"Breezin'" is an instrumental song composed by American singer and musician

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guit ...

. It was originally recorded in December 1970 by the influential Hungarian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

guitarist

Gábor Szabó Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Hungarian music. Early years Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He began playing guitar at the age ...

, in partnership with Womack himself. The song was originally released in 1971 on Szabó's album ''

High Contrast Lincoln Barrett (born 18 September 1979), better known by the stage name High Contrast, is a Welsh electronic music producer, DJ and record producer. He produces drum and bass music, and his 2009 album ''Confidential'' reached BPI gold cert ...

''. The song was released as a single in April 1971 in the United States and in 1972 in the Netherlands. The single reached No. 43 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

the same year. "Breezin'" was produced by

Tommy LiPuma Tommy LiPuma (July 5, 1936 – March 13, 2017) was an American music producer. He received 33 Grammy nominations, 5 Grammy wins, and his productions sold over 75 million albums. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles ...

. Bobby Womack did write some lyrics for the song, but these were never officially released. However, Womack performs the song himself with the lyrics he could remember on his DVD ''Raw'', released in 2010.

Gábor Szabó version (1971)

Track listing

The "Breezin'"s full length on the Szabó's album ''

'' is 3:11. The length of only 3:03 is an edited version of the single.

Chart position

Personnel

– Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar *

– Songwriter, Electric rhythm guitar *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

– Drums *Felix "Flaco" Falcon –

Congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

Phil Upchurch Philip Upchurch (born July 19, 1941) is an American jazz and blues guitarist and bassist. Career Upchurch started his career working with the Kool Gents, the Dells, and the Spaniels, before going on to work with Curtis Mayfield, Otis Rush, and ...

– Bass * Rene Hall – String arrangements * Carmelo Garcia – Percussion *

Bruce Botnick Bruce Botnick (born 1945) is an American audio engineer and record producer, best known for his work with the Doors, the Beach Boys, Eddie Money, Love and film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Early work Botnick engineered Love's first two albums, and ...

–

Audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

–

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

Gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...

percussion, record producer

George Benson version (1976)

Five years after

's original recording, the song became even better known for a successful rerecording by singer and guitarist

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

, whose 1976 cover was the title track of his album ''

Breezin' ''Breezin is the fifteenth studio album by jazz/soul guitarist and vocalist George Benson. It is his debut on Warner Bros. Records. It not only was a chart-topper in the Jazz category but also went to #1 on the pop and R&B charts. It was certi ...

''. His version was recorded in January 1976 and released as a single in September of the same year, entering the American charts in October. Like Szabó's original, Benson's cover was produced by

. The album and single were released by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Track listing

7" single

The "Breezin'"s full length on the Benson's album ''

'' is 5:40. The length of only 5:20 is an edited version of the

7" single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

12" single

Chart history

Personnel

*Songwriter –

*Lead Guitar, Vocals –

*Bass, Rhythm Guitar –

*Conductor, Arranged By –

Claus Ogerman Claus Ogerman (born Klaus Ogermann; 29 April 1930 – 8 March 2016) was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall. Life and wo ...

*Drums –

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony for ...

*Flute -

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandi ...

*Electric Piano, Keyboards –

Ronnie Foster Ronnie Foster (born May 12, 1950) is an American funk and soul jazz organist, and record producer. His albums recorded for Blue Note Records in the 1970s have gained a cult following after the emergence of acid jazz. Early life Foster was born ...

*Percussion –

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian American, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist. His compositions ...

*Piano, Clavinet –

Jorge Dalto Jorge Dalto (July 8, 1948 – October 27, 1987) was a pop, jazz and Afro-Cuban music pianist from Argentina, and the former musical director and keyboardist (together with Ronnie Foster) for George Benson, contributing the acoustic piano intro a ...

*Producer –

Other versions

The song was also recorded twice by saxophonist and arranger

Hank Crawford Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) was an American Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter whose genres ranged from Rhythm and blues, R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, and soul jazz. Crawford was ...

: first in 1980 with guitarist

Calvin Newborn Edwin Calvin Newborn (April 27, 1933 – December 1, 2018) was an American jazz guitarist. Career He was the brother of pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. (1931–89), with whom he recorded between 1953 and 1958. They also formed an R&B band, with the ...

for their collaborative album ''Centerpiece'' and again in 1996 for his album ''Tight''. Additionally,

Masayoshi Takanaka is a Japanese guitarist, composer, and producer. He was born in 1953 in the Shinagawa ward in Tokyo, Japan. Takanaka's music was influential in the city pop genre of the late 1970s and '80s. Early life Takanaka was born to a Chinese fathe ...

recorded a

city pop is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced "new music", but came to include a wide range of styles – including ...

version of the song, released on his 1978 album ''On Guitar''.

References

External links

* * * *
Page of "Breezin'" by Gábor Szabó
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Page of "Breezin'" by Gábor Szabó
at 45cat
Page of "Breezin'" by George Benson
at

Page of "Breezin'" by George Benson
at 45cat {{authority control 1970 songs 1971 singles 1976 singles Bobby Womack songs George Benson songs Songs written by Bobby Womack Blue Thumb Records singles Warner Records singles Songs involved in plagiarism controversies 1970s instrumentals Soul jazz songs Smooth jazz songs