National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and 10X Grammy-winning, legendary musician George Benson will release his new album on August 25th entitled Songs and Stories, his second for Concord Records / Monster Music. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century. Some were written specifically for this new recording, such as Bill Withers’ (who came out of retirement to write “A Telephone Call Away” for George), Rod Temperton’s “Family Reunion” and Lamont Dozier’s “Living in High Definition”; while others, including James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience.
Songs and Stories was produced by Concord’s Grammy winning, creative head John Burk and renowned bassist /composer / producer Marcus Miller. Benson, Miller, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, guitarist Jubu and drummer John Robinson make up the core unit for the project. They were joined by special guests: guitarists Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Wah Wah Watson and Norman Brown, vocalists Lalah Hathaway and Patti Austin, keyboardist David Paich, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright along with several others. “Brother, with that team, you can do just about anything,” said Benson. “We recorded in the studio for three days straight, and everything we touched had something on it that made us all glad we were there. It was just the right mix of people and material.”
And yet, for all of the high-caliber musicians on hand, the most important guests are the songwriters, says co-producer Miller. “Smokey Robinson doesn’t perform on this record, but he’s still a guest,” he says. “Lamont Dozier is a guest. Bill Withers, Rod Temperton and James Taylor are guests. If you take great songs from writers like these, and you put them in the hands of George Benson and a great band, you’d better just get out of the way and let things happen, because the result is going to be something great.”
Indeed, the record captures the somewhat underappreciated essential brilliance of his storied career; the ability to simply touch people through authentic lyrics and beautiful melody. On Songs and Stories, George Benson’s musical artistry has perhaps never been on sharper display.
To celebrate the release of Songs And Stories, fans can visit the official Benson website, georgebenson.com and receive a free mp3 download of “Living In High Definition”, the new song written by legendary composer Lamont Dozier. Additionally on the website, fans can view “The George Benson Sessions: The Making Of Songs And Stories”, a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new record. The series will be updated with a new video each week leading up to and through the August 25 release.
Concord Records is proud to once again partner with Monster Music® on presenting the newest George Benson album Songs and Stories on High Definition Surround™ Sound SuperDisc™. The Monster® version, also available August 25th, is a specially priced two-disc package that consists of Songs and Stories on compact disc mixed in traditional stereo and a bonus DVD, containing Monster’s High Definition Stereo and Surround mixes. In addition, the bonus DVD features behind-the-scenes video footage of the making of the record including an in-depth interview with George Benson. With its innovative High Definition Surround technology Monster Music is revolutionizing the listening experience. Mastered in the highest resolution possible, HDS SuperDiscs are specially engineered to capture the true harmonic depth and tonal richness of the music. THX certified HDS SuperDiscs deliver the music through a 5.1 speaker system just the way the artist heard it in the studio when it was recorded, the way they intended you to hear it.
First Single: “Living In High Definition”
Buy It HERE
Recorded at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, CA One Kind Favor is meant to sound like an album recorded in the 50s. To get this sound Burnett and King replicated the kind of blues band King had back in the day bringing in some of the greats – Dr. John on piano, Nathan East on stand up acoustic bass and Jim Keltner on drums, to name a few. Studio conditions of the time were reproduced. The result is a vintage sounding album filled with the songs that influenced King in his early days as an artist.
Watch what BB himself has to say.
The full track listing for One Kind Favor, along with the name of the artist who originally recorded the track, is:” See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” (Lemon Jefferson), “I Get So Weary” (T-Bone Walker), “Get These Blues Off Me” (Lee Vida Walker), “How Many More Years” (Chester Burnett), “Waiting For Your Call” (Oscar Lollie), “My Love Is Down” (Lonnie Johnson), “The World Is Gone Wrong” ( Walter Vinson, also known as Walter Jacobs, and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks), “Blues Before Sunrise” (John Lee Hooker), “Midnight Blues” (John Willie “Shifty” Henry), “Backwater Blues” (Big Bill Broonzy), “Sitting On Top Of The World” (Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon) and “Tomorrow Night” (Lonnie Johnson).
In other B.B. news, on September 13th King– one of the few musicians in the world to be so honored – will preside at the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola, MS. Also in September B.B. King will begin hosting his own weekly radio show on XM Radio on their newly relaunched blues channel “BB Kings Bluesville” (XM 74).
For more than 60 years, Riley B. King - better known as B.B. King - has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over 50 albums, many of them classics, won 14 Grammy® Awards, been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of the Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award and the NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) Chairman’s Award, among many other awards. In a special ceremony at the Library of Congress, Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington presented B.B. with a “Living Legend” medal in honor of his achievements as a musician and ambassador for the blues. After 10,000 concerts, B.B. King continues to bring his music to audiences around the globe spending the better part of each year on the road with his beloved guitar, “Lucille.”
B.B. King Official Site:
B.B. King Tour Dates
9/06/08 Harrah’s Laughlin Rio Vista Ampitheatre Laughlin, NV
9/07/08 Celebrity Theater Phoenix, AZ
9/18/08 CenturyTel Center Bossier City, LA
9/19/08 Beau Rivage Resort & Casino Biloxi, MS
9/20/08 Pearl River Resort Choctaw, MS,
9/21/08 Von Braun Center Huntsville, AL
9/25/08 The Klein Memorial Auditorium Bridgeport, CT
9/26/08 The Bushnell Ctr. for Perf. Arts Hartford, CT
9/27/08 Sovereign Center Reading, PA
9/28/08 Paramount Center For The Arts Peekskill, NY
9/30/08 MGM Grand Detroit Casino Detroit, MI
10/02/08 Stranahan Theater Toledo, OH
10/03/08 Rialto Square Theatre Joliet, IL
10/04/08 SIU Arena Carbondale, IL
10/05/08 Welk Resort Theatre Branson, MO
10/07/08 Century II Perf. Arts & Convention Ctr. Wichita, KS,
10/17/08 Route 66 Casino Albuquerque, NM
10/23/08 Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino Mescalero, NM
10/25/08 Boulder Theater Boulder, CO
10/29/08 Iowa State Center Ames, IA,
10/31/08 The Riverside Theatre Milwaukee, WI
11/14/08 Riverwind Casino Norman, OK
11/16/08 Meyerson Symphony Center Dallas, TX
11/18/08 American Bank Center Corpus Christi, TX
11/24/08 The Tabernacle Atlanta, GA
11/26/08 Birchmere Alexandria, VA
11/28/08 North Shore Music Theatre Beverly, MA,
11/29/08 House of Blues - Atlantic City Atlantic City, NJ
11/30/08 Durham Performing Arts Center Durham, NC
12/01/08 Maryland Theatre Hagerstown, MD
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