Benny Goodman v George Benson

[chris]

I recently learned of the 1975 PBS tribute concert for John Hammond (some of you were there, I gather) and, after watching a YouTube clip of Goodman and Benson, saw a comment that Benny asked George to play a couple of gigs with him, which he did, but when asked to be a permanent band member,  Benson refused and Goodman threatened him in “You’ll never work in this town again” style.

Curious if there’s truth to this and where it might have been written about?

Also, was this concert released anywhere? I can only find a few clips and references to it existing in some library archives.

[Dan Gould]

Breezin' was released in 1976.

Can we conclude that it was BG's threat that made Benson turn to the pop side?

[Ken Dryden]

Benson appears on several tracks on a Columbia LP that was a part of a special series of unissued recordings.

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

Benson appears on several tracks on a Columbia LP that was a part of a special series of unissued recordings.

It's skipable, imo, although it's admirable that Goodman continued playing as long as he did as well was he did. 

[sgcim]

I heard an interesting story about Benson that confirmed something I read in DB a long time ago.

This guy was studying with Attila Zoller at the time that Wes died. and Creed Taylor was looking for a new 'cash cow' to carry on the great Pop Sellout that Creed initiated with Wes. Attila was pretty hot at that time, getting a lot of airplay, so Creed approached him and asked him if he wanted to take Wes' place, and play some mellow pop tunes' melodies in octaves. Attila was disgusted at the crassness of the offer, and the notion that Wes could be replaced by a guy simply playing Pop music in octaves, and he turned Creed down.

Creed went to every prominent jazz guitar player in NY, and gave them the same 'Faustian' offer. Every single one of them was repulsed by the idea, and turned him down.

He was about to give up the idea, until he found the only guitarist who was overjoyed at the offer: George Benson!

Benson took singing lessons with Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, and the rest is history.

[JSngry]

When did Atilla Zoller get a lot of airplay? What record was that?

And the thing about the singing lessons, that sounds sketchy to say the least. He could already sing just fine! 

[Dan Gould]

50 minutes ago, JSngry said:

 

And the thing about the singing lessons, that sounds sketchy to say the least. He could already sing just fine! 

I was going to say "Lucky Old Sun" opened my eyes to pre-fame singing - I heard it on a comp years ago.

[JSngry]

The guy was gifted and ambitious. 

[Ken Dryden]

Years ago I remember running into a Warner Bros. label rep at a jazz conference and asked why they didn't do a retake or edit on one recent George Benson album, where he started singing when he wasn't supposed to, stopped and they released it like that. I got a dumb answer, "We liked the overall feeling of the take."

 

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

It's skipable, imo, although it's admirable that Goodman continued playing as long as he did as well was he did. 

I knew it was this LP but I was away from my computer and Discogs searches are troublesome on my phone.

[JSngry]

I got that from my phone!

I mean, I had to call collect, but oh well. Life is not free