![\"George](\"http:\/\/www.dromosfestival.it\/dromos2010\/images\/georgebenson.jpg\" "\\"George")
<\/p>\nGEORGE BENSON<\/p>\n
concerto<\/p>\n
\u00bb Oristano, Piazza Cattedrale\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a027 luglio, ore 22.00<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
George Benson<\/strong>: Guitar, Vocals Musicista statunitense, ha cominciato la propria carriera all’et\u00e0 di 21 anni come chitarrista jazz. Benson, tuttavia, \u00e8 noto presso il grande pubblico soprattutto come cantante di musica pop e R&B grazie a dei grandi successi tra cui Give Me The Night, Lady Love Me (One More Time), Turn Your Love Around, In Your Eyes, Love X Love, Being With You e This Masquerade. George Benson \u00e8 ricordato dai jazzofili anche come abile utilizzatore dello “scat”, una tecnica che permette di creare vocalizzi che imitano gli assoli jazz suonati con la chitarra.<\/p>\n George Benson \u00e8 nato e cresciuto nel Hill District di Pittsburgh, (Pennsylvania). Inspirandosi ai due leggendari chitarristi Wes Montgomery e Charlie Christian, cominci\u00f2 la propria carriera musicale suonando come chitarrista nella formazione jazz dell’organista Jack McDuff con il quale collabor\u00f2 per svariati anni. Grazie ad un accordo con l\u2019impresario talent scout John Hammond, all’et\u00e0 di 21 anni, Benson incise il suo primo album, The New Boss Guitar, ancora una volta con Jack McDuff all’organo, per la casa discografica Columbia Records (1966-1967). Il lavoro successivo fu It’s Uptown with the George Benson Quartet con Lonnie Smith all’organo e Ronnie Cuber al sassofono baritono. Questo album mette in luce il talento di Benson nella costruzione di linee melodiche ricche di swing e bebop. Benson prosegu\u00ec con The George Benson Cookbook, sempre assieme a Lonnie Smith e Ronnie Cuber. Negli anni successivi, Benson collabor\u00f2 con vari artisti come Miles Davis (nell\u2019album Miles in the Sky, nel quale George accompagna con la chitarra elettrica il brano Paraphernalia), Herbie Hancock e Jimmy Smith. La pubblicazione dell\u2019album Giblet Gravy coincise con il passaggio alla casa discografica Verve Records (1968-1969). Negli anni successivi cambi\u00f2 ancora, prima alla A&M (1969-1970) e poi alla CTI di Creed Taylor (1970-1975).<\/p>\n Grazie ad un nuovo contratto con la Warner Bros e la produzione di Tommy LiPuma, arriv\u00f2 la svolta, con l\u2019album Breezin\u2019, nel 1976. Breezin\u2019 ed il suo singolo This Masquerade ebbero tale successo da far guadagnare il Grammy Award a George Benson, che con questo album riusc\u00ec ad immergere l’ascoltatore in sonorit\u00e0 estremamente sofisticate, venendo alla luce anche quale cantante di grande valore. E sono questi gli anni in cui il nostro, a seguito delle innovazioni intervenute nel campo dell’amplificazione, mise a punto le caratteristiche che secondo lui una chitarra da jazz avrebbe dovuto avere: sulla scorta di altri blasonati modelli di semiacustiche americane prese cos\u00ec forma la Ibanez GB 10, che, rispondendo a specifiche modifiche di Benson e grazie alla qualit\u00e0 finale, \u00e8 diventata un classico, ancora in produzione dopo oltre 30 anni, seppur affiancata da numerose sorelle. Nel 1979 usc\u00ec l\u2019album doppio Livin\u2019 Inside Your Love che lo consacr\u00f2 al successo definitivo. In questo periodo registr\u00f2 anche la canzone The Greatest Love of All, per il film The Greatest con Muhammad Ali, che non fu subito apprezzata, ma successivamente cantata da Whitney Houston arriv\u00f2 in vetta alle classifiche. Sempre nel 1979 per il film All That Jazz di Bob Fosse, vincitore di 4 premi oscar e Palma d\u2019oro al Festival di Cannes, Benson compose la famosa canzone On Broadway, che venne inserita nella colonna sonora del suddetto film. Pur rimanendo nella stessa casa discografica, per l\u2019uscita del nuovo album Give Me the Night, nel 1980, la produzione cambi\u00f2 e venne affidata a Quincy Jones. Questo disco, nonostante una vena pi\u00f9 pop e delle sfumature