George Benson Interview: Jazz Guitar Legend

Classic GI interview from August 30, 2009.

by:  Dr. Matt Warnock

Forty-five years after releasing his debut album, The New Boss Guitar, jazz guitarist George Benson is still going strong. With the upcoming August 25, 2009, release date set for his latest studio album Songs And Stories, the ten-time Grammy winner pays tribute to some of his favorite songwriters and composers.

Featuring an all-star line up that includes bassist Marcus Miller, guitarists Lee Ritenour and Toninho Horta, saxophonists Tom Scott and Gerald Albright, among others, Benson and company come together to produce an album that is not only a tribute to great songwriters, it is also a reflection of more than four decades of experience by one of jazz’s greatest instrumentalists and vocalists.

The tracks on the album are a mixture of re-interpretations of classic tunes, such as Christopher Cross’ “Sailing” and James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me be Lonely Tonight,” alongside new songs written by some of the music industry’s greatest songsmiths. The track “Family Reunion” was penned by Ron Templeton, who wrote Benson’s worldwide hit song “Give Me the Night” from the guitarist’s 1976 smash hit album, Breezin’.

Songwriter Bill Withers came out of retirement to write the track, “A Telephone Call Away,” which is one of the album’s finest lyrical and instrumental moments. Other songwriters who made contributions to Songs And Stories include Smokey Robinson, Lamont Dozier, Donny Hathaway and several others.

While most of the album was recorded in the US with local musicians, Benson decided to travel down to Sao Paulo, Brazil to record the tracks “Don’t Let Me be Lonely Tonight” and “Sailing,” featuring some classic Benson guitar work with an all Brazilian ensemble.

Benson’s blues-based sound melds perfectly with the bossa influenced grooves of these talented Brazilian musicians. This allows each song to reach new heights of rhythmic and melodic possibilities while remaining true to the Benson sound.

Songs And Stories is a well-written vocal album at heart, but there are also moments that will satisfy fans of Benson’s legendary guitar work. Some of the best guitar work on the album, and there are ample examples to choose from, can be found on the track “Nuthin’ but a Party.”

The song features both Benson and Norman Brown in a “guitar duel” of sorts, with both pickers bringing their A game to each lick and phrase during the track’s improvised solos. Bassist Marcus Miller lays down some funky slap-bass grooves that provide a rhythmic cushion on which the two guitarists float over with their blues and bebop influenced single-line and octave phrases.

As a special treat for Benson’s fans, the guitarist has provided a free mp3 download on his website of the track “Living In High Definition,” a tune written for the new album by Lamont Dozier.

Fans can also check out “The George Benson Sessions: The Making Of Songs And Stories, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new record which is also found on the front page of Benson’s site. The videos presented in this series will be updated with new material each week, culminating in the August 25 release of the new album. For Songs And Stories, Concord Records partnered with Monster Music, and the album will be released with the company’s high definition surround sound SuperDisc technology.

The Monster version of the record, which will be released the same day as the standard CD, is a two-disc package that consists of the CD version of the album, mixed in traditional stereo, and a bonus DVD containing Monster’s high-def stereo and surround mixes. In addition, the DVD will feature behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the record, including an in-depth interview with Benson.

As Benson readies to release an album of tributes to some of his favorite songwriters, the Ibanez Guitar company used 2009 to pay tribute to the signature guitar that Benson has endorsed since 1979. To mark the 30th anniversary of the original release of the Ibanez George Benson Signature Series Guitar, the company has built and released a limited run of 30 GB30TH model guitars, with only 14 being sent to the US.

Featuring a 3-piece maple neck, spruce top with maple back and sides, an ebony fingerboard, pearl inlays and an ebony bridge, the GB30TH is sure to become one of the most desired limited release guitars that Ibanez has ever produced. Fans and collectors may have to search long and hard to find one of these guitars, and with their popularity they may never reach the open market.

While many people may wish that Ibanez had released more of these exquisitely made instruments, they can still play one of the three other Benson models in the Ibanez catalog, the GB10, GB15 and GB200. All three guitars have become popular among collectors and players alike, and with their affordable price and high-quality design and performance, it is no wonder that the GB series remains the longest continuous signature line in the Ibanez catalog.

