I have long held that George Benson is best all around jazz guitarist on the planet. He’s in his 60’s now and still does amazing things with the guitar. There are a lot of great YouTube videos of him playing. I just came across this Youtube video of him playing the song “Take Five” at the 1986 Montreax Jazz Festival. There actually is a professional DVD of his performance on this date. It’s excellent. BUT… you won’t find the performance of “Take Five” on that DVD. They must have edited it out of the final cut.
The quality of the video isn’t perfect. There seems to be a delay between the video and audio towards the end of his solo. But it’s still awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard George go all out like this in a solo. He’s totally in the zone. It’s really instructive, actually. You have to be in the moment to perform at your best!
Check it out and leave me a comment about what you think!
Leon
Take Five – Montreaux
I just came upon this site…it’s great. Keep it going PLEAS!!!
Wow…I sometimes wish I was born years earlier so I could have had the chance to see perform gifted ones like Georgie!… I’m on my twenties and discovered Benson a few years ago, since then I’ve been a huge fan.
Keep posting more about Georgie! Great site!!…
Best wishes from Argentina,
JP