quasi disco della title-track, grazie anche alla collaborazione di altri noti artisti jazz, nonch\u00e9 del “songwriter” Rod Temperton (in seguito dietro a successi quali Thriller di M. Jackson), gli accredit\u00f2 altri Grammy Awards, rendendolo ancora pi\u00f9 popolare. In questi anni Benson si ritrov\u00f2 a duettare con famose star quali Aretha Franklin e Chaka Khan, sotto la produzione di Arif Mardin, e partecip\u00f2 ai pi\u00f9 importanti Jazz Festival mondiali. Fino alla met\u00e0 degli anni ’80, la sua carriera prosegu\u00ec con un successo dietro l\u2019altro pubblicando album quali In Your Eyes e 20\/20; 3 brani di questo periodo restarono nelle prime posizioni in molte hit parade internazionali e successivamente i lavori discografici di Benson ricalcarono le sonorit\u00e0 della musica di grande diffusione radiofonica del momento.<\/p>\n Nel 1987, sempre con la produzione di Tommy LiPuma, venne pubblicato l\u2019album Collaboration nel quale Benson alla chitarra elettrica e Earl Klugh a quella classica suonarono in una fusione sonora. Insieme alla Count Basie Orchestra, sulla base della promessa fatta al suo fondatore di rendere giustizia alla sua musica, nel 1990 esce un album che ne ricalca lo stile ed in cui Benson mette il suo sigillo componendo in dedica la traccia Basie’s Bag. Con la nomina di Tommy LiPuma alla presidenza della Verve Records, nella met\u00e0 degli anni novanta, George Benson dopo anni trascorsi alla Warner Bros. cambia etichetta passando alla casa discografica GRP\/Verve, con la quale vengono pubblicati album del calibro di Absolute Benson, in cui \u00e8 evidente l’intenzione di recuperare lo stile dei suoi vecchi tempi. Nel 2004 esce l\u2019album Irreplaceable dove cerca di farsi apprezzare anche dal pubblico giovanile (un brano si intitola Cell Phone), pur rimanendo nei confini del suo stile chitarristico e compositivo. L’ultima produzione discografica esce nell’ottobre del 2006, si intitola Givin\u2019 It Up ed \u00e8 condivisa con il cantante Al Jarreau: \u00e8 un album ancora una volta registrato con l’apporto di musicisti ed ospiti importanti, in cui i due duettano magistralmente scambiandosi continui omaggi e consacrandosi grandi mostri sacri della scena musicale mondiale.<\/p>\n Testo tratto da Wikipedia (http:\/\/it.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/George_Benson<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n Biography<\/strong> Few might have predicted that striking level of stardom some forty years ago, when Benson was a fledgling guitarist working the corner pubs of his native Pittsburgh. That\u2019s where his yen to please a crowd was born. \u201cI was an entertainer first,\u201d he says proudly \u201cAs a kid I sang, danced, and played the ukulele in a nightclub. As my career has progressed, I\u2019ve had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet. But that doesn\u2019t change my desire to entertain folks. That\u2019s really who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Wes Montgomery, one of jazz\u2019s most creative players, who came across Benson early on; the vet complimented the young guitarist, urging him to continue his already impressive work. In the early 1960s, Benson apprenticed with organist Brother Jack McDuff; he found the organist\u2019s gritty swing a fertile ground for the sly, confident, and adventurous guitar lines, which earned him an early rep as a master.<\/p>\n \u201cJack turned me on to a lot of stuff,\u201d muses Benson. \u201cA lot of the jazz tunes we played together were danceable, and that furthered my understanding of what people wanted. When jazz was danceable, it was king. The intellectual stuff that came later on\u2014Charlie Parker and all that\u2014turned toward a brainier sound. That was good, and I dug it. But I really like when people kick up their heels and go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Montgomery had called one of his best records Boss Guitar. Benson had both the conviction and chops to nip at his hero\u2019s heels; his 1964 debut was released as The New Boss Guitar. It lived up to its title. Benson\u2019s tone was juicy, and his blues solos sparkled with a carefully honed logic. A jaunty funk and swing aesthetic prevailed.