George Benson Gets Highest Jazz Honor
June 11, 2008 – Congrats to George Benson for the honor of Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). It’s considered to be the highest Jazz honor on the planet. The 10 time Grammy winner was named as “A distinguished artist whose excellence, impact, and significant contributions have helped to keep the important tradition of Jazz alive.”
Aguilera Defends her right to Party
Christina AguileraJune 11, 2008 – Are mothers not allowed to have fun? That’s the way Christina Aguilera feels these days. The singer says she feels like she’s in jail. More.
George Benson Gets Highest Jazz Honor
June 11, 2008 – Congrats to George Benson for the honor of Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). It’s considered to be the highest Jazz honor on the planet. More. 		 
   

 
 

The NEA said that Benson, “Created the innovative practice of playing a florid guitar melody accompanied by an identical, scatted vocal line.”
Benson was the very first artist to be given the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards in 2004. The lifetime Achievement portion of the awards is now officially named after Benson as “The George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Other NEA Jazz Masters this year are Lee Konitz, Toots Thielemans, Jimmy Cobb, Snooky Young and Rudy Van Gelder. The group will each get 25K grant money. The ceremony is on October 17 at Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York. – by Kari Graham

 
Chieli Minucci is Just Showing Off!
June 11, 2008 – I have problems brushing my teeth and standing up at the same time but some guys like to cure cancer with five minutes spare time. More.
Smooth Jazz Returns to Denver
June 11, 2008 – Sometimes, what goes down must come up. Denver is welcoming a new Smooth Jazz station to the airwaves. Read the whole story - click here.		  
  
   


Al Jarreau and George Benson are Givin' it Up
September 26, 2007 - Givin it Up unites these two masters of jazz for the first time, featuring guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Jill Scott, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, and Chris Botti. Read More
More on George Benson/Verve Split
August 22, 2005 - George Benson's parting with Verve may be related to creative differences over his last outing "Irreplaceable". Originally scheduled for 2003, the albums release was pushed back repeatedly while Benson and the label battled over its musical direction.
Janet Jackson in Love with Barry Manilow
June 11, 2008 – Janet Jackson has a confession to make – she’s in love with Barry Manilow. Uh, Janet? Maybe you haven’t heard, but there is a certain something about Mr. Manilow. More.
George Michael Secrets on Film
George MichaelJune 8, 2008 – Wham’s former manager, Simon Napier-Bell, wants you to see what really happened behind closed doors of the bands heyday. He plans on making a tell-all movie on the band. More

 
  

Benson wanted it to be a vocal album that would make his music more appealing to younger fans, while Verve urged him to include the instrumentals that would please his audience of smooth jazz listeners. At Verves urging, George did tweak the set to include the instrumentals which helped the outing to achieve success on both fronts. The vocal tunes "Cell Phone" and "Irreplaceable" logged airtime on R&B adult radio, and the instrumental "Softly as the Morning Sunrise" hit the top of the national smooth jazz airplay charts. It appears however, that both Benson and the label came out of the experience a little worse for the wear, and this lead to the parting of their ways. George is currently on tour in Europe. - by Cheryl Philips
New GRP Releases - George Benson Hits - Live
August 5, 2005 - Record label GRP will release an album of George Benson hits called "The Best of George Benson Live", as the title suggests the albums offerings were all recorded live in concert. Also of note from GRP is a compilation album which will hit the stores on August 9th. The collection of smooth jazz interpretations of rap, hip hop, and R&B classics called "Def Jazz", will be performed by smooth jazz stars Gerald Albright, Rick Braun, Jeff Lorber, Roy Hargrove, and Joey DeFrancesco. - by Cheryl Philips

Smooth Jazz News
July 29, 2005 - George Benson, who signed with GRP/Verve music group in 1996, has left the label with whom he released 4 albums. GRP/Verve called the parting a "mutual agreement". - by Cheryl Philips

