Mark Stryker Posted October 2, 2014 Report Posted October 2, 2014 (edited) Benson's recently published autobiography is really entertaining -- great stories, self-aware (if not always 100% candid on personal matters) and worth your time. http://www.amazon.com/Benson-The-Autobiography-George/dp/0306822296 Edited October 2, 2014 by Mark Stryker Quote
mr jazz Posted October 2, 2014 Report Posted October 2, 2014 Benson's recently published autobiography is really entertaining -- great stories, self-aware (if not always 100% candid on personal matters) and worth your time. http://www.amazon.com/Benson-The-Autobiography-George/dp/0306822296 Ok not great. Too sanitized for my taste and few truly callous comments. Quote
Guy Berger Posted October 2, 2014 Report Posted October 2, 2014 (edited) Even Pat Martino was quoted by someone when asked what he thought of GB, as saying, "I think he's a pretty good R&B player." A student of Pat Martino asked PM what he thought of Benson.Martino said Benson was a pretty good R&B player... You should definitely make this exact same anti-GB snark once per thread-page or every 20 months, whichever comes sooner. Edited October 2, 2014 by Guy Quote
JSngry Posted October 3, 2014 Report Posted October 3, 2014 this is the Detroit tenor player we're talking about, correct? Glad to see him finally getting some props! Quote
sgcim Posted November 17, 2014 Report Posted November 17, 2014 Benson's recently published autobiography is really entertaining -- great stories, self-aware (if not always 100% candid on personal matters) and worth your time. http://www.amazon.com/Benson-The-Autobiography-George/dp/0306822296 Ok not great. Too sanitized for my taste and few truly callous comments. I just finished Benson's autobiography, and found it an interesting and strange read. He seems to want to defend himself on two issues that must bother him a great deal. The first was his concert tour of Apartheid South Africa. The fact that he opened the book with the story of the tour, must mean that there was controversy at the time about it, though he doesn't give the year that it took place. Since he mentions that Warner Bros. was his record company at the time, I'm assuming it must have been sometime around 1976 to 1980, He admits when he signed the contract to play in Capetown, he didn't know that South Africa was a separate country from Africa (he thought it was just the southern part of Africa) and had never heard the word apartheid before. He said that the reason he did the tour was that they "made him an offer that he couldn't refuse". The second issue he deals with almost constantly in the book is the commercial viability of jazz. Repeatedly, he emphasizes that his main concern is pleasing the audience, and if that takes jazz, R&B, rock, blues, latin, fusion, pop, then that's what he'll play and sing. His concern with Bird's music undergoes a metamorphosis throughout the entire book, and the book ends with this exchange betwixt himself and a fan: "After telling me how much he enjoyed the show, he told me, 'Mr. Benson, there was one guy back in the day. He almost destroyed jazz. He had a name that sounded like an animal'. I said, 'You mean Bird?' He said, 'That's it!' 'Charlie Yardbird Parker.' Yeah, that's the name. Yardbird. They said he was going to destroy jazz.' On the way back to the hotel, I thought about what the man said, what the man believed, and you know what? He was right. Charlie Parker improvised in a manner that wasn't appreciated by every jazz ear at the time. He broke the mold. But he broke it in a way that enabled those who study his work to put together in a new, beautiful manner, with a whole new identity that brought us to where we are at now. And I think we're in a pretty good place." Quote
MomsMobley Posted July 13, 2015 Report Posted July 13, 2015 whoa....i had not seen that either!and starting with Red-- tho' not ending there-- "we" are supposed to be "impressed" with ofays who show up for gigs in sweatpants, scraggly ass stubble & wrinkled shirts? hell, Red's collar even looks a little tight here bit if it works...more music here in eight minutes most "free" or neo "trad" can manage in an entire show-- or an entire career, lack of discipline one side, lack of gumption the other.i'd hope even those who don't recognize or remember oh wait, Joe Dukes, would think damn, this kid's got sumpin'... Quote
mjzee Posted June 28, 2018 Report Posted June 28, 2018 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5896579/Angry-George-Benson-fans-BOO-legendary-star-loses-voice-Royal-Albert-Hall-concert.html Quote
kh1958 Posted June 28, 2018 Report Posted June 28, 2018 Those pop star George Benson fans are a cruel lot. Of course, if I knew in advance he would not be able to sing at a concert and would only play instrumentals, I would be there in a heartbeat. Quote
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