Back in April 2023 while writing about Kwame Brathwaite [1]https://www.ctproduced.com/kwame-brathwaite/, I discussed the George Benson album and the Carnegie Hall concert “In Concert – Carnegie Hall” with guest Hubert Laws. That concert was on January 11th, 1975 and the album from it was later overdubbed to replace parts of the […]
Kwame Brathwaite
I’m late in marking his passing but I’d bet most people reading this don’t know of Kwame Brathwaite’s work. You should. He didn’t do much work for Creed Taylor, but two of his liner pictures, coincidentally from albums with Hubert Laws, had a big impact on me. Brathwaite album cover […]
Happy Birthday George Benson!
March 22nd, 2023 marks George Benson’s 80th birthday. I celebrated his born day back in 2022 with a mixlcloud mix that is repeated below. I acquired a collection of George Benson CD’s from a collector, and my collection of Benson’s music from 81 shown on the mix image, to some […]
Farewell Ronnie Cuber
I was sad to learn from Marc Myers Jazzwax on the passing of Ronnie Cuber, especially in the circumstances [1]Ronnie Cuber (1941-2022) – JazzWax. Ronnie died on October 7th following complications from a surgery he never had that was delayed during COVID. Ronnie Cuber played with George Benson early in […]
On This Day: George Benson and The Rats
I’ve been exchanging emails with UK DJ, Edit supremo, and music historian, Greg Wilson[1]https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/writing-interviews-features/ about George Benson’s much overlooked, and somewhat complicated track “Supership“. More on that another day. In my filing/indexing folders I noticed that today, September 27th, in 1994, the “Kermit Unpigged” album was released. George Benson worked […]
Happy Born Day: George Benson
March 22nd it’s Happy Birthday for George Benson, born in 1943. This post is about two interesting items that feature George Benson’s back catalogue from the early 1970’s. Spotify playlists are included, even if you don’t have access to Spotify, there is some interesting side information. Writing about George Benson […]
Dr Smith Has Left The House
Success takes the right people, with the right skills, at the right time and the right place. You can’t copy or replicate success. And so it was that in 1965, having left Jack McDuff’s Quartet, George Benson set out on his own. Benson hired Buffalo NY native, Lonnie Smith to […]
We Knew What We Had – The Hill District
WE KNEW WHAT WE HAD: THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD This was too interesting not to pass along. I originally received a link from Marc Myers, @jazzwax , in his daily newsletter. I’d read about George Benson’s youth and development around the clubs in Pittsburgh from his autobiography, “Benson”. It’s […]
Stonebone – Finally!
If you don’t have a copy, press play and read on, it’s a 1:52 sampler of the album tracks I’m delighted to have an exclusive long form review from CTI and Jazz Historian Doug Payne. I’m lucky to have been able to rip a copy of this album from a […]
CTI Artists on TV
Enjoy two great live performances from artists from CTI. Both comes from VHS tapes I managed to buy from ebay. I was hoping to avoid getting into converting VHS tapes, as they are often more trouble than they are worth. On the full length video of the 1976 awards, George […]