Jazz, soul & blues
George Benson
George Benson (born 1943 in Pittsburgh) is one of the greatest jazz guitarists, doubled as a soul singer of worldwide success. From the pure swing of his beginnings to the hit “Give Me the Night”, he made Montreux one of his homes: from his first concert in 1986 to his twenty-fifth appearance in 2017, few artists have returned there so often.
George Benson in Montreux
1986: Live at Montreux
George Benson played Montreux for the first time on 18 July 1986, at the Casino de Montreux, for the 20th edition. He was then at his peak: “Breezin’” (1976) and “Give Me the Night” (1980) had made this jazz guitarist a worldwide star, able to sing in unison with his own guitar lines.
Nearly twenty years later, that concert was released as “Live at Montreux 1986” (DVD in 2005, double album in 2023) and stands as one of his finest stage documents. It features “Give Me the Night”, produced by Quincy Jones in 1980, and a dazzling “Take Five” borrowed from Dave Brubeck.
“George Benson is part of Montreux”
Benson never stopped coming back. After the Casino of the 1980s and 1990s — 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991 —, he moved to the Auditorium Stravinski from 1996, then almost every two or three years up to his twenty-fifth concert, on 13 July 2017. In 1991, at the Casino, he even shared Ray Charles’s stage for a “This Masquerade” in which Chaka Khan’s voice mingled with his own (Ray Charles).
In 2009, the night before his concert, at a late jam session, B.B. King hailed him as “the best guitarist in the world, in all kinds of music”. The next day, at the Auditorium Stravinski, Benson rolled out “Weekend in L.A.”, “Nature Boy” and “20/20 Vision”; Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander joined him on “At the Mambo Inn”, before two encores demanded by a standing hall — a scat duel with singer Rachelle Ferrell, then a closing “On Broadway”.
“George Benson is part of Montreux”, said Claude Nobs. “Each time he comes with different music, different musicians, but each time with the same huge talent and the same huge soul.” In 2007 the guitarist had also shared the bill with his friend Al Jarreau.
2013: a tribute to Claude Nobs
In January 2013, Claude Nobs died. The following summer, Benson returned to Montreux to pay tribute to the founder who had welcomed him so often. Before the Montreux Jazz TV camera, he recalled his very first visit: “The first time I came to Montreux, I was stunned by the setting.” And he told of his first meeting with Claude.
In the same interview, Benson spoke of his debt to Nat King Cole, a model of elegance, smoothness and professionalism: “Nat King Cole had it all”, said the guitarist, who owes him, in his own words, a part of his art.
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