Ravinia 2023 Issue 5

PAVILION 7:00 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023 BUDDY GUY’S DAMN RIGHT FAREWELL TOUR GEORGE BENSON –Intermission– BUDDY GUY TERLATO AND RAVINIA A Pairing Made Perfect A perfect pairing includes fine wines and great music. Because you are here tonight, you know that Ravinia provides great music in an incomparable setting. Terlato invites you to elevate your experience with a bottle of wine from their exceptional portfolio, which is available throughout the park and at many Chicagoland retailers and restaurateurs. The Terlato family supports Ravinia because much like music, an appreciation for fine wine also has the power to enrich lives. Family owned and headquartered in Lake Bluff, Terlato has a diverse portfolio of more than 85 wine and spirit brands from world-class producers in more than a dozen countries. terlato.com | @terlatowines BUDDY GUY Though forever associated with Chicago, Buddy Guy began his musical journey in Lettsworth, LA, where at age 7 he constructed a makeshift guitar out of two strings, a piece of wood, and a hairpin. Once he got a real in- strument, he used to hike out some distance from his home to practice, so as not to disturb his family with “that noise.” Striking out even farther to Chicago in 1957, Guy soon land- ed a steady gig at the 708 Club and became a fixture on the blues scene. Recording with Chess for much of the ’60s, he created several hit singles cutting his teeth as a session musi- cian for Muddy Waters, Koko Taylor, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and many others. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Guy often recorded with blues harpist Junior Wells, including the landmark 1965 Delmark album Hoodoo Man Blues and the 1972 Eric Clapton–co-produced Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues , and they also appeared together at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival with Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, who produced the album Drinkin’ TNT and Smokin’ Dynamite from the performance. In 1991 he cut a new re- cord deal with Silvertone and released Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues— featuring fellow guitarists Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Mark Knop- fler as guests—which was awarded the first of his eight career Grammys. Guy was add- ed to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015, by then having also been awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2003 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005; he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012 and an honorary doctorate from Louisiana State University in 2014. Moreover, he has also won 38 Blues Music Awards—more than any other artist—and was the second recip- ient of Billboard ’s Century Award. Guy ap- peared on David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction in 2018, the same year he released the Grammy-winning The Blues Is Alive and Well , and his most recent album is 2022’s The Blues Don’t Lie , which came on the heels of the PBS American Masters doc- umentary Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away honoring his 85th birthday in 2021. First appearing at Ravinia in 1999, Bud- dy Guy returns tonight for his 16th season at the festival. GEORGE BENSON Born and raised in the Hill District of Pitts- burgh, George Benson first picked up an instrument at age 7, playing a ukulele in a corner drug store, then graduated to the gui- tar at age 8, gigging at an unlicensed night- club. Two years later, Benson recorded his first single, “She Makes Me Mad,” under the name Little Georgie. Becoming a bandleader by age 21, he recorded The New Boss Guitar (1964) with the McDuff Quartet, then in 1966 he emerged with It’s Uptown and his name- sake quartet, followed by The George Benson Cookbook in 1967. Miles Davis picked up Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his gui- tar on “Paraphernalia” on 1968’s Miles in the Sky . In the early 1970s, he signed with the jazz label CTI to cut several albums, notably the chart-topping Bad Benson in 1974. Backed by Warner Bros. Records starting in the mid- ’70s, Benson immediately scored a smash hit with Breezin’ , topping the jazz, R&B, and Hot 200 charts as well as winning the 1977 Gram- my for Record of the Year with its track “The Masquerade,” on which he sang lead vocals. During this time, he also guested as guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder’s song “Another Star” on Songs in the Key of Life (1976) and recorded the original version of “The Greatest Love of All” for the Muham- mad Ali bio-pic The Greatest (1977). On his 1980 pop breakthrough Give Me the Night , Benson began working with Quincy Jones, who encouraged him to continue mining his roots for vocal inspiration, leading to numer- ous hit singles like “Love All the Hurt Away,” “Turn Your Love Around,” “Inside Love,” “Lady Love Me,” “20/20,” “Shiver,” “Kisses in the Moonlight.” In 2009, Benson was recog- nized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master and released Songs and Sto- ries , the follow-up to his 2006 Concord-debut Givin’ It Up with Al Jarreau, which brought him his latest Grammy wins with covers of Jarreau’s “Mornin’ ” and Billie Holliday’s “God Bless the Child.” In 2017 he marked the 40th anniversary of playing the inaugural Rock in Rio festival with a limited run of his signature Ibanez guitars. George Benson first played Ravinia in 1977 and tonight marks his seventh season at the festival, where he most recently appeared in 2010. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 37