AccuRadio Song Of The Day-George Benson

Artist:George Benson

Song:Stella by Starlight

Album:Original Album Classics

For most of his time on Warner Bros. in the 70s and 80s, George Benson spent so much time chasing hit records that most folks forgot that he is a great jazz guitarist. The 1989 album Tenderly was Benson's return to real jazz. Look, Benson had a great run with Warners with top ten pop hits like This Masquerade (1976), On Broadway (1978) and his biggest hit the 1980 single Give Me the Night followed by Turn Your Love Around in 1981. All his albums including the 1981 comp The George Benson Collection were big sellers. But the hits stopped coming and albums weren't selling anymore. And he was still criticized for being too pop. So for the 1989 album Tenderly, he decided to get back to jazz to remind us that he was still a great jazz musician. He brought in jazz legends pianist McCoy Tyner and bassist Ron Carter. The drummer for most of the album is Herlin Riley from Wynton Marsalis' band. Benson does sing on half the songs. But this cover of Stella by Starlight is instrumental. The song was written by Victor Young and Ned Washington and was the theme for the 1944 film The Uninvited. Both Harry James and Frank Sinatra charted with the song. But it is most notable as a jazz standard especially after Miles Davis performed it live in the 60s. Then Benson took Tyner on tour. You can get the album Tenderly on this 5CD box set of Benson's Warner Bros. recordings. After two more Warners albums, Benson left Warners for GRP and more recently has recorded for Concord and the European label Provogue. Here's George Benson with McCoy Tyner and his trio performing Stella by Starlight at the 1989 Montreux Jazz Festival.