Breezin'

Breezin' Artist: George Benson
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Format: Enhanced
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 075992733427
EAN: 0075992733427
ASIN: B000002KHU


Release Date: 1990-10-25

Related Categories:

General General
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
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Contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B
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General General
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Smooth Jazz Smooth Jazz
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music

Listmania:

  1. My next road trip to Vermont
  2. Smooth and Trippy
  3. Cool Jazzy trippy music
  4. cool jazz and triphop jazz
  5. some of my favorite things
  6. Nice Jazzish Music
  7. My Favorite SMOOTH JAZZ Albums
  8. Best Albums Of All Time (No Skips!!!)
  9. Guitar Masters Vol. 1
  10. Best JAzz Recordings

Tracks:

  1. Breezin'
  2. This Masquerade
  3. Six To Four
  4. Affirmation
  5. So This Is Love
  6. Lady

Similar Items:

  1. Weekend in L.A.
  2. In Flight
  3. Give Me the Night
  4. Winelight
  5. Livin' Inside Your Love

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Vintage Benson is Benson at his best, arguably.......2007-02-10

This is still one of my favourite George Benson CDs. He won a 'Record of the Year' Grammy in 1976 for "This Masquerade" and rightly so. It's a fantastic vocal performance and the only vocal performance on this record.

He also won a 'Best Pop Instrumental Performance' Grammy that same year for "Breezin'" and this was the song I remember being all over the radio back then. But the guitar work on that particular song is nothing compared to what he throws down on the excellent (and proper jazz) songs, "Affirmation" and "So This Is Love?"

But those two are just my favourites. All six tunes are great and this is another of those CDs I put on repeat anytime I play it. One listen is very rarely ever enough. Great production by the celebrated Tommy LiPuma with the orchestra arranged and conducted by the equally legendary Claus Ogerman. It rarely gets any better.

If war or flooding (or something equally disastrous) was on its way and I had the opportunity to take 100 CDs from my collection before I fled, this would definitely be one of them.

4 out of 5 stars ENJOYABLE SMOOTH JAZZ WITH THAT FUNKY FLAVOR.......2007-01-30

when i heard this album, i was expecting a mellow but funky ride. instead, i got confusion. then i listened to it again, and i got even more confused. i think that is how i listen to this album best..........confused. nevertheless, it is still a pretty nice outing by george benson. this what i call "headphone album". for me, this sounds better with headphones on.

5 out of 5 stars Breezin' Is Pleezin'.......2006-08-11

I have been listening to Breezin' since it was first released on vinyl. There is no higher smooth jazz experience available at any price. Mr. Benson is on the smooth jazz pedistal of my musical life.

5 out of 5 stars Vacation-in-a-disc.......2006-04-05

This is the ultimate CD for relaxed, easy listening wherever you are whether surfing the web, doing chores or driving. Every track is pure gold but "BREEZIN'", "DOWN HERE ON THE GROUND" and "THIS MASQUERADE" showcase Benson's guitar magic to perfection. It's an instant Caribbean-vacation-in-a-disc, something you can listen to over and over again and never tire of its crisply-recorded perfection. Once you start playing it you'll never want to leave the beach and go home.

4 out of 5 stars The Birth of Smooth Jazz Started Here..........2006-02-20

...and hasn't stopped since. There may have been other artists who broke ground first, but none of them kick-started the genre like "Breezin'" did. This landmark album not only gave birth to a new form of jazz, it made jazz a commodity. Much to the chagrin of purists. But whether they like it or not, it's here and it started here.

You can love George for his smooth, sometimes BB-King-style phrasing or you can hate him for taking the art out of jazz. But either way you cannot argue his command of the solo. No one understands the power of the solo better and it shows on this album and in all of his recordings. Quite simply put, he's my generation's version of Wes Montgomery (at least in my opinion).

Besides "This Masquerade" and the title track, "Lady" is an all-around well-crafted jazz song with pop stylings. He works well with the string orchestra--as he does in the other compositions on this album--and he never strays beyond what is needed.

But George's ride doesn't stop with this album...his next one "In Flight" continues the rise of smooth jazz (or the fall of jazz as art, some might say). And then of course "Weekend in LA" knocked the walls of jazz commercialism down to the ground.

Call it what you want, but this is nothing short of a breakthrough, pioneering effort by one of the best guitarists of the last half of the 20th century.

Music CD:

  1. Embraceable You ~ Beegie Adair
  2. The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow ~ Tal Farlow
  3. EnRoute ~ John Scofield
  4. Secret Story ~ Pat Metheny
  5. Take Ten ~ Paul Desmond
  6. Friday Afternoon in the Universe ~ Medeski Martin & Wood
  7. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band: The Complete Set ~ King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
  8. For You ~ Kirk Whalum
  9. Adventures in Black Sunshine ~ Incognito
  10. Written in the Stars ~ Bill Charlap Trio

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Crisis Helpline ~ Beauty Shop

The 3 Ages of Magick ~ Oliver Wakeman & Steve Howe

Freedom Rock ~ Stars as Eyes

Burning ~ Shooting Star

100% Live ~ Quireboys

1969-1970 ~ Infinity

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