Breezin' (45rpm)(Acoustic Sounds 40 Series)

クロスオーバー・スーパースターへと押し上げた名作の一枚。

マシュー・ラッサンズがThe Mastering Labで45回転でマスタリングし、Quality Record Pressingsによるフラットで超静かなアナログ盤にプレスされたこのエディションは、ベンソンの絹のような音色と、リズム&ベースギタリストのフィル・アップチャーチの特徴的なグルーヴに新たな温かみ、深み、存在感のあるアルバムに仕上がってます。
『Breezin'』は単なるスムースジャズの礎であるだけでなく、その時代で最も完璧に作り込まれ、影響力のあるアルバムの一つです。コレクターやオーディオファイル、そして音楽を愛する人にとって、この決定版45回転リイシューは必聴の作品です!!

All of a sudden, George Benson became a pop superstar with this album, thanks to its least representative track. Most of Breezin' is a softer-focused variation of Benson's R&B/jazz-flavored CTI work, his guitar as assured and fluid as ever with Claus Ogerman providing the suave orchestral backdrops and his crack then-working band (including Ronnie Foster on keyboards and sparkplug Phil Upchurch on rhythm guitar) pumping up the funk element. Yet it is the sole vocal track (his first in many years), Leon Russell's "This Masquerade" -- where George unveiled his new trademark, scatting along with a single-string guitar solo -- that reached number ten on the pop singles chart and drove the album all the way to number one on the pop (!) LP chart. The attractive title track also became a minor hit single, although Gabor Szabo's 1971 recording with composer Bobby Womack is even more fetching. In the greater scheme of Benson's career, Breezin' is really not so much a breakthrough as it is a transition album; the guitar is still the core of his identity. ~ Richard S. Ginell