George Benson - Shape Of Things To Come (1969) [Japan Press]

The guitar is still the vital element it has been in all forms of American music during the last century. This is especially true when it is being played by a man like George Benson, who brings with his outstanding individual talent a rich and varied background in several of the forms that are meshing in today’s scene.

Benson’s stepfather, a guitarist, taught him the ukulele and played Charlie Christian records for him when George was a boy. Despite this early introduction to jazz, Benson did not return to it until after he had played with his own rock & roll band as a teenager. It is instructive to note that one of the things that reinterested him in the music was a jazz performance by the primarily country and western guitarist, Hank Garland. Country music is not alien to Benson nor is, certainly, the brand of rocking blues he played with organist Jack McDuff from 1962 to 1965.

From July 1965, Benson has led his own group, establishing himself as an electrifying performer in a period of electrified instruments. This recording, his first performance for A&M, backs him with a large, diversified ensemble, presents him in a wide range of material, but allows his natural, soulful approach to rise to the top.

Benson’s playing has a tigerish quality—an attack with a bite ready to spring in all directions, but most often straight ahead. There is a tensile strength at all tempos wherein George becomes the musical counterpart of a wire sculptor. The shapes he fashions from his metal strings are virtually tactile as they swirl and float around the ear.

Now that Benson is on A&M, allied with producer Creed Taylor and arranger Don Sebesky, there will be the inevitable comparisons with the late Wes Montgomery. To be sure, George greatly admired Wes, but he is a man with his own identity. Taylor appreciates this and talks of Benson’s “southern sound—and facility with a single line.” Sebesky, as he has done so often, has tailored his arrangements to the style of the individual, complementing yet still implanting his personal intaglio.

Sebesky collaborated with Benson on the opening Footin’ It, a loping, country-feeling kind of blues with a pervasive beat, punching chords and a moaning wash of flutes at two strategic points. The steady pulse is supplied by organist Charles Covington’s feet and drummer Leo Morris.

A bright brass sound and organ carpet provide the underlying texture for Benson’s subtle, singing guitar on Face It Boy, It’s Over, a song associated with Nancy Wilson. George’s way with a melody is readily apparent. There are also fleeting appearances by some ethereal girls who remind us to “Face it.”

In Shape Of Things To Come, from “Wild In The Streets,” Benson is heard on alto guitar with Varitone attachment— a wild, doubled sound. This mover also gives Covington, a low-pressure organist, a chance to stretch. Sebesky fashions a wide open, high ceiling of sound that builds with fiutes and a string quartet.

Glenn Miller is revisited and brought up to date in Chattanooga Choo Choo. Morris sends that train right down the rails as Buddy Lucas’ harmonica serves as a most bluesy, melodious “whistle.” Benson, at the throttle, demonstrates that “straight ahead” quality. Dig his sly quote of Ray Bryant’s “Tonk.”

Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream has much brass power and Benson heating things up chordally before taking off with his mono-linear dexterity. As everywhere else in this album, the beat is there, solidly propelled by the time-right, feeling-good ministrations of Leo Morris.

Ron Carter’s bass and the conga of Johnny Pacheco set a groove for Benson’s Shape Of Things That Are And Were. Morris comes in for an easy cymbal ride and the brass punctuates George’s theme. Benson, long ago a convert to Charlie’s brand of Christianity, spins out long lines effortlessly in a mellow, blue solo flight. He finishes with a phrase from James Moody’s “Last Train From Overbrook.”

Coincidentally, this leads us into the closer, Last Train To Clarksville. Lucas’ harmonica is the lonesome whistle that activates the train. As Morris stokes his engine with a perpetual brush-fire, Benson spaces his phrases astutely for optimum swing and impact. After the brass ensemble shouts out its message, the theme returns, fading away down the track and off into the distance.

Shape Of Things To Come has a dramatic pace all its own. It is an album that builds from beginning to end. When it’s over you realize that you have heard a whole lot of guitar playing. Leonard Feather, in his “Encyclopedia Of Jazz In The Sixties,” (Horizon) wrote of George Benson: “...could well be one of the genuine new stars of the ’60’s.”

Benson has made Feather a prophet with honor. —Ira Gitler

- Источник оцифровки: автор новости (plastinka aka nickhome)
- Тип сохранности винила: NM-
- Проигрыватель: Victor QL-Y44F
- Картридж (звукосниматель): Audio-Technica AT440MLb
- Предварительный усилитель (фонокорректор): Musical Fidelity MX-ViNL
- АЦП: ESI Julia (ASIO 2.0)
- Обработка: удаление нескольких щелчков
- Формат записи (Bit/kHz): 32 float/192