George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is an American musician, guitarist and singer-songwriter. He began his professional career at 21 as a jazz guitarist. Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth22 March 1943
CityPittsburgh, PA
CountryUnited States of America
teaching harmony instruments
I spent a lot of time teaching myself theory and harmony so I could be free to express myself on the instrument.
giving-up never-giving-up giving
Never give up on a good thing, never give up, never give up!
player guitar world
The greatest guitar player in the world today for me is Paco de Lucia, who is actually Spanish.
cat who-i-am careers
As my career has progressed, I've had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet. But that doesn't change my desire to entertain folks. That's really who I am.
song essence essence-of-life
Love songs are one of the great essences of life, the only thing thats lasting.
thinking people suffering
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.
song play people
The melody is the most important thing that must stay in the minds of the people who listen to you. No matter how many notes you play, you can't let them forget what the song is.
music everyday get-up
I have been doing music all my life so everyday when I get up I expect music will be part of it.
congratulations guitar years
Larry Carlton is an incredibly versatile guitarist who has been a major force for guitar for many years. He is easily recognizable - all you have to do is hear him once and from that point on you'll be a fan, just like me. It gives me great pleasure to extend congratulations to Larry on his 2011 George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations !
great
I like Simon Cowell - look at how many great artists have come out of the U.K. because of him.
band beyond chords complete days jazz learned music nice playing seems stretch
The jazz always seems to automatically come out, because it was from my jazz days that I learned that spark. And the nice thing with my band and this repertoire, which is a complete joy, is that we go beyond just playing chords and melody. It is music that can stretch out.
columbus hot taking town
Columbus is taking off and it's about to boom, this is a hot town right now.
moved
I moved to Hawaii from Inglewood, New Jersey. I had planned on retiring there.