Concert: George Benson

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George Benson is not only a well known and one of the greatest smooth jazz guitarists but also an amazingly versatile musician. He is an American musician born on March 22, 1943 and brought up in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started performing at nightclubs and recorded four sides for RCA's X label in 1954. At the age of 17 he formed a band while using a guitar made by his stepfather. He got interested in jazz after getting exposure to records by Christian, Montgomery, and Charlie Parker. Enthusiastic Benson, by 1962, was playing in Brother Jack McDuff's band. By 1965, after getting observed by John Hammond, he recorded two highly regarded albums of soul-jazz and hard bop for Columbia along with many records by others, including Miles Davis' "Miles in the Sky". In 1967, Benson switched to Verve. In June 1968, when Montgomery, producer Creed Taylor started recording Benson with bigger ensembles on A&M and big bands and all-star combos on CTI.

Though he kept on moving with the A&M and CTI albums which made him a guitar star in the jazz world, the mass market didn't catch on until he started to emphasize vocals after signing with Warner Bros. in 1976. The first album "Breezin'" recorded by Warner Bros became a Top Ten hit on the strength of its sole vocal track, "This Masquerade," and this led to a string of hit albums one after the another in an R&B-flavored pop mode. Eventually it culminated with the Quincy Jones-produced "Give Me the Night". IN 1980s, his albums were reflected more of commercial things and inferior work but the guitar remained well in all. BY this time he realized the importance of charts so he reversed his field in late 80s to record a fine album of standards, "Tenderly". Along with this, his another with the Basie band, his guitar now appeared more prominently. Simultaneously, his pop-flavored work also improved noticeably. Benson continued with the ability to throw surprises on his fans and critics such as his dazzlingly idiomatic TV appearance. Not only this, he amazed his fans with a subsequent record date with Benny Goodman in 1975 in honor of John Hammond, and his amazing command of the moment at several Playboy Jazz Festivals in the 1980s. Benson's other recordings include the "Standing Together" in 1998 and "Absolute Benson" in 2000. "All Blues" was released in spring 2001 followed by "Irreplaceable" in 2004.

Benson is superb on Guitar. He is diverse in playing in about any style from swing to bop to R&B to pop with awesome taste, a beautiful rounded tone, terrific speed, a wonderful sense of logic in building solos, and no doubt, an unquenchable urge to swing. Though he is inspired from Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery and he can do dead-on impressions of both, his style is absolutely his own. He is a superb lead player, the best rhythm guitarists around, very cooperative to soloists and a vulnerable swinger, specially in a soul-jazz format. Still Benson can also sing in a luxuriant soulful tenor with foibles similar to those of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. It is Benson's voice that has proved to be more marketable to the public than his guitar. Benson is the guitar-playing equivalent of Nat "King" Cole, a fantastic pianist whose smooth way with a pop vocal eventually eclipsed his instrumental artistry in the marketplace. -- but unlike Cole, Benson has been granted enough time after his fling with the pop charts to reaffirm his jazz guitar credentials, which he still does at his concerts.