George Benson: A ‘Dream’ Deferred… Until Now

Jazz fans have long known and appreciated the artistry of guitarist George Benson. Debuting on record in 1964, Benson scored toward the end of that decade with 1968’s Shape of Things to Come and 1970’s inspired jazz take on the Beatles, The Other Side of Abbey Road. Those releases initiated a run of hit albums on the jazz charts: between ‘68 and 1983, every one of Benson’s 14 albums made it to the Top 20. Six of those records claimed the No. 1 spot.

But it was only when Benson began to sing on his albums that he broke through to a wider audience. Against a smooth jazz instrumental backdrop, his 1976 album Breezin’ featured Benson’s lead vocals on songs by Bobby Womack, José Feliciano and others. Released as a single, his cover of Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade” climbed into the Top Ten on the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.

With that achievement, George Benson’s crossover appeal was established. Going forward, nearly every album he would release would appear on three charts simultaneously: jazz (where he’d often claim the top spot), R&B and the mainstream Billboard 200. His blend of fluid guitar work and romantic vocals earned him armloads of Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum-selling albums, and – atypically for a jazz artist – several Top 40 singles. Most successful among the latter were “On Broadway” from 1978, 1980’s “Give Me the Night” and 1981’s “Turn Your Love Around.” Benson continued to score hit singles well into the 1990s.

More than 50 years after his recorded debut, George Benson’s most recent albums have found him continuing to explore a variety of styles. On 2019’s Walking to New Orleans he tackled the songs of rock ‘n’ roll pioneers Antoine “Fats” Domino and Chuck Berry. His 2020 live set Weekend in London showcased his guitar artistry. And his most recent, Dreams Do Come True is a collection of vocal standards from the Great American Songbook.

As a music lover, Benson appreciates a wide variety of styles; that’s reflected in the eclecticism of his output. “I listened to the most popular songs as I came up,” he explains. “And I learned to love those songs and the people who recorded them. That’s what I’ve been made out of; that’s the guiding force in my life.” Benson admits that while the jazz idiom provides his best opportunities to stretch as a musician (“It allows me to invent, to experiment,” he says), he’s clearly comfortable working in other genres as well.

The recording sessions for Dreams Do Come True took place in 1989. Working with arranger Robert Farnon, Benson sang classics like “Autumn Leaves” and the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” backed by a lush orchestra. “I wanted to do something special,” he says. But despite the 1980s success of crossover projects like Linda Ronstadt’s blockbuster albums What’s New and Lush Life, Benson’s record label didn’t think a similar project from him would sell. Dreams Do Come True was “off the beaten path for them,” he says. “They weren’t interested.”

The master tapes of the finished record went into storage, and Benson continued making jazz and pop albums that continued to perform well on the charts. “We were selling a lot of records at that time,” he concedes. The sessions with Farnon were eventually forgotten.

Fast forward more than 30 years. “One day,” Benson recalls, “somebody [at Rhino Records] asked me if I had anything ‘in the can.’” He retrieved the tapes from his personal storage and shared some of those recordings. The music was greeted with enthusiasm: “Man, we’ve got to release this stuff!” Dreams Do Come True was released in July 2024.

Meanwhile, George Benson’s body of work continues to inspire both listeners and contemporary artists. The online database at WhoSampled.com cites more than 750 instances of Benson’s music being sampled. “Give Me the Night” has been sampled more than 100 times on recordings by Kanye West, T-Pain and Stephanie Mills, as well as by less-likely artists (Negativland, for example). And in recent years, several remix producers have recast some of Benson’s recordings into the dance-oriented idiom.

For his part, Benson doesn’t pay a lot of attention to those efforts. “I don’t raise a lot of fuss about it,” he says. “I just appreciate the fact that people love my music.” The idea that others might profit off his work doesn’t seem to trouble him, either. “It’s hard to keep track of all that,” he says. “We’re doing well financially; my band works all the time. So I have nothing to complain about.”

Today at age 83, George Benson doesn’t maintain the busy touring schedule of his younger days. In April, his website listed only two upcoming dates, both in May. But he enjoys performing when he can. He characterized his then-upcoming date at the Mountain Winery as an attempt to “fit in somewhere between [the music of] two of the biggest giants in jazz: Miles Davis and John Coltrane.” Guitar in hand, Benson will front an eight-piece band. “We’ll put some class into the show,” he says with a smile.