National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and 10X Grammy-winning, legendary musician George Benson will release his new album on August 25th entitled Songs and Stories, his second for Concord Records / Monster Music. The album is a collection of tunes penned by some of the most prolific and enduring songwriters of the last half-century. Some were written specifically for this new recording, such as Bill Withers’ (who came out of retirement to write “A Telephone Call Away” for George), Rod Temperton’s “Family Reunion” and Lamont Dozier’s “Living in High Definition”; while others, including James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”, Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” were hand-picked by Benson for their ability to convey simple but universal truths about the human experience. continue reading...

Recorded at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles, CA One Kind Favor is meant to sound like an album recorded in the 50s. To get this sound Burnett and King replicated the kind of blues band King had back in the day bringing in some of the greats – Dr. John on piano, Nathan East on stand up acoustic bass and Jim Keltner on drums, to name a few. Studio conditions of the time were reproduced. The result is a vintage sounding album filled with the songs that influenced King in his early days as an artist. continue reading...