George Benson: Still Breezin’ After All These Years
The late 1980s were hectic for George Benson—maybe even busier than the late 1970s, when he notched massive crossover hits like “Give Me the Night” and “Turn Your Love Around.” The singer-guitarist, already renowned for bouncing so breezily between pop, jazz, and R&B, released at least one album a year from 1985 through 1990. Each explored a different aspect of his sound and paired him with a new set of collaborators, such as Earl Klugh on 1987’s Collaboration and the Count Basie Orchestra on 1990’s Big Boss Band. Somehow he even found time to produce records for country-jazz pioneer Chet Atkins and Jay Leno Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks. Add in constant touring and something’s bound to get lost along the way.
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That’s exactly what happened with Dreams Do Come True, an ambitious orchestral pop record he made with famed arranger Robert Farnon in 1989. Farnon was at the time still one of the most celebrated arrangers in the world, a Canadian war hero who had scored film and TV projects before working closely with Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, and many others. He wrote nearly 20 arrangements for Benson, which they recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. Afterwards, Benson brought the tapes back to America, tried to interest his label in releasing them, and then…nothing. He kept moving from one project to the next until he realized that the tapes were lost.
They stayed lost for more than 30 years, but Benson has managed to complete the recordings and remaster them. More than a decade before every pop singer started doing an American Songbook album, Dreams Do Come True sets a high bar for standards, with a loose interpretation of what kind of song qualifies for that designation. He does a lovely version of the popular “Autumn Leaves,” his voice and guitar both dancing gracefully around the meter, but he also includes the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” both of which sit well in this orchestrated setting.
Despite hitting 80 last year, Benson remains as nimble-fingered on the frets as ever, and in January 2025 will even host Breezin’ With the Stars, a four-night festival of concerts and workshops, featuring Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Lukather, and Esperanza Spalding. Benson recently spoke to SPIN and explained how Dreams Do Come True finally came true, and he talked about some of his biggest hits and greatest feats of roller skating.
(Credit: Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
What motivated this project in the first place? Why did you want to record in this kind of orchestral setting?
Well, I’ve done so many incredible things that have come to me off the cuff. Somebody would mention an idea. “Hey, man, why don’t you try this?” Tommy LiPuma said, “Why don’t you try ‘Masquerade’ with a vocal?” Remember, I was at the top of the scale for jazz guitar at the time, so when he started talking about doing a vocal, he was one of the few people who trusted my vocals. The record companies did not. They wanted me to be a guitar player. Even my manager said, George, no, you are a guitar player. And “Masquerade” led me to a second career as a singer that’s been phenomenal. So I’m used to strange ideas. So one day I’m talking to the great Quincy Jones, and since he’s a magnificent arranger, I asked him the question, “Who’s the baddest cat in the world today?”
What did he say?
Well, there were many great arrangers, believe me, and a lot of them I had worked with before. Quincy mentioned two, and one of them he said, “George, for you the man’s name is Robert Farnon.” So I searched him out. Back in those days I was going back and forth to Europe, and when I was over there, I asked about him. I ran into one of his best friends, and he was quite a character. He was a typical Londoner, very British, and he had the whole English accent. A joy to be around. He introduced me to Robert, who was much more serious but a very pleasant guy to be around. It happened so fast. Next thing you know, I was in the studio with an 87-piece orchestra—the London Symphony Orchestra, one of the greatest in the world. He was conducting this music, and it was so mesmerizing.
Robert never got negative about anything, even though a lot of the things I picked were not up his alley. We were recording songs in a genre he was not known for. But he never complained. He jumped on it and came back with these arrangements that knocked you out. And he loved us. He treated us like royalty. He said he wished he caught me when I was a young fellow. But I had no abilities then. I was shouting out songs as a kid and working in crazy clubs and running here and running there. I was putting together the things that make me who I am today.
What happened to it? Why didn’t you release it?
I decided not to try to do everything in the studio at that time. I packed up everything and took it all to New York, and I started working on the vocals and the guitar. I ended up with this project in my hand, and I put it in a warehouse or left it in a studio. Years went by, and I heard that Robert Farnon had passed away. That’s criminal, because I wanted to put the project out. At that time the record company did not have confidence in that kind of project for me. We were making hit record after hit record after hit single, and they didn’t want to change anything.
How did you find it?
A guy called me up from a warehouse and said, “George, we got a lot of your stuff out here.” “Okay, what stuff are you talking about?” It was stuff from my house. I sold one of my houses, and they put everything from that house in this warehouse. So I said, “Read me some of the labels on it.” And he said Robert Farnon, London Symphony. “Send that stuff to me right away!” The guy put it on the tractor trailers and sent it to me all the way in Arizona. I was amazed.
What was the condition of the tapes?
Everything was pristine because the people involved were the best of the best. We had the best arranger with Robert Farnon, the best engineer with Al Schmitt, and one of the best studios in the world. It was all recorded digitally, so it was very well preserved. That was the beginning of an incredible project. It took me two years to finish it. I played it for the record company—the new members, the new faculty—and they fell in love with it like I did. They said, “Man, this is good stuff. We’ve got to put it out.” I said, “Well, it’s not finished.” And they said, “Finish it.” So I finished it. It was a very hard project, and I thought it would never happen.
What did you have to do to finish it?
