I was just listening to Beyond The Blue Horizon (George's great 1971 album on CTI records), and it saddens me..how Benson's last 20 + years have gone down. How can the apparent heir to Wes Montgomery go down the road he has gone? George is one of the most brillant guitarists living with amazing improvisational chops and a distinctive tone, yet he continues to want to be a crooner. I know there are some here who love his 70's Warner Bros work and I love alot of those recording too, but this man has got to get back to his jazz roots. His album last year called Irreplaceable was a hideous mess. I listened to some samples of it at a listening booth at Tower Records and it almost bought tears to my eyes. He sounded bored and uninspired at best. The songs had no feeling to them whatsoever. The performances on the CD just went no where. George can and should do better that this. I would love to see him do a jazz trio recording

Sometimes I think the worst thing that could have happened to him was the success of Breezin back in 1976. The last really great record he has done was Give Me The Night back in 1980 produced by Q. He has done a couple of worth while albums like Tenderly in the 90's. And I don't really consider his mostly instrumental Absolute Benson in 2000 a true jazz record as it was too smooth for my tastes.

I know he can still play because his live performances and his side musican work on other projects attest to this, but as far as his OWN albums are concerned..straight garbage.


Brother 9/15
[Edited 2/15/05 5:55am]

BRO915,where the hell have you been????

Hey Davideye...I've been around.....as stated in Dancelot's STEVIE WONDER thread, the last year for me has been a year of spiritual transformation. Also been busy with a lot of other things....
[Edited 2/15/05 14:05pm]