JSngry

Steve Allen, eh? O....kay. You realize that what you're saying is that, in this specific case, African-American aspirations & towards a middle-class lifestyle (& all that play into that) fuel whatever would-be totalitarian forces exist in the American dynamic. That if/when America completely falls into the hands of the New Nazis, it will be in part because of the desire for upward mobility by African-Americans & their pied-piper George Benson. If that's not what you're saying, then exactly what are you saying? Why else buy into the otherwise borderline-lunatic comparison between George Benson & Leni Riefenstahl? This is just nuts. Really.

Once it's up in there, yeah, definitely.

I rest my case.

Seems like a perfectly logical connection to me, this whole "sticking a finger in" thing does. The classics never go out of style!

"I'll Remember April" iirc.

Hey, I in no way "love" it, I just "like" it in the way that I like any Top 40 pop music from that time - as sonic wallpaper that does what it came to do. What I don't get is the blatant, quasi-violent hostility towards that type music (I gotta think there's some "issues" involved in that somehow...), and the totally irrational denial of the real skills needed to make it. It might in fact be the musical equivalent of factory work, but dammit, that don't mean that there's no difference between good and bad factory work. As far as the "class" thing. I've been reminded on more than one occasion (both verbally and circumstantially, and hard for me to say which one was the sharer slap in the face...) that it's really easy to sneer at "middle-class aspirations" when you're doing so from the vantage point of already being there, just as it is really easy to romanticize "the hood" when that's the place you live 24-7. Which is not to say that both the sneering and the romanticizing are nott without some grounding in truth, just that it's only one side of the story, and that that side is not the side for which the target market for Benson's pop hits and related materials would have too much empathy.

Well yeah, I mean, really...

Yes, but:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Balloon-Apple

If simply pointing out that there is a quantum leap in the technical skills (recording and playing) needed to make a record like "Turn Your Love Around" & any 50s R&B record amounts to a "defense" of it, then this discussion is being held on a planet which I am not from. Although, to posit the "artistry" or lack thereof of something like "Turn Your Love Around" is so far besides the point of its intent as make me think that perhaps it is not I who am not from this planet... Look, even the greatest "artist" takes pride in their craft. And Benson, although not a "great artist" is a superb craftsman. And there is absolutely nothing shoddy about any aspect of his hits, except for the material. And since I am most assuredly not among the target audience for this work, my judgment on that is most assuredly "on the outside looking in". The intent of those records is not too complicated to figure out - to provide a high quality (i.e. - well-played and produced) product of upbeat musical ambiance to people (most of whom are most assuredly not middle-aged white guys with acceptance issues) who are looking for same. Simple as that. Now, it is not "easy" to do that, but it is also so not relevant to whether or not there is "great art" involved. There's not. Of course there's not. But - it's only crap if that's not what you're looking for. If you're of a certain "demographic", the notion of a man who carries himself with dignity and style who can also play the shit out of a guitar and sing pretty damn well too, hey, that notion/combination of style and competency (to put it mildly), just might seem attractive, as might the reality that it's not some garage band playing on this record. . The fact that the aforementioned middle-aged white guys with acceptance issues find it "crap" or a sellout are not particularly relevant, and in fact only add one more layer to the bullshit that you gotta put up with from their "type" every day already. If you're even hearing all that noise, which in all likelihood, you're not. Dude - you just compared a fucking George Benson pop record, a piece of product that aimed at and succeeded in nothing more than simply selling itself to people who found it a pleasant ditty, to Triumph Of The Will. Please - get a grip on reality. Seriously.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W2VDfZB4YlU And dig how the trumpets kinda codify it @ 00:51

So Tommy was pissed at Jimmy's solo on "So Rare"? Why, because it was Bostic-ish? WTF?