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Matt Warnock: Your new album Songs And Stories is a tribute to some of your favorite songwriters. What was the inspiration behind the album’s concept?

George Benson: I came to the conclusion that when making records the greatest thing you can come up with is a great song. The best thing you can do for a record is to come up with great songs that people can listen to, understand and relate to right from bar one.

If you want great songs you have to go to great composers, and so what we did was call our friends, who happen to be some of the greatest composers of all time, such as Ron Templeton, Smokey Robinson, Donny Hathaway and James Taylor. These guys are the best of the best, and they’re the ones that I thought we could relate to and do a great job on their music.

Matt: The lead off song on the new album is James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.” James has such a vast catalog of great tunes that people love to listen to. What was it about this particular tune that inspired you to use it on the new album?

George Benson: Every time I hear that song, I think about the first time I heard it, way back in the early ’70s. I had never heard his voice before, so when I heard it I thought, “Wow, what an incredible voice!” But the song itself was also incredible. It was powerful from many different points of view. Simply put, the story stuck out and it stayed in my mind, and that’s what makes great music, great music.

That song’s going to be alive for a long time to come. I was in Brazil, and the guys in the studio brought that up. They said, “Hey man, you ever tried this tune by James Taylor?” I told them I’d always liked it, but never tried playing it. So we put it down. That was done a few years ago now. I just came back and refreshed it. That’s the original vocal I put down five years ago. We brought it back and added Marcus Miller on bass and some strings to sweeten it up a little bit, so it just sounds fantastic.

Matt: That song features some of your characteristic blues-influenced playing during the intro and solo. Can you talk about your relationship to the blues and how that developed in your early days?

George Benson: I learned the blues from my former boss Brother Jack McDuff. He was an organist who took me on the road when I was nineteen years old. He kept stressing, “Man, put some blues in that stuff, man.” I said, “Wait a minute, man, it’s not a blues song.” He said, “I don’t care! Put some blues in it.” Laughs. I asked him why he liked the blues so much, and he told me that no matter where you are in the world – you could be in America or in China – if you play blues, they understand it.

So that’s why it’s so valuable to me. I’ve experimented with that philosophy over the years and have found that he’s correct. People like the blues no matter where you are all over the world. So it became something that I decided should be a part of everything I did. The blues is like street music. It’s like the language of the street.

Matt: The James Taylor tune and your version of Christopher Cross’ song “Sailing” were both recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil with a Brazilian ensemble. How did this part of the recording process come about?

George Benson: Years ago we did the biggest concert in Brazilian history called “Rock in Rio,” which was in Rio de Janeiro. They invited the world’s greatest rock bands to play at the event, but they also invited a few other people like myself, Al Jarreau and James Taylor was on the show night, as well as many of Brazil’s best musicians. We had a 30-piece orchestra with us on stage that night, and we rocked the house.

When I was there, I met Ivan Lins, who was on my Give Me the Night album. He introduced me to a lot of great musicians, and I saw how great the music scene was down there. So I went into the studio and laid down some preliminary things, and I thought I’ve always wanted to go back and do more. When I went back to Brazil recently, I took advantage of being there and went into the studio with some of the country’s best musicians, and we had a ball, man.

Matt: The track “A Telephone Call Away” on your new album was written by the great Bill Withers. He even came out of retirement to write this song for you. How did this come about?

George Benson: First of all, we worked together a long time ago when he was out on the road, but he doesn’t do that any more. If you ask him, he’ll say, “I don’t do that stuff no more.” [Laughs] He is one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever met. He’s very unpredictable, but he’s always genuine.

He always speaks his mind. He never bites his tongue, and he’s a lot like Miles Davis that way. But he is brilliant at what he does. Everything he writes is so profound and hits right at home with people. “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” and “Just the Two of Us” are so simple, yet everybody can relate to those songs. I’ve always liked him.

He’s not an easy guy. You have to have your guard up all the time because he’s going to put you to the test in a normal conversation. But he always liked me, and I always liked him as a musician and as a person so we always got along well. When I first talked to him, he told me that he didn’t want to write anything, that he didn’t write anymore.

But he called me up a few weeks later, and he had a song for the album. I was so shocked at what he wrote. It was so different from what I had imagined, but still very profound.

