Give Me the Night 1980

 

Give Me the Night is a 1980 album by American jazz guitarist and singer George Benson.

Producer Quincy Jones released the album on his start-up label Qwest Records, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Records. 

 

Give Me the Night charted at number one on both the Top Soul Albums and Jazz Albums charts, as well as number three on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA two months after its release.^[3]

The album's success was closely associated with its title track lead single, which rose to the top spot on the Soul Singles chart.

The album earned Benson three wins at the 1981 Grammy Awards, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, while "Moody's Mood" received Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male and "Off Broadway" received Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Quincy Jones and Jerry Hey also won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Dinorah, Dinorah." 

 This is the peak of George Benson's courtship of the mass market -- a superbly crafted and performed pop album with a large supporting cast -- and wouldn't you know that Quincy Jones, the master catalyst, is the producer. Q's regular team, including the prolific songwriter Rod Temperton and the brilliant engineer Bruce Swedien, is in control, and Benson's voice, caught beautifully in the rich, floating sound, had never before been put to such versatile use. On "Moody's Mood," Benson really exercises his vocalese chops and proves that he is technically as fluid as just about any jazz vocalist, and he become a credible rival to Al Jarreau on the joyous title track. Benson's guitar now plays a subsidiary role -- only two of the ten tracks are instrumentals -- but Q has him play terrific fills behind the vocals and in the gaps, and the engineering gives his tone a variety of striking, new, full-sounding timbres. The instrumentals themselves are marvelous: "Off Broadway" is driving and danceable, and Ivan Lins' "Dinorah, Dinorah" grows increasingly seductive with each play. Benson should have worked with Jones from this point on, but this would be their only album together.