“Back from the World”--Celebrating the Genius of George Benson--A Playlist

“Back from the World”--Celebrating the Genius of George Benson--A PlaylistCurated by Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
George Benson is one of the most  influential jazz guitarists of the later half of the 20th Century--the progeny of the great Wes Montgomery.  While Benson’s legacy might have been stellar just on those grounds, he also possessed one of the finer Soul-Pop voices of that era.Benson translated both talents into a crossover career, that made him one of the most commercially viable R&B artists on the late 1970s and 1980s.  Here is a short playlist of tracks that capture the genius of George Benson.
Tell It Like it Is (1969)
“Tell It Like It is” was a hit in 1967 for Aaron Neville, who of course sang in that sweet warbly falsetto that has defined his sound.  Benson gave the track a bottom with his voice, and wrapped it with a rollicking rhythm section--with an exquisite cut-to-the-chase guitar solo--providing more of a NOLA bounce that the native Neville.
This Masquerade (1976)
When Benson dropped his Warner debut in 1976, produced by Tommy LiPuma, the purist hated it.  No doubt “Breezin’”,  which has as much to do with the emergence of Smooth Jazz than  anything that Kenny G tried to do, would give pause to many a fusion fan. Two generations later though, the Bobby Womack composition still holds up.  But the cornerstone of the album was the title track, written by everybody's favorite white composer of Black songs,  Leon Russell (just ask Donny Hathaway about “A Song for You”).  There is no explaining why this Grown-Ass ballad--the full 8-minute version is the kind of shit you listen to with some brown liqueur--become a pop hit, and eventually won the Record of the Year Grammy in 1977.
On Broadway (1978)
“On Broadway” was a 1960s classic brought to life by the one of later incarnations of The Drifters--the song itself written and composed by Lieber and Stoller, with Mann and Weil. Benson featured a version of “On Broadway”  on his 1978 live album,  Weekend in LA--which topped the pop charts--and the edited single, became the second of his top-ten pop hits.
Love Ballad (1979)
Benson is hedging his bets on the 1979 double album Livin’ Inside Your Love, between and betwixt his straight-ahead roots and his new crossover fame, covering pop-soul classics like Young & Holt’s “Soulful Strut,” Freddie Scott’s “Hey Girl” (which he kills), a syrupy version of “A Change is Gonna Come” and “Unchained Melody.”   Of all the covers on the album, it is Benson’s cover of Skip Scarborough’s “Love Ballad”--as in the dude who wrote EWF’s “Can’t Hide Love”, “Lovely Day” for Bill Withers, and Anita Baker’s “Giving You the Best That I Got”--that sticks. The original version of the song, was a crossover breakthrough for Jeffrey Osborne and LTD in 1976, where it was performed as a true ballad.  Benson again adds some bounce and turns it into a not-quite-disco classic.
Love X Love (1980)
If George Benson was looking for someone or something to finally bring together his dueling musical sensibilities, he certainly didn’t have to look far to find super producer Quincy Jones.  Benson’s Give Me the Night is the middle movement of Jones’ greatest production efforts bookended by Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (1979) and Jones’s own The Dude (1981)--arguably the three best Black albums (Diana Ross’s Chic produced Diana (1980), also considered) from that era.  The connective tissue between the three albums, besides Jones, was songwriter Rod Temperton. The title track is a beast of a song--shit still pops more than 35-years later--but it’s the opener, “Love X Love” that best captures R&B’s  aspirational spirit from that period.
New Day (1985)
Benson was navigating shifting R&B tastes--the move towards electronic instrumentation would not suit his style--when he linked with Cecil and Linda Womack on the sublime “New Day.” The song fashions a bit of Afrofuturism for a generation perhaps losing their hold on the value of that Soul harmony tradition that Womack, Womack and Benson so brilliantly represent on this track.
You Can Do It (Baby) (1996)
George Benson may have become an afterthought for those who found the Mark Whitfields and Russell Malones of the world more relevant, but he was not so for the them Masters at Work boys Little Louie Vega and Kenny Dope, who featured Benson on their now classic Nuyorican Soul. Benson’s contribution on “You Can Do It (Baby)”--starting with the Benson only minute-and-a-half introduction--puts a punctuation on a career and legacy that remains remarkable, not only in its longevity, but also in the ability of Benson to always bring his music--”don’t call it Jazz, it’s Social Music”--to the people, as he sings towards the end “you know I’m back from the world.”