Tell It Like It Is (George Benson album)

Tell It Like It Is
Studio album by George Benson
Released	Mid/End of July 1969 [1]
Recorded	April 29, 1969 (#6–7, 9) May 16, 1969 (#1–5) May 20, 1969 (#8, 10–11)
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Genre	Jazz
Length	32:27
Label	A&M/CTI SP 3020
Producer	Creed Taylor
George Benson chronology
Goodies (1968) Tell It Like It Is (1969) The Other Side of Abbey Road (1970)
Singles from Tell It Like It Is
"My Woman's Good to Me" Released: 1969

Tell It Like It Is is the seventh album by American guitarist George Benson featuring performances recorded in 1969 and released on the A&M label. ^[2]

Chart performance

The album peaked at No. 145 on the Billboard Top LPs, during a three-week run on the chart. ^[3]

Reception

The Allmusic review states "Benson manages to transcend the blasting Latin-percussion-spiced production, the tight time limits, and all with often brilliantly tasty guitar fills and brief solos in many styles and three reverb-heavy vocals". ^[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]

Track listing

1. "Soul Limbo" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) – 3:25
2. "Are You Happy" (Theresa Bell, Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble) – 2:27
3. "Tell It Like It Is" (George Davis, Lee Diamond) – 2:51
4. "Land of 1000 Dances" (Chris Kenner) – 2:48
5. "Jackie, All" (Eumir Deodato) – 2:14
6. "Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' to Ya" (Rudy Stevenson) – 3:16
7. "Water Brother" (Don Sebesky) – 2:09
8. "My Woman's Good to Me" (Billy Sherrill, Glenn Sutton) – 3:14
9. "Jama Joe" (George Benson) – 3:49
10. "My Cherie Amour" (Stevie Wonder, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy) – 3:28
11. "Out in the Cold Again" (Ted Koehler, Rube Bloom) – 2:41

Personnel

• George Benson – guitar, vocals
• Lew Soloff – trumpet
• Arthur Clarke (tracks 1–5), Bob Porcelli (tracks 6, 7 & 9), Hubert Laws (tracks 6, 7 & 9), Jerome Richardson (tracks 1–5, 8, 10 & 11), Joe Farrell (tracks 8, 10 & 11), Joe Henderson (tracks 8, 10 & 11), Sonny Fortune (tracks 1–5) – saxophone
• Rodgers Grant (tracks 6, 7 & 9), Richard Tee (tracks 1–5, 8, 10 & 11) – piano
• Bob Bushnell (tracks 1–5), Jerry Jemmott (tracks 1–7 & 9), Jim Fielder (tracks 8, 10 & 11) – bass guitar
• Leo Morris – drums
• Paul Alicea, Angel Allende, Johnny Pacheco – percussion
• Marty Sheller – arranger, conductor

Technical

• Pete Turner – photography

Charts

Chart (1969)	Peak position
US Billboard Top LPs [3]	145

References

1. Billboard Aug 9, 1969
2. CTI Records discography accessed February 16, 2012
3. Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1955–1972. Record Research. p. 18. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
4. Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Review accessed February 16, 2012