Benson, George

Source:

 African American National Biography

Benson, George

(22 Mar. 1943– ),

jazz guitarist, musician, and singer, was born in the Hill District, the African American center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Little information about his early life is available, except that Benson enjoyed a musical upbringing and was considered something of a wunderkind. Indeed, he won his first singing contest at the age of four, and before he was ten years old he was performing publicly, winning more music contests, and appearing on local radio broadcasts. His favorite instrument was the guitar—he'd actually first picked up a ukulele—that had been handmade for him by his stepfather, but he sang as well, and at the age of ten he recorded his first single, “She Makes Me Mad,” for an offshoot of the RCA label. At first, he was interested in rhythm and blues and rock and roll, but soon he fell under the influence of the jazz greats of the day, Charlie Parker among them, and so his music soon turned in the direction of jazz. He attended schools in the Pittsburgh area, including Connelly High School, but he dropped out to pursue what he had determined would be a lifetime of music-making.

His first big move came with a gig with the great hard bop jazz organist Jack McDuff, for whom he played in the backup band. After four years with McDuff, he struck out on his own, relocating to New York and embarking on a solo career. The year 1964 saw the release of his first album, The New Boss Guitar, a soul-inflected offering backed by McDuff's band. Though The New Boss Guitar was largely unknown to the broader listening audience, it did bring Benson to the attention of Columbia Records' John Hammond, who in 1965 signed Benson to the label. In short order, Benson turned out a pair of albums, It's Uptown and Benson Burner, and played backup for many of the label's major stars, including Miles Davis. For a time, he jumped labels—first Verve, after leaving Columbia, then CTI. He tutored under the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, who remained one of Benson's most important influences. Creed Taylor, the influential jazz producer, likewise took him under his wing.

In 1975 Benson found himself onboard the Warner Bros. label, and it was there that he achieved his first major success as a recording artist. His first album for Warner, Breezin' (1976), with its mix of jazz guitar and scat singing (Benson had fought with record executives for some time over the issue of his vocals; he wanted to use them, the executives were less enthusiastic), became a major cross-over success. Its single, “This Masquerade,” reached number one on the Jazz charts and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's title track would itself become one of Benson's most immediately recognizable and enduringly popular hits. The album became so popular that it hit number one on the Pop charts as well and earned Benson three Grammy Awards. His follow-up albums, In Flight (1977), Weekend in L.A. (1978), and Give Me the Night (1980), were likewise commercial successes, though Benson occasionally suffered the slings and arrows of a critical opinion that faulted him for walking away from his pure jazz roots in favor of a more accessible and broadly popular style. Benson did indeed go on to record more pure jazz albums, though he never strayed too far or too long from what appeared to be his conversant and easy-going style of light jazz. Among his most popular tracks was the original recording of Masser and Creed's “Greatest Love of All,” a song rerecorded and made into a hit by Whitney Houston in 1986. The song was featured in the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest. Also ranking high is his live version of “On Broadway,” which won a Grammy in 1980.

Even as he enjoyed commercial success, however, Benson's personal life was often difficult. Three of his seven children died, two of natural causes and one of a gunshot wound suffered during an altercation in a bar. Through it all, Benson continued to perform, record, and tour. Among his numerous albums were Twice the Love (1988), Tenderly (1989), Big Boss Band (1990), Love Remembers (1993), Standing Together (1998), After Hours (2002), and Songs and Stories (2009). He frequently recorded with other artists—including McCoy Tyner, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Chet Atkins—and made numerous television appearances. In 2009 the National Endowment of the Arts honored Benson as a Jazz Master, noting his contribution as a “distinguished artist whose excellence, impact, and significant contributions have helped to keep the important tradition of jazz alive” (NEA 2009).

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