![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/George_Benson.jpg\")
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\u2019s Shape of Things to Come<\/i> and 1970\u2019s inspired jazz take on the Beatles, The Other Side of Abbey Road<\/i>. Those releases initiated a run of hit albums on the jazz charts: between \u201868 and 1983, every one of Benson\u2019s 14 albums made it to the Top 20. Six of those records claimed the No. 1 spot.<\/p>\n
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\u2019<\/i> featured Benson\u2019s lead vocals on songs by Bobby Womack, Jos\u00e9 Feliciano and others. Released as a single, his cover of Leon Russell\u2019s \u201cThis Masquerade\u201d climbed into the Top Ten on the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.<\/p>\n
With that achievement, George Benson\u2019s crossover appeal was established. Going forward, nearly every album he would release would appear on three charts simultaneously: jazz (where he\u2019d often claim the top spot), R&B and the mainstream Billboard<\/i> 200. His blend of fluid guitar work and romantic vocals earned him armloads of Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum-selling albums, and \u2013 atypically for a jazz artist \u2013 several Top 40 singles. Most successful among the latter were \u201cOn Broadway\u201d from 1978, 1980\u2019s \u201cGive Me the Night\u201d and 1981\u2019s \u201cTurn Your Love Around.\u201d Benson continued to score hit singles well into the 1990s.<\/p>\n
More than 50 years after his recorded debut, George Benson\u2019s most recent albums have found him continuing to explore a variety of styles. On 2019\u2019s Walking to New Orleans<\/i> he tackled the songs of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll pioneers Antoine \u201cFats\u201d Domino and Chuck Berry. His 2020 live set Weekend in London<\/i> showcased his guitar artistry. And his most recent, Dreams Do Come True<\/i> is a collection of vocal standards from the Great American Songbook.<\/p>\n
As a music lover, Benson appreciates a wide variety of styles; that\u2019s reflected in the eclecticism of his output. \u201cI listened to the most popular songs as I came up,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd I learned to love those songs and the people who recorded them. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been made out of; that\u2019s the guiding force in my life.\u201d Benson admits that while the jazz idiom provides his best opportunities to stretch as a musician (\u201cIt allows me to invent, to experiment,\u201d he says), he\u2019s clearly comfortable working in other genres as well.<\/p>\n
The recording sessions for Dreams Do Come True<\/i> took place in 1989. Working with arranger Robert Farnon, Benson sang classics like \u201cAutumn Leaves\u201d and the Beatles\u2019 \u201cYesterday,\u201d backed by a lush orchestra. \u201cI wanted to do something special,\u201d he says. But despite the 1980s success of crossover projects like Linda Ronstadt\u2019s blockbuster albums What\u2019s New<\/i> and Lush Life<\/i>, Benson\u2019s record label didn\u2019t think a similar project from him would sell. Dreams Do Come True<\/i> was \u201coff the beaten path for them,\u201d he says. \u201cThey weren\u2019t interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cWe were selling a lot of records at that time,\u201d he concedes. The sessions with Farnon were eventually forgotten.<\/p>\n
Fast forward more than 30 years. \u201cOne day,\u201d Benson recalls, \u201csomebody [at Rhino Records] asked me if I had anything \u2018in the can.\u2019\u201d He retrieved the tapes from his personal storage and shared some of those recordings. The music was greeted with enthusiasm: \u201cMan, we\u2019ve got to release this stuff!\u201d Dreams Do Come True<\/i> was released in July 2024.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, George Benson\u2019s body of work continues to inspire both listeners and contemporary artists. The online database at WhoSampled.com cites more than 750 instances of Benson\u2019s music being sampled. \u201cGive Me the Night\u201d 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\u2019s recordings into the dance-oriented idiom.<\/p>\n
For his part, Benson doesn\u2019t pay a lot of attention to those efforts. \u201cI don\u2019t raise a lot of fuss about it,\u201d he says. \u201cI just appreciate the fact that people love my music.\u201d The idea that others might profit off his work doesn\u2019t seem to trouble him, either. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to keep track of all that,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re doing well financially; my band works all the time. So I have nothing to complain about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today at age 83, George Benson doesn\u2019t 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 \u201cfit in somewhere between [the music of] two of the biggest giants in jazz: Miles Davis and John Coltrane.\u201d Guitar in hand, Benson will front an eight-piece band. \u201cWe\u2019ll put some class into the show,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s Shape of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,42,49],"tags":[4387],"class_list":["post-31388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-jazz","category-new-release","tag-george-benson","cat-41-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31391,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31388\/revisions\/31391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}