George Benson Walking To New Orleans (LP, 180g Yellow Vinyl, Ltd.)

(Provogue) 10 Tracks - The new album "Walking To New Orleans" by legendary jazz guitarist George Benson is a musical homage to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino! On "Walking To New Orleans" George Benson returns to his Americana roots. The singer and guitarist dedicates his new album both to the piano hit machine from New Orleans, Fats Domino, and to the rock poet Chuck Berry. "Walking To New Orleans" is the first album by the jazz pop and R'n'B legend since "Inspiration" was released in 2013. 

The latter was a tribute to Nat King Cole, but the new work couldn't be more different. While Benson Cole's melodies were adorned with lavish orchestral arrangements at the time, "Walking To New Orleans" took him with four of the famous Nashville Cats to Ocean City Studio, located in a centuries-old neo-Gothic stone church in the Music Row district of New Orleans. "Walking To New Orleans" alternates between songs by Berry and Domino as if Benson were moderating a musical dialogue between Missouri and Louisiana. 

It begins with Berry's thought-provoking "Nadine (Is It You?)" from 1964, on which Benson plays his guitar solo in unison. On Domino's subsequent R'n'B hits, Benson's guitar on "Ain't That A Shame" represents the original saxophone solos, and on "Rockin' Chair" a horn section brings a whole new mood to the song. "Walking To New Orleans" is Benson's 45th studio album and only a few sound so relaxed, straightforward and full of joy.