We have Tommy LiPuma as the producer and we had Al Schmitt as the engineer, who did Breezin' also. And, you know, it does have the same vibe, because right off the bat we've been getting nothing but rave reviews from everybody everywhere, and that has not happened since those early days."
Benson also noted that in his recording career, he has always been mindful of the needs of radio. "We can't ignore the airwaves," he says. "No, we think that it's very important that people who are involved in radio actually like the project, too. Otherwise it's too hard to get off the ground. There's nothing worse than having a great project that nobody ever heard about. "
-- Janine Coveney, Los Angeles
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