"Breezin'" is an instrumental song composed by American singer and musician Bobby Womack. It was first 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitarist

Gábor Szabó Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian-American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Music of Hungary, Hungarian music. Early years Szabó was born in Budapest, Budapest, Hungary. He bega ...

, in partnership with Womack himself. This version, produced by Tommy LiPuma, was included 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 ...

'' (1971) and was released as a single in April 1971 in the United States and 1972 in the Netherlands, reaching 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 ...

. Womack wrote some lyrics for the song that weren't used in Szabo's instrumental version but he does perform the song with lyrics on his DVD ''Raw'', released in 2010.

Gábor Szabó version (1971)

Track listing

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

'' is 3:11, while the single version is edited to 3:03.

Chart position

Personnel

– electric guitar, acoustic guitar * Bobby Womack – 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. ''Do ...

– drums *Felix "Flaco" Falcon –

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

* Phil Upchurch – bass guitar * Rene Hall –

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

arrangements * Carmelo Garcia – percussion *

Bruce Botnick Bruce Botnick (born 1945) is an American audio engineer and record producer. He is best known for co-producing '' L.A. Woman'', the sixth studio album by the Doors, after producer Paul A. Rothchild quit during production of the album. Botnick i ...

–

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, reproduc ...

* Tommy LiPuma –

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, thoug ...

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. Many gourds ha ...

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 jazz fusion 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 ...

, whose 1976 cover was the title track of his album '' Breezin'''. Benson's 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 Tommy LiPuma. The album and single were released by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

Track listing

7" single

The full length of "Breezin'" on Benson's album '' Breezin''' is 5:40 while the single edit is 5:20.

12" single

Chart history

Personnel

* Bobby Womack – songwriter *

– lead guitar, vocals * Phil Upchurch – bass, rhythm guitar * Claus Ogerman – conductor, arrangements *

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. He was the original drummer for Herbie Hancock's band The Headhunters. Life and career Mason was born and grew ...

– drums *

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

– flute *

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 ...

– electric piano, keyboards *

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was an American percussionist, steelpan virtuoso, songwriter, musical arranger, and record producer. His compositions include " Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the due ...

– percussion *

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 ...

– piano, clavinet * Tommy LiPuma – 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 saxophonist, pianist, arranger and songwriter whose genres ranged from R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, and soul jazz. Crawford was musical director for ...

: first in 1980 with guitarist Calvin Newborn for their collaborative album ''Centerpiece'' and again in 1996 for his album ''Tight''. Additionally,

Masayoshi Takanaka is a Japanese musician, producer and composer. Takanaka rose to fame and achieved commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. He is known for his virtuosic guitar playing and skilled musicianship, composing and performing across various diff ...

recorded a

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

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. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

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