George Benson
Country: USA
George Benson is an American guitarist and vocalist, whose works harmoniously combine the elements of jazz, soft rock and rhythm and blues. He is 10-time Grammy Award winner.
On the stage, George Benson, born in 1943, made his debut as a singer. He wrote his first single, «She Makes Me Mad», when he was 10 years old. After a few years, the musician formed his own vocal ensemble performing rhythm and blues. Around the same time, he began to get involved in playing the guitar and soon he became one of the first jazz musicians of the time who copies his own guitar improvisations with a scat.
Benson has frequently been the forerunner of the new trends in music, but rarely stayed long in one stylistic direction. Despite his reputation as a jazz instrumentalist, he did not neglect the experiments with electronic instruments, interpreted famous songs in the style of soul, funk and even rock music.
In 1976, the guitarist, in collaboration with producer Tommy LiPuma, released his «Breezin'» album on Warner Bros. The extremely successful release was the first jazz album, which reached the platinum status (and later three times platinum). During 1976, «Breezin'» took the first position in the Billboard 200 charts. The appearance of «Breezin'» was a milestone in the development of modern jazz, and predetermined its development trends. «This Masquerade» composition won Grammy Award for the Record of the Year.
As a sideman, George Benson has worked with the jazz stars such as Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and many others.
In the late '70s and '80s, Benson paid more attention to pop vocals, but in the early '90s he returned to jazz "standards" and the acoustic sound. This period of his work is marked by cooperation with the famous Count Basie Orchestra, and later by creation of his own big band, Big Boss Band. In his relatively recent work, the Absolute Benson album (2000), the "Big Boss (a nickname he received early in his career) again mixes jazz with rhythm and blues, pop and funk. And his last disc Inspiration (2013) can be called a swing. It is dedicated to the legendary singer, Nat King Cole.
George Benson’s endless journey from swing and bop to jazz-rock and smooth-jazz least resemble the painful search for its path. Trying his hand at various genres, Benson always remains himself, a unique improviser, a superb vocalist and a brilliant instrumentalist. The total number of its music awards competes with the number of discs issued by him (and there are already more than fifty of them). George Benson has long been recognized as one of the most outstanding guitarists in jazz history. In 2009, the National Endowment of the Arts awarded the honorary title of the Jazz Master to the musician.
