George Benson and Al Jarreau, two of the greatest names in world jazz, are heading east for an Asia tour including two gigs in China, which promise to be a memorable experience.
With 18 Grammy Awards and more than eight decades of performance between them, the two men will play in Beijing and Shanghai to promote their highly-acclaimed album Givin' It Up.
Friends and label-mates for more than three decades, this release marks the first time that the two Gold and Platinum-selling artists, have recorded together as equal partners. Topping the Contemporary Jazz Charts, as well as netting two Grammeys in 2007, Givin' It Up is a testament to these legends at their best.
With millions of fans worldwide, singer/guitarist/songwriter Benson, once described as the man who "sings through his strings", is a true entertainer in every sense of the word.
"I've had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet", he says, "but that doesn't change my desire to entertain folks. That's really who I am."
His expert improvisation skills, and blended grooves of soulful and seductive rhythm and blues have earned him the impeccable reputation as one of music's most enterprising and engaging stars.
An extraordinary vocalist, singer/songwriter Jarreau has been wowing audiences for half a century. His unique and innovative musical expressions have made him one of the most exciting and critically acclaimed performers of our time with seven Grammy Awards, scores of international awards and accolades worldwide.
On his vocal style Jarreau says: "People have always thought of me as a jazz singer but the real truth is that all my records are R&B/pop with undertones and overtones of jazz."
Benson and Jarreau first met in the mid-1970s at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Benson recalls: "Al sang lyrics to Take Five, which I'd never heard before. I'd recorded an instrumental version of the track on my album Bad Benson, so I was really checking this cat out. His style of improvising was quite interesting."
He's a prolific cat. I've always loved Al but I have a different respect for him now."
Of Benson, Jarreau says: "George and I share something of the same age, but George can describe things he was doing as a professional at the age of 8!
"He was an idol within the jazz community, one that I aspired to, but I didn't arrive on the scene with my first record until seventeen years later in 1975. George was a hero to me."
To give audiences a taste of the magic these two giants will conjure up live, the 13-track album Givin' It Up, recorded between April and June 2006, features each of the stars on a new arrangement of one of the other's biggest hits - Jarreau adding lyrics to and singing Benson's signature instrumental smash Breezin', while the legendary jazz guitarist delivers a lovely instrumental version of the singer's eternally charming hit Mornin'.
Expect this and exquisite renditions of Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze and Hall & Oates' (and Paul Young smash) Every Time You Go Away along with an instrumental take on John Legend's GRAMMY award-winning soul smash, Ordinary People, stunning new jazz vocal versions of the Miles Davis classics Four and'Long Come Tutu and some delectable new compositions. Such a broad spectrum of musical influences is sure to attract a crowd of all ages.
The Beijing concert is at the the Beizhan Theater next Thursday.
(China Daily August 29, 2008)
