Benson, Booker And Umo Play Sandpoint Fest

Fri., Aug. 1, 1997

The Festival at Sandpoint offers a diverse lineup of concerts this weekend at Memorial Field.

George Benson plays tonight at 7:30. Tickets are $18.50, $9.50 for children 12 and younger.

Benson is a jazzman who found his greatest success singing. The guitarist hit it big in 1976 with an album called “Breezin’ ” and a cover of Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade.” The single took “Breezin’ ” onto the pop charts and turned into the first million-selling record in jazz history.

His new record, “That’s Right,” carries on the classic Benson fusion of soul, R&B and jazz.

Booker T. Jones and the Blind Boys of Alabama perform Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16, $9.50 for children 12 and younger.

As the leader of Booker T. and the MG’s, Jones was the creator of some of the biggest R&B hits of the ‘60s. They cut the million-selling “Green Onions” when he was 17 and went on to produce six more Top 40 instrumental hits.

Jones and his MG companions were also accomplished rockers, as they proved when they served as the house band at the grand opening of Cleveland’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have been performing rousing gospel music since the Depression. Over the years, they have sung the gospel message in such styles as funk, blues and soul.

Opening the show is Spokane’s Mount Olive Baptist Church Choir.

Umo Ensemble will perform Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6, or $20 for four.

Umo’s show, “Masks!,” is a cross-cultural exploration of masks in performance. Highlights include the courtship of a giant electrical plug and socket, the comedic demise of a human fly and the cultlike devotion of a flock of sheep for an animated television set.

Tickets are available from the festival, (888) 265-4554, and G&B Select-a-Seat, (800) 325-SEAT.

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