George Benson and Childhoods

This was my jam at age 4, and still is to this day!

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the music of Jazz Guitarist George Benson.  Albums like Breezin and Give Me The Night were my jams at a young age (in Preschool, I wrote a Valentines Day Card for George Benson, but that's a whole other story).   My dad was definitely an influence musically on me, as I would pull out all of his Benson records, and listen to them continuously, as well as Quincy Jones.  Benson was my favorite--I absolutely adored him.  I also listened to a lot of Classical  music, like Ravel's Bolero, Beethoven,  Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff, so I basically listened to a lot of music that most four year old's wouldn't listen to voluntarily.  You could say I caught the music bug at a young age, which brings me to my 1 1/2 year old son Miles.  Miles is already beginning to catch the music bug.  As a daily occurrence (sometimes a few times a day), he runs over the record player and grabs at it while looking at me, wanting me to put on a record.  I oblige, and while holding him, I play him a series of soul 45's.  I gently rock him, and he lays his head on my shoulder, watching the records spin.  I definitely notice that he enjoys anything Motown.  He gets pretty fired up when I put on the Four Tops, Jackson 5, or Stevie Wonder, and he also seems to dig Bill Withers and Sly Stone.  Miles is definitely loved, and it's great to see him have so many people in his life who love him and are always there for him--his immediate family (my wife and I, and his older brother), his grandparents (from both sides) and his tias (my wife's sisters) as well.  It makes me realize how lucky we are as a family, and regardless of what Miles is interested in growing up, whether he becomes a music junkie or he develops many other interests, it's great that he has the support that I had as a child.  I haven't played him George Benson yet, ironically enough, so that will be next on our playlist.  On that note, here's a little Benson from his best-selling 1976 release Breezin' (title track "Breezin"), as well as a few clips off of his early solo albums from the late 60's that I dig as well. 

Here's a clip off of his 1966 release, The George Benson Cookbook.  Track is called "Slow Scene". 

 "JH Bossa Nova" is taken off of Benson's mid-60's release It's Uptown.