George Benson (vocals);
The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, Conductor Randy Waldman; Wynton Marsalis and Till Bronner (trumpets);
Idina Menzel and Judith Hill (additional vocals)
(Review by Ann Alex)
I was fascinated to read
in the CD insert that Nat King Cole actually started out as a jazz pianist and
George Benson was originally a jazz guitarist (you probably all know this!). Benson was born in 1943, just as Cole was
starting to make it as a singer. The CD
is historically interesting for me as I remember, as a child, hearing Cole on
the radio and absorbing the songs without realising that I was doing so. I need hardly say that this is a very
worthwhile compilation, with fine big band playing, short solos from trumpet,
piano and, naturally, guitar. and very pleasing singing from Benson and the two
ladies who join him for duets on some tracks.
Benson manages to stamp his own identity on these immortal songs without
losing the spirit of the originals.
Blog readers will want
to know exactly what is on a CD such as this.
It begins charmingly with a snatch of a young George Benson, voice not
yet broken, singing a snatch of Mona Lisa,
which shows that this lad, as he was then, could sing expressively. The CD continues with Just One Of Those Things; Unforgettable; Walkin’ My Baby; When I Fall
In Love; Route 66; Nature Boy; Ballerina; Smile; Straighten Up And Fly Right;
Too Young; I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter; Mona Lisa
(grown up version)
I have a special
interest in song lyrics, and there was plenty to notice. Walkin’
My Baby evokes courtship as it was in the 1950s or so, when young people
lived with their parents before marriage; I’d never listened properly to the
words of Nature Boy before, it has an
almost mythical quality; and I hadn’t realised that Route 66 was such an old song, and very evocative of the USA. This latter track had an effective piano solo
and an appropriate walking bass, or should I say a travelling bass. And I wonder, was I imagining the band doing
twisty pirouette rhythms on Ballerina?
I think Nat King Cole
would have been well pleased with this tribute.
Release date is June 3
on Concord Records. George Benson is on
a world tour this year – see www.georgebenson.com/tourdates.
Ann
Alex
1 comment :
I've always just thought of him as a pretty fair jazz guitarist, but he's not a bad singer either is he?
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