George Benson - Shape of Things to Come (Reis) (Rstr) (Dig)
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CD Details
Artist: George BensonEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2007-09-18
Music Label: Verve
Product features:
- BENSON GEORGE VERVE ORIGINALS - GEORGE BENSON
- Footin' It
- Face It Boy, It's Over
- Shape Of Things To Come
- Chattanooga Choo Choo
- Don't Let Me Lose This Dream
- Shape Of Things That Are And Were
- Last Train To Clarksville
Music reviews of Shape of Things to Come (Reis) (Rstr) (Dig)
Music Review: Possibly the finest GB all-guitar album
Rating: 5 Stars
I love most all of the Benson CTI stuff, especially this, his first effort for them. It's got some of the sweetest (and fleetest) of all recorded GB licks, and I've heard almost all of his 753 releases (actually only about 150...what a slacker). If you want some truly crisp, non-wanky melodic jazz guitar playing, in fact some of the best this side of Wes, it's right here.
Montgomery's influence is all over this record, but always in a good way. He'd just died the year before this was waxed (1969), and A&M/CTI likely saw that George was his obvious successor, and thus signed him and set about showing off his chops. And that's Shapes' strength: it's all about the geetar. Producer/arranger Don Sebesky very wisely (in my book, though I know not everybody's) didn't have Benson sing here, unlike previous outings such as the excellent It's Uptown and Cookbook. They both have stunning gitbox moments, but also have some reeeeally cheesy GB vocals, so Vegas in fact that they're quite entertaining on that kitsch level.
George started out as a singer when he was 8 years old, and only got going on the guitar later on. As gorgeous as his voice can be (unlike many GB fans, I do enjoy the Breezin' era very much, but still like the '60s/early '70s Benson best), it took him a decade plus to decheese his vocal phrasing to the level of his sublime guitar playing. It's Sebesky's awareness of Benson's greatest strengths that makes Shapes work so well, and while it may sound like a true predecessor of smooth jazz at first listen (and it is), with time you begin to hear how incredibly musical, melodic, and indeed very groovy this Benson cat can be.
A good example is Face It, which another producer might have seen as an obvious vocal for George. Fortunately Sebesky knew better, and even though this is maybe the weakest track on the record, it's still full of beautiful Wes-style octave playing that never sounds like a copy or even a tribute: it sounds like George Benson, and anybody who's heard 567 Wes clones thumb-octave their way through a tune knows how rare that is.
This Dream is another example of Benson's melodicism, and another fine cut. Simple yet so musical, and check out some of those lines: lickety split yet with every note fully defined. George didn't hammer and pull his way through a fast run; he picked almost every note, and the music gains a lot from that.
One of my all-time favorite Benson moments is on This Dream: the strings come in after the pause at 2:53, then Benson joins in with a joyously bouncy octave run that somehow sums up for me what I love about the guitar and how GB plays it. It's just a three-second phrase, and really just a little resolution of the melodic tension set up by the strings, but it feels SO RIGHT, and so musically satisfying. It's not blazing runs and stunning technique that make me grin hardest about the guitar, it's how much music those six strings can produce, and with such magnificent tone when in the hands of a master. Benson's fat, round tone ringing out of a sweet old tube amp, made even sweeter by the octave overtones, just makes that little gem of a phrase sing out to me, and I can't count how many times I've replayed the lick over and over on both vinyl and cd, not just to learn it (not an easy one...try actually playing some GB lines before dismissing him as a lightweight, fellow pickers) but to soak in the music. We guitar players tend to often get lost in the technical possibilities of the instrument to the detriment of the music, but George Benson is a real poster boy, like Wes, of presenting the music and the melody above all. Maybe you need to have nearly all the chops in the world before you can let them slide away.
While some fans lament the oft-heavy string and brass arrangements on Shapes, I think they fit very nicely with Benson's schmaltzy side. And let's face it, he's got one, and a big one at that. But it's that tendency towards schmaltz that makes his funky side even more appealing by contrast, and sometimes the schmaltz works very nicely, especially when paired with some fine organ and conga work, as on the title track here (check out the guitar/organ interplay in the middle; Charlie Covington was a perfect foil and that's a great little rhythmic jam). I'll gladly take the brass/string sections here over the sax and other lead horns that GB was previously almost always paired with: it means most of the solos come from Benson and not other players, and that's what I want to hear: George Benson playing lead guitar. Not singing. Not comping (though he does that with great taste and touch, as on Footin' It). Just jamming. If it means more Benson solos, I'll take a thousand violas any day. (Bird With Strings comes to mind...)
Choo Choo is another cut where Benson's genius shines brightly. That sweet round tone, with the highs rolled off but still full of overtones and music, rings true on every note, not an easy task. Pair that with a splendid ear for melody that informs every phrase he plays, and you get a guitarist who can play a million notes (GB deserves more credit as a jazz shredder, the guy can really rip when he wants to; I saw him at the Playboy Jazz Fest at the Hollywood Bowl in 1989 and he blew everybody else off the stage, despite an amazing all-day lineup) yet still keep the melody first and foremost in your mind. Very few jazzers on any instrument can do that all the time.
Clarksville is a very playful take on what might seem like a strange choice, but it's a fine head and the arrangement here is tailor-made for George to play his butt off. Which he does, combining octaves and his gracefully swift lines with a funky feel that makes me smile every time.
And Footin' It is just a joy, a simple little pedal riff that's fleshed out into a bouncy, fun little jam that almost forces you to start making daiquiris and then go lay in the sun. Like the rest of Shapes, it's relaxed yet supple, and just brimming over with musicality.
George plays faster on earlier albums, and had a lot more success with later ones, but along with Bad Benson, It's Uptown, and a handful of other early GB gems, Shapes is the one that to my ears best defines what makes Benson one of the finest of all jazz guitar players, up there with Wes, Christian, Hall, Metheny and Pass: he's not playing the guitar, he's playing music, and very joyful music at that.
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Description of Shape of Things to Come (Reis) (Rstr) (Dig)
BENSON GEORGE VERVE ORIGINALS - GEORGE BENSONJazz CDs
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