“Givin’ It Up” Is A Great Collaboration

On October 24th, the music world was dazzled by a harmonic convergence of superstars when singer/guitarist/songwriter George Benson teams with vocalist extraordinaire songwriter Al Jarreau for Givin’ It Up. Friends and label-mates for over three decades, this outing marks the first time that the two artists, both multiple GRAMMY - winners with Gold and Platinum selling albums, have recorded together as equal partners.Givin’ It Up will be released as a joint venture between the Concord Music Group, one of the largest independent record companies in the world, and Monster Music, the newly created record division of Monster Cable Products, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-performance cable and power of home theater, car, and Apple iPod. The collaboration will leverage the strengths of companies, creating a sales and marketing alliance reminiscent of Concord’s ground-breaking and highly successful partnership with Starbucks Coffee Company for the release of the multi-platinum Ray Charles swansong Genius Loves Company. Monster will leverage its distribution channel of over 20,000 electronics retail outlets worldwide, including home theater departments of Best Buy, Circuit City, and RadioShack. Monster will also utilize its marketing program of training over 125,000 sales associates in electronic retail stores to promote the release of this album. The CD will also be available in all traditional retail outlets.This much-anticipated 13-track recording features each of the stars on a new arrangement of one of the other’s biggest hits - Jarreau adding lyrics to and singing Benson’s signature instrumental smash “Breezin’,” while the legendary jazz guitarist delivers a lovely instrumental version of the singer’s eternally charming hit “Mornin’.” Givin’ It Up also includes delicious covers of Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” and Hall & Gates’ (and Paul Young smash) “Every Time You Go Away,” as well as stunning new jazz vocal versions of the Miles Davis classics “Four” and “'Long Come Tutu.”Givin’ It Up was recorded between April and June, 2006. Serendipitously, pop legend, Paul McCartney, happened to be in the studio next door during one session and dropped in to join Benson and Jarreau on an impromptu romp through Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me.” Neo soul diva, Jill Scott, performs Billie Holiday’s timeless “God Bless the Child.” Rounding out the album is an instrumental take on John Legend’s GRAMMY award-winning soul smash, “Ordinary People” and four new compositions, including a new Jarreau and Barry Eastmond composition, “Let it Rain,” which features Patti Austin and Chris Botti.Benson and Jarreau first met in the mid-1970s at the Coconut Grove Ballroom in the landmark Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Benson recalls, “Al sang lyrics to ‘Take Five’ which I’d never heard before. I’d recorded an instrumental version of the track on my album Bad Benson, so I was really checking this cat out. His style of improvising was quite interesting.” Of Benson, Jarreau adds, “George and I share something of the same age, but George can describe things he was doing as a professional at the age of 8! He was an idol within the jazz community, one that I aspired to, but I didn’t arrive on the scene with my first record until seventeen years later in 1975. George was a hero to me.” “He’s a prolific cat,” finishes the guitarist. “I’ve always loved Al, but I have a different respect for him now.”An A-list of musicians appear on Glvin’ It Up: keyboardists Patrice Rushen, Rex Rideout and Herbie Hancock; bassists Marcus Miller, Abraham Laboriel and Stanley Clarke; guitarists Dean Parks, Ray Fuller and Michael Thompson; saxophonist Marion Meadows; and drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Michael White.Monster Music made Givin’ It Up available in High Definition Surround (HDS). Monster SuperDiscs which included 2 discs - one featuring a Stereo mix that plays on any CD player, the other which plays in any DVD player features High Definition Surround Sound in Dolby Digital and DTS 96/24 as well as High Definition Stereo which sounds exactly the same as the studio master file. In addition, Monster SuperDiscs feature multiple mixes that allow listeners with a home theater system to select their own “Surround Experience”, choosing, for example, to be “in the band” of a live concert or “in the room” sitting next to the band.For consumers who listen to music through their computer and portable music players, Monster SuperDiscs include High Definition Digital Music files encoded directly from the master recordings. These files are ready to drag and drop into any music program including iTunes and Apple iPod. Special for Apple iPod users are the Dolby Headphone encoded music files which will give your iPod a surround sound music experience through any pair of headphones. Monster Music SuperDiscs are also the first music releases to be certified by THX for high quality sound and picture, multiple surround experiences, and digital music file quality.The pairing of George Benson and Al Jarreau is also a coup for Monster and Concord. Kevin Lee, Director of Product Development and Marketing (aka “Little Monster”) states, “It’s extremely exciting for us to be associated with artists of their caliber. And we have recorded them better than they have ever been captured before.” John Burk, Executive Vice President and Head of A&R, Concord Music Group, concludes, “Both artists have had unprecedented success across jazz, pop and soul. Such musical depth and versatility made for a truly dynamic collaboration and pure magic in the studio. We’re extremely proud to present them together for the very first time.”