Body Talk - George Benson

Aug

6

Body Talk - George Benson

≡ Category: 1970s, Highly Recommended, Jazz Funk, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

If all smooth jazz sounded this good, I wouldn’t have anything against it. George Benson’s Body Talk (issued on the CTI label) may not be very challenging, but it is the epitome of taste.

Pee Wee Ellis, most well known for helping James Brown invent modern funk in the late 60s, provides the immaculate arrangements. The large compliment of trombones in the horn section works particularly well in the context of the R&B jazz hybrid that Ellis is pushing.

The musicians are embarrassingly overqualified for this kind of thing. Here’s a partial sampling: Ron Carter on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, John Faddis on trombone, Frank Foster on tenor sax.

But none of it would work without guitarist extraordinaire George Benson. He was on fire during this period. His tone was like butter, his phrasing as gorgeous as it was intricate. His licks were so rhythmically precise that they made you want to dance just as much as the R&B charts backing him up.

While being musically valid, the music on Body is so romantic in spirit you can just picture a couple of glasses of brandy in front of a fireplace and a bearskin rug…in a Swiss chalet.

Body Talk won’t change the way you hear music, but for what it is, it approaches perfection.