<\/p>\n By the time legendary talent scout John Hammond signed Benson to Columbia, the guitarist\u2019s name was bubbling throughout the industry. His work for the label proved Hammond\u2019s hunch to be on-target: brains and flash were in perfect synch.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d sat down with a great blind pianist from San Francisco name Freddy Gambrel,\u201d recalls Benson. \u201cHe turned me on to some wonderful ways to get in and out of chord changes and weld harmonies together. Of course I still wanted to be like Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and Hank Garland\u2014my heroes. I\u2019ve always liked the hot guitar guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Playing the combination won Benson access to all sorts of arenas. His work was boundless: in the late \u201960s he sat in on heady Miles Davis sessions, and also put a personal spin on the tunes from the Beatles\u2019 Abbey Road.<\/p>\n Hooking up with the CTI label in 1970, he was united with many of jazz\u2019s finest instrumentalists, including Stanley Turrentine, Ron Carter, and Freddie Hubbard. His visibility and prestige grew even further. Classic albums, such as Beyond the Blue Horizon, abounded. But after a while different ideas began to flow from Benson\u2019s muse. And the environment didn\u2019t seem right for growth.<\/p>\n \u201cI’d been screaming about my guitar sound for years, and they didn\u2019t want to hear about it. I wanted to use my band in the studio, just get comfortable and test out some stuff. But it was like pulling teeth. The first time I tried to sing along with my guitar, everybody in the studio booed. They all said that it wouldn\u2019t work. When I got with Tommy LiPuma all that changed. He said \u2018Sure, let\u2019s go with some vocals, see where we get.\u2019 And you know what happened after that.\u201d<\/p>\n What happened was Breezin\u2019, the first jazz record to attain platinum sales. The 1976 blockbuster, his first in a long association with Warner Bros. Records, brought the instrumental title track to jazz radio. And Benson\u2019s soulful update of Leon Russell\u2019s \u201cThis Masquerade,\u201d which featured the guitarist scatting along with his solo break, was a pop smash. He followed up with many pop hits, including a sultry version of \u201cOn Broadway\u201d and the irresistible \u201cGive Me The Night,\u201d which thrilled many a dancer. Benson was a superstar.<\/p>\n Some old fans were miffed about this new pop success. \u201cI guess that\u2019s the biggest crime I\u2019ve made as far as jazz lovers go,\u201d offers Benson. \u201cThey don\u2019t always like to see you play for the general public. They want to be catered to. But I\u2019ve tried that approach and it doesn\u2019t work for me. Nobody can stay one way for 30 years. I\u2019ve always tried to let my experience show itself. You learn, you change. The door opened and I walked through it.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the 1980s, Warner Bros. and LiPuma followed their smash success with several terrific Benson records. Individually, they blended grooves and guitar work, proving that R&B was a natural part of Benson\u2019s profile. Collectively, they cemented his global renown. The guitarist has won ten GRAMMY\u00aes, played around the world, and thrilled many crowds with his playing.<\/p>\n In the mid-\u201990s Benson followed LiPuma to the GRP label. Their association had proven artistically and commercially fertile; both wanted to sustain it. Together they cut the 1996 gem That\u2019s Right. It offered a modern version of contemporary jazz that reminded its listeners Benson was one of the genre\u2019s forefathers.