Smooth Jazz Music News
July 5, 2005 - Dionne Warwick is currently recording an album of duets which will feature guests Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, George Benson, and Patti LaBelle. The album should be in stores later this year and will be called "My Friends and Me". - by Cheryl Philips
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George Benson To Appear on "Soulful" Compilation
June 8, 2005 - George Benson, Peabo Bryson, and Glenn Jones will be three of the artists slated to appear on a compilation outing due July 26th, 2005. The album, produced by YOU Entertainment, is the brainchild of YOU Entertainment CEO Clarence Smith, who is also the co-founder of Essence Magazine. Smith wants to produce an album that harkens us back to an earlier time when music was pure and soulful. Vocalists will be backed by a collective of musicians dubbed the Café Soul All-Stars. - by Cheryl Philips
George Benson Tips his Hat to Tommy Lipuma
May 2, 2005 - George Benson says it takes more than one great mind to create a classic album. The legendary guitarist told Smooth Jazz Now that his 1976 masterpiece 'Breezin' was created with the guiding hand of producer Tommy Lipuma. "First he found the songs that he felt that I could really put over, says Benson, "He was the one who suggested that I do 'On Broadway' and 'This Masquerade' but I didn't feel good about either one of them." It's hard to imagine 'Breezin' without those two classic tracks but Benson adds that he especially was leery about redoing 'On Broadway,' "It was because it was such a big classic and remember I'm a singer and I have great respect for other singers so I didn't want to step on anybody's toes that already had made the world happy with that song." Benson did however reinvent the tune via a refreshed rhythm concept that has now become its signature. He was recently presented with a Lifetime Achievement Honour from the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. Read our second interview with George Benson. - by John Beaudin
The George Benson Interview - Part One
March 23, 2005 - If Louis Armstrong was "The father of Jazz" as Ken Burns proclaimed in his 2000 documentary "Jazz - The Story of American Music" then George Benson has to be its favourite son. If there was a Beatles in this genre it would have to be George Benson - he is our poster boy. More
Canada Pays Tribute to George Benson
March 8, 2005 - Peter White says, "George Benson is one of the great musicians of our time." John Scofield adds, "George Benson is a guitar phenomenon equaled only by Django Reinhart and Wes Montgomery." The first Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards will honour Benson with a Lifetime Achievement Award on April 10th at the Oakville Centre of Performing Arts. It wasn't exactly hard for the awards co-founder and Smooth Jazz Now President John Beaudin to get a plethora of great quotes about one of his guitar hero's. "I've never seen an outpouring of love for anybody in Smooth Jazz" says Beaudin. "Benson is simply the Beatles of Smooth Jazz and honouring him this way has been a highlight of my career in Smooth Jazz." Benson is set to attend the ceremony and will be given his award from Linda Nash who worked with the guitarist as a record rep for both Creed Taylor's CTI records and Warner Brothers. Beaudin's exclusive interview with George Benson will be featured on both Smooth Jazz Now and the Awards site on April 1. Check out all the quotes on the 50 page tribute to Benson. - by Kari Graham
Nominations for the 1st Annual Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards
January 3, 2005 - Canadian Smooth Jazz musicians finally have an awards body to recognize their work - The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. The event was created by Doug and Mary Kirk, owners of The Wave in Hamilton and Smooth Jazz Now creator John Beaudin. The awards will be voted on by the fans via www.canadiansmoothjazzawards.com . Voting will begin shortly. Top nominees for the inaugural ceremony include Diana Krall, Eddie Bullen, Brian Hughes, Marc Jordan, Clayton / Scott Group and Alexander Zonjic all with three. Read more.
George Benson Nomination
- George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award
Smooth Jazz Nominees at the Grammys
December 8, 2004 - Looks like the sun won't set any time soon on Norah Jones. The singer was nominated for five Grammys yesterday including nods for Pop Vocal Album and Female Pop Vocal for her second CD "Feels Like Home." The late Ray Charles was another multiple nominee with seven (his album had 10 nominations) and the biggest artist heard on Smooth Jazz radio was Alicia Keys with eight nominations. Read more.

George Benson 1 Nomination
- Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals - "Take You Out" from "Irreplaceable"
George Benson Reworking New Album
 March 16, 2004 - The latest George Benson album "Irreplaceable" has had a lot of false
starts and stops. The album originally set for October, 2003 release was pushed to February, 2004 and now the long overdue album will be in stores May 25th. What's going on? It turns out Benson has had a change of heart concerning the album's new R&B direction. Here's what his label GRP said in February. "After a lot of soul-searching, George Benson came to the conclusion that he wanted to re-work his album and add more of the instrumental jazz that has been the hallmark of his career for so many years. While Benson embraces the new direction in which his music has been taking him, he decided that he wanted to create a record that would appeal to ALL of his fans: traditional jazz, contemporary jazz and R&B." The album was originally a smorgasbord of Joshua P. Thompson songs. He's the chap that wrote hits for Alicia Keys, Joe, Babyface and Luther Vandross. So the end result has the album sounding more Contemporary Jazz. It may just be worth the wait!
George Benson More Hip On "Irreplaceable"
November 20, 2003 - Expect a more commercial and hip George Benson on his next album "Irreplaceable." The legendary guitarist/vocalist wrote and produced most of the tunes with Joshua P. Thompson who has worked with Joe, Babyface, Luther Vandross, and Alicia Keyes. Though Benson is known as one of the top Jazz guitarist of the last thirty years the new album will concentrate mostly on his singing. "Irreplaceable," Benson's first studio album since 2000's "Absolute Benson" will be released on February 10th.
Review - George Benson - The Greatest Hits of All
November 7, 2003 - George Benson's "Greatest Hits of All," Sounds redundant, huh? Has this multiple Grammy winner done anything that hasn't been a hit? Since the release of "Breezin" in 1976, the incredibly versatile talents of George Benson have been as reliable as an atomic clock! Guitar player and vocalist, this musician has a gift that has stood, and will continue to stand the test of time. Musicians come and go, but Benson continues to be a player in the AC, pop, R & B Jazz, world. His liner notes read like a Billboard talent pool. Lee Ritenour, Earl Klugh, Quincy Jones, Jeff Porcaro, Jay Graydon, Patti Austin, Aretha Franklin (to name but a few) does it get any better than this? Read more.
George Benson to Return in October
 May 14, 2003 - Guitar legend George Benson should be back on the charts by this fall. GRP records will release his yet untitled album on October 7th. Benson is working in the studio with writer-producer Joshua Thompson (Joe, Alicia Keyes, O Town, Aretha Franklin) and will be on the road sporadically until at least late November. Benson's Breezin' album remains one of the biggest selling Jazz albums of all time. Update- The new release date for "Irreplaceable" is February 10, 2004.