I was a black man, so they put it in the r&b /soul section. It was not used in the industry."īut, says Benson, "I had the advantage of not having a category. I figured I was gonna make a little money," Benson says matter-of-factly.īreezin' has to date sold about 10 million copies, the biggest-selling jazz album ever and the first to go platinum, not to mention a "crossover" hit at a time when, Benson says, "there was no word for it. "We recorded Breezin' in late '75, released it March of '76. We did a couple of tours of Japan, and you wouldn't believe the response."īut the label ran into deep financial difficulties, so Benson moved over to Warner Bros., hooking up with producer Tommy LiPuma to do a new album, which would include a Leon Russell song called This Masquerade. "We used to go out on the road as 'CTI package,'" Benson says. The label mates often toured together as well, at different times with fellow CTI artists Billy Cobham, Johnny "Hammond" Smith and Grover Washington Jr. The 1974 Turrentine album Sugar, the title track now regarded by local jazz musicians as the unofficial "Pittsburgh National Anthem," featured Hubbard and Benson prominently.
Benson says, "We were very good friends, and they said, 'We ought to make a record together.'" So they did. Right before he died, Wes went to Herb Alpert and told him that I was the 'next big thing.' So Herb went to Taylor and asked, 'Do you know about this George Benson guy?' Taylor said, 'Yeah.'"įor Benson, recording for CTI made for some rewarding professional and personal relationships. "Taylor, then with A&M, produced all of Wes' 'pop' records Windy. The early '70s saw Benson signed to Creed Taylor International Records, cutting several sides with some of the then-up-and-coming names in contemporary jazz, such as flutist Hubert Laws, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and bassist Ron Carter, as well as the already-established tenor saxophonist and fellow Pittsburgher Stanley Turrentine, who died recently.
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