Outsstanding clip, Joe. Back in the 70s, there were club bands all over the place here playing (& trying to play) this type stuff. It was all good musicians (& people trying to be good musicians), palying for people who were out for a good time that didn't involve "cheapness" (& this may or may not be the place to wonder why so many white people don't get that "slick" means different things in different places & times because it's all about the what's and why's of slick meaning slick, compared to what, what are the alternatives in any given place at any given time? We kinda tend to like our Negroes to confirm to our behavioral criteria, don't we now....). It was a good time, full of good people. Not necessarily a "complicated" scene, but none the less gratifying, just to be around the warmth of humans engaged in life in a happy-enough kind of way. It also occurs to me that among the infinite number of "two kinds of people" that there are in "this world" that there's people who are intrinsically at peace within themselves & those who aren't. It also occurs to me that those who aren't seem to enjoy looking at those who are and declaring that there must be something wrong with anybody who is at peace with themselves enough to simply entertain people by presenting themselves with warmth, dignity, & a package that provides ambiance for those looking for same in their own lives. I've had a good life. I've had great opportunities to explore (both within & without) * I've been blessed to have learned a lot in the process. It humbles me how infinitely complex the "human condition" is, how lives come and go and sometimes the simplest things can knock you for a loop & sometimes how attempting to explain the deepest complexities tends to ultimately end up being able to be effortlessly encapsulated in a simple gesture by somebody else, how you can knock yourself out "thinking" & somebody else can just DO IT, not just in music, but in all of life., just strike upon a fundamental truth of...life that all the "attacks" in the world by all the "thinkers" cannot obliterate. So it's in that spirit that I say this - if I ever reach the stage where I'm pissing people off because I project too much warmth & dignity, I think I'll consider it a live well-lived. Which is not to say that "thinking" is fruitless or ill-advised. Obviously that's not the case. But thinking in the service of self-justification & thinking in the service of self-definition/creation are two very, very different things springing from two fundamentally different places as far as self-acceptance goes. And ultimately, if we're not at peace with ourselves, if we can't accept ourself, how the hell, no - why the hell should anybody else accept us?

Besides, what's all this "calculated" bullshit anyways. Damn near all music is "calculated" in some way or another. It doesn't just happen all by itself. And I'll say it one more time - if it were really all that easy to make a successful (I'll even say good, because with the exception of "Give Me the Night", I've enjoyed Benson's hits as long as I didn't have to hear them 15-20 times a day, and since I've not listened to the radio like that since about 197-whatever, that has not been an issue) pop/dance/whatever record, then everybody would have done it by now, and everybody haven't. Face it -some people just relate better to "the masses" than others. No reason to envy them, but no reason to denigrate it either. It's just the way shit happens, always has been. Sure sometimes/often it's manufactured, but some folks really do just...get along well with almost everybody without even trying. No sense getting all spazzed out about it. Be who you are, let them be who they are, and enjoy what you got while you still got it, because the time will come when you don't.

You left out "a very real & immediate threat to civilized people across the world".

4

An oh, BTW - "real" jazz, although not entirely dead yet, soon will be. It was of a time, place, and people that have evolved and/or died off due to natural societal evolution. So that smokin' 25 year old bebop altoist you hear in Finland or someplace is going to "role playing" at least as much as Benson playing "On Broadway" Probably even more so.

There's really no comparison to 50s R&B work & the jazz-pop/pop-jazz that Benson & others started making in the 70s. The 50s stuff was (mostly) limited in musical & lyrical language. Now, with those limitations often came great power, but musically, strictly speaking, if you were a "learned" musician (or an aspiring one), the idiom would only accommodate you up to a relatively likited point. Not so the later stuff. The level of musical sophistication there is quantum levels higher, able to accommodate darn near any harmonic, melodic, or rhythmic vocabulary. Of course, some temperament of same is going to occur, but a Benson album like Breezin' is to "The Hucklebuck" like a Waldorf salad is to the back room of a grocery store. Of course, when you get into more "pure" pop, that flexibility goes away, but for some people, players and listeners alike, that's just not too much of a problem, since things are what they are, and the only cause for alarm is if you expect them not to be. And really, whose fault would that be? Even at that, though, something like "Turn Your Love Around" as a record, not a song or a performance, but a record, has infinitely more "sophistication" to it that any R&B record of the 50s in terms of musical production values and such. Doesn't make it any better music, far from it, but it's not something that you could get a singer and a band in a small studio & knock out in a hour either. There's some highly specific & developed skills involved in all corners. So no need to "hide" unless you're intrinsically ashamed of making a good pop/dance record, in which case, you probably shouldn't be doing it, at least not under your own name...

Seems to me that Benson can pretty much play what he feels like whenever he feels like it, play it well, enjoy it, & not lose any sleep over any of it. Seems to me that that's a damn fine musician & a confident, secure man. Not sure I see any real "problem" there.

Call them. They got real people on the phones.

Yeah, stop whining.

Ok, those quartet pieces are from Sound Pieces, which was half quartet, half big band, all excellent.

My opinions, fwiw - Sound Pieces - Excellent Musical Tribute to JFK: The Kennedy Dream - If it had been put out in 1961 & called The Eisenhauer Drewam, I doubt it would have caused a stir. Good enough, but... Three Dimensions (half all-new material???) - Don't know this one, Was it a 70s 2-fer? More Blues & the Abstract Truth - Excellent Oliver Nelson Plays Michelle - Haven't heard it, not sure if I ever want to. Happenings - Haven't heard it, not sure if I ever want to. Live from Los Angeles - Mileages vary widely on this one, but I dig it a lot. Nothing but a live big band club date with lots of open space for blowing, everybody came to play too. Works for me. Soulful Brass - Haven't heard it, not sure if I ever want to.