275 Hello George Benson* - Supership

* ( as  George  "Bad" Benson )

Chart  entered : 25  October  1975

Chart  peak : 30

Number  of  hits :  22

Well  this  one  completely  passed  me  by  at  the  time  and  I  believe  it's  now  difficult  to  find  in  any  format.

George  was  born  in  Pittsburgh  in  1943 . He  was  a  guitar  player  before  reaching  double  digits  and  released  his  first  single  in  1954  with  "She  Makes  Me  Mad, a  smoky  jazz  tune  with  George  sounding  like  Louis  Armstrong's  little   brother. After  leaving  school  George  became  a  professional  jazz  guitarist  often  working  with  organist  Jack  Macduff. In  1964 he  released  his  first  LP  of  seven  instrumental  tunes  ( five  of  them  his  own ) , "The  New  Boss  Guitar  of  George  Benson ". There  was  one  single  "Just  Another  Sunday"  which  to  me  sounds  like  incidental  music  for  The  Pink  Panther  Show.

By  1966  he  had  formed  the  George  Benson  Quartet , got  a  deal  with  CBS   and  released  his  second  album "It's  Uptown"  although  confusingly  there  are  five  musicians  credited  on  the  sleeve. The  album  is  less  noodly  than  its  predecessor  and  contains  more  covers  of  jazz  standards  including  "Summertime " which  was  released  as  a  single. It's   OK  I  suppose; it's  a  hard  song  to  ruin. It's  also  one  of  three  tracks  on  which  George  sings.  Later  the  same  year  they  put  out  "The  George  Benson  Cookbook"  which  was   made  up  of   original  material  in  the  same  vein  including  the  lively  single  "The  Borgia  Stick"  which  was  the  theme  for  the  film  of  the  same  name.

 None  of   these  records  sold  enough  to  satisfy  CBS   and  George  became  a  solo  artist  on  Verve  in  1668  releasing  the  instrumental  album "Giblet  Gravy "  which  included  covers  of  pop  tunes like  "Sunny"  and  "Walk  On  By"  ( the  latter's  quite  good  actually ).  He  then  moved  on  to  A  &  M  ( Verve  squeezed  out  a  second  LP  called  "Goodies" in  1969 ).  His  1968  LP  "The  Shape  Of  Things  To  Come"  had  7  instrumental  tracks  , six  of  them  covers  and  saw  him  working  with  producer  Creed  Taylor  for  the  first  time. It  made  a  small  impression  on  the  R  &  B  charts   as  did  1969's  "Tell  It  Like  It  Is"  which  is  all  covers  but  saw  George  doing  some  vocals  again  and  is  more  accessible  to  non-jazz  fans. His  last  LP  for  A  & M  was  the  mildly  diverting   "The  Other  Side  of  Abbey  Road"  , half  an  hour's  jamming  on  Beatles  covers.

George  signed  for  Taylor's  new  label  CTI  , releasing  1971's  Miles  Davis-influenced  ( George had  been  guesting  on  his  albums  since  the  mid-sixties  ) "Beyond  The  Blue  Horizons", five long  and  meandering  instrumentals. "White  Rabbit"  released  later  in  the  year  is  the  same except  all  the  tracks  are  covers.  "Body  Talk"  from  1973  stuck  with  the  5  long  tracks  formula  but  on  "Dance"  and  the  title  track  he  started  using  funk  rather  than  jazz  rhythms  pointing  the  way  ahead  to  his  commercial  breakthrough.  George's  next  album  "Bad  Benson"  in  1974  where  his  guitar  takes  something  of  a  back  seat  to  Kenny  Barron's  electric   piano  doodling  gave  him  a  foothold  in  the  US  album  charts  when  it  peaked  at  number  78.

"Supership  "  seems  to  have  been  a  one -off   collaboration  with  keyboardist  Arthur  Jenkins  and  his  friends  at  Antisitia  Music  Incorporated  ( Ralph  McDonald, Will  Salter and  Bill  Eaton  who  are  all  credited  as  writers  of  the  song ) ; it  didn't  appear  on  his  next  LP. It's  a  Jackson  Five-ish  pop  soul  number  with  George's  clipped  guitar  keeping  pace  with  the  dancefloor  rhythm.  Loud   horns  including  a   big   ship's  drive  it  along  The  song  celebrates  a  relationship  by  comparing  it  to  a  spaceship  ride  which  is  nice  but  it's  really  about  the  groove  here; there's  no  chorus  and  not  much  melody  in  the  song  itself. It  wasn't  a  hit  in  the  US  but  over  here  the   good   folks  in  Wigan  picked  up  on  it  and  gave  George  his  first  hit  single  anywhere.