We All Remember Wes

George Benson: We All Remember Wes (live)
From Weekend in L.A. (Warner Bros., 1977)


After recently covering one of my favorite contemporary jazz musicians Bobbi Humphrey, I decided to pull out George Benson's colorful, 2-disc live set Weekend in L.A.

The Warner Bros. set was a prolific addition to Benson's catalogue - reaching number one on the R&B and jazz charts. Astonishingly, the album even reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 (pop). The album contained his heavy rendition of the Drifters' classic "On Broadway" and the first recorded version of "The Greatest Love of All" - way before Whitney touched it.

One of my favs from that double-disc project was the disco-flavored, upbeat jazz tune "We All Remember Wes;" penned by the legendary virtuoso Stevie Wonder. Now I did a little research on where the song came from originally and what the song meant...and if it ever had lyrics to it. Hopefully that would help me in knowing if Wes was some tribute to jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery (who passed away in 1968). In all of my research, I didn't find not an iota of data to help a brother out. So I will carefully assume that Stevie Wonder and George Benson paid tribute to the late great guitarist - especially since Benson does a heck of a great job on the funky track. His performance is worth being labeled a tribute to Wes.

By the way, everytime I listened to it - it painted those images of that relaxing Price Is Right game show music.

The original track is 5:45 minutes long, but with my editing skills and modern technology I managed to cut a minute off. Still quite enjoyable, even though - if you are like me - you probably want to fetch for the longer version.

Congo Square

Teena Marie: You Baby
Teena Marie: Lover's Lane (featuring Howard Hewett)

From Congo Square (Stax, 2009)

Already being called the Ivory Queen of Soul, Teena Marie has proven over the years to be a rewarding champion in the fields of funk, flashy R&B and mellow love ballads. Most of that is attributed to her seductive phrasing and that irresistible vibrato. With years of funk under her belt due to her relations with the late punk-funk god Rick James, Marie exploded on black radio with jolting classics like "I Need Your Lovin'," "Behind the Groove" and "Lovergirl." And before rap was even considered to be favorable on black sistahs, Marie revealed no resistance on 1981's "Square Biz."

Years later, after her Cash Money debut with La' Dona, Marie shows no sign of slowing down. Surely her vibrato is undeniably stronger and highly transparent on the slower grooves but Marie is still working her chops. On her Stax debut Congo Square, she pays homage to the heartland of jazz and blues found in New Orleans. The singer recently discovered she had family roots in New Orleans - which explains the album title's reference. Ironically, Cash Money, based in New Orleans, isn't the label offering Marie's goodwill gesture to N.O.

The album, sounds like her last two works, but she does go for more jazz, more blues, more relaxed and mature grooves. There's a great lack of the funk she's notoriously known for performing - which might be the biggest setback of the disc. Yet she replaces it with new school beats, a hefty set of guest performers (Howard Hewett, MC Lyte, Faith Evans) and some unusual mutations of funk-jazz fusion like the candy-coated title track, which features George Duke on keys.

Ready to conquer radio is "Can't Last a Day" - spinning with familiar vibes from Rose Royce's "Wishing on a Star." Equally prepared is the heartfelt ballad "Marry Me," the R&B-infectious "You Baby," and the seductive quiet storm magic of "Lover's Lane." Marie handles most of the songwriting...and she's quite good at it. But some of the production and the melodies fall flat in her attempts to sound culturally relevant in today's music standards. Her lessons in black history on "Miss Coretta," "Harlem Blues" and the Obama-supportive "Black Cool" are tucked in the back of the disc, but do nothing more than serve up album filler like the black cultural studies found on Sounds of Blackness albums. Still, Congo Square is a good disc but far from her superior workouts found on her highly-overlooked, early releases. Especially if you're a fan of the funk. - J Matt

To read album review at SoulTracks.com, click here.
For a limited time, listen to clips from Teena Marie's new album Congo Square. Click here.

Sunset Burgundy

Bobbi Humphrey: Sunset Burgundy

From Freestyle (Epic, 1978)

A sweet flute performance from Bobbi Humphrey serenading jamming bass lines from Marcus Miller set the stage for this funk-disco gem. Just as crucial to the enduring jam is Ralph MacDonald's conga work and Steve Gadd's drums.

While a great deal of concentration on her most successful work came out of the early '70s on the Blue Note label, Epic Records got a hold of her and hoped to bring her into the renaissance of contemporary jazz paraded by the likes of Herbie Mann, Patrice Rushen, George Duke and George Benson. But Humphrey surprised a good bit of her followers with the ambitious jazz-fusion found on 1978's Freestyle. "Home Made Jam" was the lead single, but the B-sided musical affair of Marcus Miller's "Sunset Burgundy" was just as rewarding. And the apt title best describes this colorful musical event.

By the way, this happens to be one of those 45's that I wore out as a young'in. As you can tell.