Inside George Benson there are two wolves:

1. the coolest cat you've ever seen, and
2. the softest, most wholesome guy you've ever met.

In "Clockwise" he's laying down a lick on his electric guitar in tandem with the baritone sax, and hoo boy is it tasty. By contrast, "A Foggy Day" is a cover of a Gershwin song originally made popular by Fred Astaire—Benson's up-tempo take on it injects some much-needed pep, but that doesn't make it any less old-timey.

Many of the artists we've heard so far have been singular students of jazz, devoting their entire career to discovering and mapping her many details. Not so with Benson—there's no disputing his jazz bona fides (as evidenced by this album), but he also extensively recorded pop and R&B;¹ many of the 10 (!) Grammys he's won come from those latter two genres. The aforementioned Cool Guy/Nice Guy dichotomy is present in his pop stuff too: in "Give Me The Night" he's about to sweep your girl off her feet and rollerskate² her away into the Californian sunset, but in "Never Give Up on a Good Thing," relationship counselor Benson exhorts you to… never break up? (This is somewhat less surprising after learning that Benson is a Jehovah's Witness and is celebrating sixty years of marriage in 2025.)

But back to It's Uptown: this is the first album we've heard that makes the guitar the star of the show. I have mixed feelings about that—it's hard to top the cool factor of a well-placed guitar riff, but I also find that the instrument struggles to evoke a certain mournful or plaintive tone that is so often core to jazz. That being said, the trusty six-string has other tricks up its sleeve. A great example is "Bullfight," where Benson starts by setting up a Latin beat with some dense, choppy rhythmic chords, then effortlessly transitions to the solo melody. Finally, it bears mentioning that although Benson came to fame as a prodigious guitarist, he's a great vocalist as well—I find the lyrics of the selections on this album a bit cheesy, but I'm a fan of the clear, bright tone of his voice.

So until next week, follow Benson's example: be the baddest dude you can while still being a good guy.

Favourite track: Clockwise