George Benson Inspiration Tour Sept. 5 at Big Dome

MANILA, Philippines - Music fans will be captivated by the smooth, light sound of an exhilarating array of jazz, swing, bop, R&B and pop tunes from one of the world’s greatest jazz guitarists and singers when George Benson performs at a big show on Sept. 5, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.

Benson will take the spotlight in the Big Dome opener of the two-night concert series titled George Benson Inspiration Tour! that will end with another show on Sept. 6 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

To be featured as special guest at the Smart Araneta Coliseum concert only is Grammy award-winning R&B and jazz singer Patti Austin.

The musical event, to be produced by Ovation Productions, is part of Benson’s ongoing world tour to promote his latest album, Inspiration: A Tribute To Nat King Cole, which was released last June 4.

A one-time child prodigy from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who began performing at the age of four, Benson first came to prominence in the ’60s,  playing soul jazz with the band of organist Jack McDuff and other groups.

Alternating between jazz, pop, R&B singing and scat singing in the course of his successful solo career in 1965 he recorded for Columbia Records two highly-regarded albums of soul-jazz and hard bop, and turned up on several records by other artists, notably Miles Davis’ Miles In The Sky (1968).

The albums he cut for various record labels during the next decade helped make Benson a guitar star in the jazz world but it was not until he began to emphasize vocals in his recordings that the mass market took serious notice of him.

A whole new audience began to discover him following the release of his 1976 debut album for Warner Bros. titled, Breezin’, which topped the Billboard 200 and became a Top 10 crossover hit with This Masquerade.

The album scored a triple Platinum and won the 1976 Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

A slew of hit albums in an R&B-flavored pop mode followed, culminating with his breakthrough Quincy Jones-produced album, Give Me The Night, which made it to the pop and R&B Top 10 with the lead single Give Me The Night.

Benson continued to be a live attraction in the ’80s and ’90s as he recorded a mix of standard and pop-flavored albums, such as Tenderly (1989),  Standing Together (1998), Absolute Benson (2000), All Blues (2001) and  Irreplaceable (2004).

Three songs from the 2006 album, Givin’ It Up, recorded with Al Jarreau, earned nominations for Grammy Awards in different categories.

In 2009, Benson released Songs And Stories under Concord Records, followed two years later by his primarily instrumental albums in 33 years titled Guitar Man.

Benson performed at the 49th edition of The Orchid Summer Festival in Macedonia on July 25, 2009 and at a tribute show to Nat King Cole, An Unforgettable Tribute To Nat King Cole, as part of the Istanbul International Festival in Turkey on July 27, 2009.

Throughout 2010, he toured extensively in North America, Europe and the Pacific, including an appearance at the Singapore Sun Festival.

He also performed at the Java Jazz Festival on March 4 to 6, 2011.

Among the accolades he has received were an award from the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master (2009), the United States’ highest honor in jazz; and  a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of his achievements in the field of music (2010).

He won a total of 10 Grammy Awards in various categories from 1977 to 2007 — from Best R&B Instrumental Performance to Best Pop Instrumental Performance to Record of the Year to Best Jazz Vocal Performance to Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Austin, who will open the Big Dome concert, will showcase her amazing gift for singing in virtually any musical genre with class and distinction through her gorgeous and powerful vocals that gave the world such hits as Do You Love Me?, Every Home Should Have One, Baby Come To Me and How Do You Keep The Music Playing?.

(George Benson Inspiration Tour is presented by Ovation Productions and brought to you by Air21, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV, Diva Universal, Jack City and RJ 100.3 FM. It is also supported by The Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin, BusinessWorld, 96.3 Easy Rock, Mellow 94.7, Monster Radio RX 93.1, Crossover 105.1 and Radio High 105 9. Ticket prices for the Smart Araneta Coliseum concert are P6,020, P4,695, P3,910, P2,855, P1,800 and P740. For details, visit www. ticketnet.com.ph. Ticket prices for the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino show are P4,500, P4,000, P3,000, P2,000 and P1,000. For details, call (032) 232-6888/0917-622-8705.)