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Biography
Born on March 22nd 1943, George Benson began his career when he was recognized as a child prodigy at the age of 10 when he recorded and released his first single “She Makes Me Mad”, whilst under the name Little Georgie. In his adolescence, he developed his talent, honing his craft as a songwriter and a musician. When he was 21 he released an album called “The New Boss Guitar”. His next album was “It’s Uptown” with his very own quartet. He was later employed to play for Miles Davis in the 1960s to play guitar on “Paraphernalia”, a piece on Davis’ album “Miles in the Sky” released on Columbia Records in 1968.
Benson clambered to the top of the Billboard Jazz chart with his release “Bad Benson”, and he also released a version of The Beatles’ 1969 album “Abbey Road” called “The Other Side of Abbey Road”. Around this time, Benson was also a musician for hire, playing many sessions for other aritsts, such as Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine.
Benson started to reach brand new heights in 1976 with his album “Breezin’” which Benson earned himself a Grammy for. The album became the very first jazz release to go Platinum. He also recorded the original version of “The Greatest Love of All” for the 1977 biopic about Muhammad Ali called “The Greatest”. Whitney Houston popularized the song bringing it to a global audience.
Quincy Jones produced and released Benson’s first pop album, “Give Me The Night”, which was released on August 9th 1980. The album put Benson in front of a much wider audience, becoming a global hit record and charting internationally. It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 charts with the title track becoming a Top 20 hit in over ten countries. The album later went Platinum.
From the “Love Remembers” album in 1993 until “Absolute Benson” released in 2000, Benson had four consecutive number one jazz records. Throughout his career, he would maintain a balance with his albums maintaining a crossover status in popular music.
Benson released the album “Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole” which featured household names such as Idina Menzel, Judith Hill and Till Brönner and then performed at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro.
Live reviews
George Benson has already established himself as a living legend. He has already won ten Grammy Awards for his brilliance as a jazz guitarist and gained a spot on the Hollywood walk of fame. His performances are absolutely mesmerizing consisting of the smooth jazz that will have audiences swaying in their seats. George Benson started his career playing deep soulful jazz music with many great jazz legends including Jack McDuff. Not only is George Benson well regarded for his adept skills on the jazz guitar, but he is also an excellent singer covering such styles as R&B singing and scat singing. During performances George Benson will sometimes put down his guitar and pick up a microphone to serenade the audience. When it comes to smooth jazz there is no one that is quite as good as George Benson on the guitar. The tones he gets on the guitar are the purest and smoothest possible. He uses interesting rhythms and uses a guitar picking technique called a rest-stroke technique that was used by many great gypsy jazz guitarists such as Django Reinhardt.
During live performances George Benson tours with a large backing band that creates lush, orchestrated sounds. His piano player is very well trained and often plays a Wurlitzer electronic piano that adds to the smooth jazz vibe with the piano’s mellow bell like sound. His band also consists of bass player that often plays on a fretless bass producing very funky riffs. There are also several female backup singers that harmonize and accompany George Benson’s singing to add to the ornate sound of the performance. Just like his smooth style of music, George Benson also has a smooth personality on stage by bantering with the audience and gratefully thanking his audience for coming out to see him. A George Benson concert is ensured to set the appropriate mood for a mellow evening of jazz music that will inspire you. Seeing this legend pluck away the smooth tones on his jazz guitar is nothing less than invigorating.
wjmcc
To win one Grammy award is demonstration that you are at the top of your musical career, guitarist and musician George Benson has won ten. This fact is a good clue to the level of skill and sophistication his music attains, and the abilities in which he demonstrates whilst performing live.
Benson is now into his 70s and although many of his fans would have imagined he may have retired by now, the sheer passion that he displays when playing his music is endearing and captivating. He truly believes and holds dear classics such as 'Turn Your Love Around'.
He also has a huge amount of love for his loyal fan base and explains that their support has allowed him to continue to record and tour his sounds globally and for that he is eternally grateful. He also speaks fondly of the accompanying musicians and vocalists who aid him in recreating classics such as 'Never Give Up on a Good Thing '. It is the audience though who are truly grateful tonight having been treated to a world class performance by a true American icon.
sean-ward
Terrible!!!!!
George came out and straight away said he had lost his voice....so for the next hour he tried to play us instrumentals not just by him, but covers of other's songs! Some lasted about 15 minutes..just to make the evening go by! After a good few of us started to "BOO!" him...his management team decided to cancel the show after 9:30. George just walked off leaving someone else to tell us the show was cancelled. A bad show!!! It should not have started!!!
garyfeld
"He gave us the the night", what a musician! He played nearly all his hits, starting in the 70th! I came back to youth 40 years ago! I'm really happy making my trip yesterday from Hamburg to Vienna! Now I'm back and the first thing I did was hearing his greatest hits and had a cold beer! George you are the greatest (love of all)!
Thank you!
Hansi Walther, habimaja@t-online.de +49 172 4113883 from Hamburg/ Germany
hansi-walther
Amazing concert!!! Fabulous Musicians!!! George Benson & Kenny G they are the BEST!!! Supper organized with a perfect sound concert in Microsoft.
One of the best concert I have ever attended...
Thanks to everyone who organized this wonderful concert.Thanks for a great job!!!
Thank you Songkick.
Lusine-Diva
George Benson was great and his band was wonderful. Played from about an hour and half, the last half was great. The sound system did not do justice to George and the band. Old theater which was beautiful but did not handle the sound of a large band.
Enjoyed it greatly.
DavidJeromeDean
Dear sir,
Unfortunately last night show was cancelled, without further notice. I was very disappointed. Show orgners din't notified us, but on computicket tickets were available. Now I'm still on the dark whether there will be any George Benson show.
jobe-kamthembu
I wished I would have been informed about the canceled show before being in front of the building....
Quite upset and disappointed with your mail .
I don’t know and I don’t understand why nothing has been sent since the Friday before the show.
LadyBB
He was good, he gave it his all. The band was great, and the female in his band was great, very nice voice and beautiful. He did everything I wanted to hear, he is a great artist and had many great songs. Overall, I enjoyed his performance.
charisse-gamble
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