Matt: You mentioned Marcus Miller earlier, who plays bass and co-produces the album. What is it about Marcus’ playing and producing that made him the right choice for the new record?

George Benson: I’ve known Marcus since he was a teenager when he was with Tom Brown’s band, which was a formidable band, just a fantastic group, and we had the same manager. He really stood out in that context but he also had an understanding of how to work with a singer because he’s played with Luther Vandross. He knew how demanding we singers can be on stage and in the studio, and Luther has always been a perfectionist when it comes to his music.

This made him very valuable to me because he had both sides covered. He’d played with one of the toughest instrumentalists of all time, Miles Davis, and one of the toughest singers of all time, Luther Vandross. I didn’t know for sure but I had a feeling we’d get along, and sure enough, we got along great and everything worked perfectly in the studio.

Matt: Ibanez recently released the GB30TH to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1979 release of your signature guitar. Did you use this guitar on the album exclusively, or did you use some of your other axes as well?

George Benson: That’s the one I played on the album and it sung. When I first saw the instrument, I just fell in love with it. It has a Japanese kimono design on the surface of the guitar, and I love Japan. They love us and have been treating me like a king for years, but I didn’t know whether I would like the guitar or not before I got it. I did a couple of tracks with it, and it sounded great so I said, “Well, let me hang with this for now.”

I could have gone into the closet and grabbed one of my other guitars, but I stuck with that guitar for most of the album. The only track I used a different guitar on was “Sailing” where I used a D’Angelico. I only bring that one once in seven blue moons, but every time I do I get a smash. I used it on the albums I did with Earl Klugh and Al Jarreau which were both very successful. But the new album was basically recorded with the GB30TH.

Matt: You have developed one of the most recognizable tones in all of jazz, even going back to your early recordings in the mid-’60s. How do you approach achieving that strong tone in the studio?

George Benson: It’s mostly the way I phrase, and I keep the guitar from leaning in any one direction – not too much bass or too tinny. I really don’t like that tinny, hard sound. I find something that’s more or less in the middle and that allows me to make the expressions that I want. They don’t get weighed down with the amplifier dictating what it should sound like – it all depends on me. It’s like I’m singing the notes without opening my mouth. If I think about it, because I’m a singer, the guitar is expressing my vocal thoughts.

Matt: You also have a very unique way of picking, and there have been many myths surrounding your development of this technique. Can you lay out once and for all the story behind your right-hand technique?

George Benson: This is an amazingly simple story. My stepfather, who taught me to play the guitar in the very beginning, one day said to me, “Hold out your hand.” I held my hand out, and he put a guitar pick in it. He said, “Now take the pick in your fingers and take it over to the guitar. Hold it near the guitar. That’s going to be your technique for the rest of your life.” I said, “What?!” [Laughs]

It was very awkward at first, but technique wasn’t very important in those days. When it became important, that style that he gave me was not conducive to playing anything technical. So I devised my own method of playing the guitar in a horizontal way, as opposed to a vertical way, and it worked very well.

Matt: Your career has now spanned over 45 years, and you’ve seen many changes in the music, and in particular, the jazz scene over this span of time. How do you find the jazz scene today as compared to when you began your career in the early ’60s?

George Benson: Of course we’ve lost so many superstars who’ve made jazz what it is. We’ve lost so many musicians who created new things and changed the way we think about music and who took jazz to a new level. So jazz is suffering from that. But we still have a lot of incredible people playing jazz in the world. We have a lot of people leading the way. Guys like Wynton Marsalis – who is one of the great leaders and one of the great jazz educators of our time – he has a great band.

His band is spectacular. We have Roy Hargrove and gobs of other people who lend to the jazz tradition. It’s going to take time before they become household names, but they’re on their way. I don’t think jazz is going to suffer that much. It will always be there, and every now and then we’re going to have a new superstar sneak up on us and take jazz to a whole new realm.

About Matt Warnock

Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals, and is the author of the widely popular “30 Days to Better Jazz Guitar” series. Matt lived in the U.K., where he is a lecturer in Popular Music Performance at the University of Chester and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors). He now lives inTucson, Arizona. Check out Matt’s free and low cost, high end guitar sessions HERE!

Related Links

George Benson

George Benson: The Art of Jazz Guitar on Amazon

George Benson Songs and Stories on Amazon