Out of the 17 songs we did, there were 16 left. I used one of the songs many, many years ago on a project I did with the Count Basie Orchestra. So I had to find the other 16. I found 11 of them, but that’s enough to put out an album. I think there’s more stuff, but that’s for a later date.
What do you remember about choosing these particular songs? It’s interesting that there are standards on here, but also pop songs by Leon Russell and the Beatles.
I do love standards. There’s no doubt about that. They’ve proven themselves over the years. Everybody has recorded “Autumn Leaves,” and it never sounds bad. It’s such a great song, and Robert put a special touch on it. He really enhanced the song in a way that made me want to sing it. There’s something about the way everything just falls into place in his arrangements.
But I also love the Beatles. They hardly ever miss. I just love Paul McCartney’s voice. He had a great character to his voice. He’s one of my favorite singers because I believe every lyric. When he sings, I believe him. To me that’s what makes the story: it’s how convincing someone is telling the story. I always try to use that mentality when I record, and it has worked a lot for me.
You’ve always emphasized diversity and range. There’s some jazz, some pop, some funk, some R&B.
When I was a young man and went to New York, I had to play a little bit of this and a little bit of that, because that’s what was on the jukeboxes. And I was a jukebox man. I knew all of the hitmakers on the jukebox, and I emulated them. But that kind of range was not popular at the time. You were either this or that. You were a jazz player or a ballad singer or a rock player. Very few people were crossing over. You could get away with it if you were Ella Fitzgerald or Glen Campbell. They showed us how many people you can gather by just being yourself, letting the music come out of you, and putting your stamp on it. Eventually it started opening up, and that’s when my records came along. I was finally able to use all of that stuff I had gathered over the years. They were allowing me to use my total self, which was a great blessing.
Was there a song that felt like a turning point in that regard?
“Give Me the Night” was quite a different song than I was used to playing. It was actually a last-minute thing on the album Quincy Jones produced. On the last day, he stopped me from going home. He said, “George, you can’t go home today.” I said, “Man, I’m going home to see my children. I’ve been away for a month.” He said, “No, you can’t. We got one more song.” I said, “Okay, but that’s it. One more song and I’m out.” So we did “Give Me the Night,” which is still around today.
It’s a sophisticated song. What’s the writer’s name? Rod Temperton. That’s his name. He’s responsible for a lot of those smashes that Michael Jackson had. “Rock With You” and things like that. He put “Give Me the Night” together real fast, and I had some friends in the studio. Lee Ritenour was there, tuning my amp for me. I was not good at that. I just turned the amp on and turned the guitar on and started playing. That’s all I know and care about. Quincy wanted him to add something to my guitar playing, and he copied me on the repeating riff and played it at an octave lower or an octave above, I can’t remember now. He added so much character.
Who else was there with you?
I had Patti Austin there. She can do anything. It was a great recording date, but it was exhausting. Quincy made me change my voice from my normal voice to something that had a little more character to it. “Don’t try to be Frank Sinatra,” he told me. “Give the song what it deserves.” And the song did not deserve a Frank Sinatra voice. It deserved a street voice, something that everybody could understand in the world. Once we settled on that, the song took off.
I’m still amazed whenever I hear it. It sounds as fresh today as it did the first time I heard it. Oh, and the great story is when Quincy sent me a test pressing. I was living in Hawaii at the time, and I put the record on and played it. In the studio I had been disappointed that I hadn’t put a more serious voice on it, but when I heard the test pressing, I could understand what Quincy was talking about. After about three or four plays, my kid, who was about 10 years old at the time, came up to me and tugged on my clothes and said, “Dad? Dad?” I said, “Yeah, what is it?” He said, “Can you play that song that goes, ‘All right, tonight’?” That’s all he could remember, but I said to myself, “This song is going to be a smash.” Because my children never asked me ever about my music. They never mentioned it. But he mentioned that song, and “Give Me the Night” went to the moon when it came out.
And I have to ask about the video. You do so much roller skating in that clip, and I’ve always wondered if that’s something you knew how to do or if you had to learn?
I grew up on roller skates when I was a kid! Me and a friend used to go skating every other day, man. We’d be up there doing all kinds of tricks. We even roller skated on cobblestone streets. In fact, when I found out they had a rink with smooth floors… oh man, what a blessing that was! So when we did the video and they asked me to stand in front of some skaters who were holding boomboxes on their shoulders in front of a California sunset, I thought that was a good idea. And when I got there, “Give Me the Night” was being played like you wouldn’t believe. Everybody had a boombox and “Give Me the Night” kept coming on the radio.
I asked my manager, “Where are my skates?” And he said, “Oh, you don’t have to skate.” “But I want to skate!” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because nobody here can beat me skating, that’s why.” So he got me some skates, and then I asked him, “Alright, where’s my guitar?” He said, “George, you’re going to kill yourself!” He must have imagined me falling down with a guitar in my hand. I said, “Your problem is that you think about falling. When I skate, I’m just thinking about skating. That doesn’t mean I never fall. I just never think about it. I just skate.” So we did that little routine and it took off.
What was the reaction at the time?
Nobody believed it was me skating! They threatened to burn down the BBC because they thought they had faked me on some roller skates. How dare you do that to such a great artist and belittle him like that? They were threatening to burn down the BBC. We had to produce a video of me from the skates all the way up to my head so they would believe it was me skating. That’s what settled it.
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