George Benson Biography
George Benson’s fame as a hitmaking pop/R&B vocalist can sometimes overshadow his identity as a brilliant guitarist. But any time Benson picks up his axe, he makes it abundantly clear why many consider him to be the greatest jazz guitarist of his generation. The multi-talented veteran possesses a signature style that’s smooth, swinging and effortlessly complex, and is both a sublimely eloquent soloist and a subtly supportive rhythm player.
The Pittsburgh-born Benson actually began his musical life as a singer, performing in local clubs at the age of eight and recording some early pop tracks for RCA Records. In his teens, he formed a rock band, playing a guitar that his stepfather had built for him. But Benson’s discovery of pioneering guitarists Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery steered him towards jazz. By his late teens, Benson was playing professionally in organist Brother Jack McDuff’s band.
After founding his own group in 1965, Benson was discovered by legendary producer/A&R man John Hammond, who signed the 21-year-old musician to Columbia Records, where he won acclaim with a trio of highly regarded albums in a soul-jazz/hard bop vein, Benson Burner, It’s Uptown and The George Benson Cookbook. During the same period, Benson played on several albums by other artists, including Miles Davis’ Miles in the Sky.
After a stint with Verve Records, producer Creed Taylor signed Benson first to A&M and then to his own CTI label, where the guitarist recorded a series of well-received albums, including Beyond the Blue Horizon, Body Talk, Good King Bad, the jazz-rock crossover effort White Rabbit and the live In Concert-Carnegie Hall. Many of Benson’s Taylor-produced sessions teamed him with larger ensembles, in a manner similar to Taylor’s earlier productions with Benson’s hero Wes Montgomery. Those releases sealed Benson’s star status within the jazz world.
By the mid-’70s, Benson had rocketed to massive mainstream stardom with a series of pop-oriented albums that emphasized his smooth tenor voice, which he sometimes employed to scat-sing in tandem with his guitar solos. But Benson has never abandoned his jazz roots, continuing to make both vocal and instrumental recordings, maintaining his savvy commercial instincts while reasserting his visionary guitar talent.
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