<\/p>\n These days Benson\u2019s interests are many. He\u2019s often spotted out at Manhattan jazz clubs, checking the action of fledgling guitarists. The most impressive of the lot are sometimes invited back to Benson HQ for jam sessions and stylistic powwows. The guitarist is resolute about keeping the sparkle in his playing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe younger cats awaken something in me from the early days,\u201d says Benson, \u201cI love listening and playing with guys like Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, and Christian McBride. When they tell me I\u2019ve still got the chops, I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n Benson followed That\u2019s Right with Standing Together, also on GRP. The album assured that his chops were sharper than ever, as he used elements of hip-hop and Caribbean rhythms to keep his personalized R&B on the edgy side.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not against ear candy,\u201d he chuckles, \u201cbut I like mine to be significant, not just noises in the record. Some of those backing tracks we used are cool. They gave me little tidbits of sound to bounce my guitar lines off of.\u201d<\/p>\n On Absolute Benson, he surprises us once again by emphasizing instrumental music. Only three of the album\u2019s tunes feature any vocals, so his distinctive guitar playing takes center stage. Blending jazz with R&B and blues, Absolute Benson aims for accessibility and recalls Benson\u2019s albums of the early-to-mid 1970s. Absolute Benson illustrates Benson\u2019s virtuosity without sacrificing his commitment to the groove, the beat, and the melody.<\/p>\n Unfazed by the constrictions of predictability, he\u2019s built a career on sniffing out what people enjoy hearing, and what he enjoys playing.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to break a couple rules along the way,\u201d he reflects. \u201cThere was an unwritten law: be cool, don\u2019t get too raunchy. But jazz was once hanging-out music. And the easiest way to involve people is by getting \u2018em tapping their feet. When they\u2019re tapping a bit, they\u2019ll go your way. That\u2019s when I can float any kind of jazz line into the music. Once the audience knows I respect them, they let me be whatever I want to be. I hope..no, I firmly believe, that will always be the case.<\/p>\n On the album Irreplaceable he marks a directional shift back to silky sexy soul music\u2026with a decidedly contemporary urban edge. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to wake some people up,\u201d Benson says with the confident patois of a Pittsburgh hipster, \u201cgive them something that they wouldn\u2019t expect. Just like in `76 when I recorded Breezin\u2019 and everybody expected instrumentals at 8,000 notes per second like I\u2019d done in the past. I dropped a vocal, \u2018This Masquerade,\u2019 on `em instead! So, we\u2019re coming in strong from the left this time. When the DJ says, \u2018That was George Benson,\u2019 folks will be like, `What?\u2019 They\u2019re not gonna believe it\u2026and that\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n Per informazioni:<\/strong>
\nDavid Garfield MD<\/strong>: Piano, Keyboards
\nMichael O\u2019Neill<\/strong>: Guitar, Vocals
\nTeddy Campbell<\/strong>: Drums
\nStanley Banks<\/strong>: Bass
\nThom Hall<\/strong>: Keyboards
\nIngresso 28 \u20ac (compresi d.p.)<\/em> – info e biglietti<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAppreciated as both a musician and performer by millions, George Benson has always had the dual role of expert improviser and vibrant entertainer. He has consistently placed his keenly discerning art in the service of a rousing good time. Rounding out his singular approach with sly, seductive rhythm and blues, he\u2019s earned himself an impeccable reputation as one of music\u2019s most enterprising and engaging stars.<\/p>\n\n
\nDROMOS
\nvia Sebastiano Mele 5\/b
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\nwww.applausi.com<\/a>
\nwww.dromosfestival.it<\/a> – dromos@dromosfestival.it<\/a><\/p>\n