The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Here here is just one year before his "mating" with Ibanez.

    Last edited by Woody Sound; 10-01-2021 at 03:53 PM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Thanks for posting this!!! Its great, and To my ear it gives proof to the old adage the sounds in the players fingers. Probably deep down in the soul too.
    Having been around then i loved the bell bottom suit on GB, an original Fender electric piano, not sure why the drummer need 1,480 pieces of stuff))), the floor length kaftan on the back up guitarist and of course his wawa pedal. Notice the pre Jaco bass technique and sound.
    But GB hasn’t lost a step!!!!


    jk

  4. #3

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    I don't really like Benson. He's way to mellow.

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marcel_A
    I don't really like Benson. He's way to mellow.
    True, but remember there are also hundreds of recorded instances where he is outrageously bad-ass.

  6. #5

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    I remember around the time this was made, an interview in Rolling Stone in which he was asked to respond to the fan/critic accusation that he had sold out. His response was alon the lines that he liked it, his family liked it, and his Mercedes dealer liked it.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by princeplanet
    True, but remember there are also hundreds of recorded instances where he is outrageously bad-ass.
    I agree, but this was the first time he topped the DB readers poll.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by jazzkritter
    Thanks for posting this!!! Its great, and To my ear it gives proof to the old adage the sounds in the players fingers. Probably deep down in the soul too.
    Having been around then i loved the bell bottom suit on GB, an original Fender electric piano, not sure why the drummer need 1,480 pieces of stuff))), the floor length kaftan on the back up guitarist and of course his wawa pedal. Notice the pre Jaco bass technique and sound.
    But GB hasn’t lost a step!!!!


    jk
    Chick Corea on keyboards!

  9. #8

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    Mr. Benson may have mellowed over the years but nothing mellow about his 1966 recording of Clockwise.


  10. #9

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    In the OP clip, is GB playing Johnny Smith?

  11. #10

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    Or check out his early version of Billie's Bounce, I'm still mining that one for ideas! Utterly fantastic. Someone transcribed the solo on Youtube btw.

    I can't fault him for his commercial decisions. Not everyone wants the jazz life, the small clubs, late nights and not great pay. I'm not a particular fan of the Breezin' years, but the guy can sing. And you could say some of the same things about jazzers who became Fusion players, funkmeisters etc. And let's not get started on "easy listening" jazz!

  12. #11

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    In keeping with Barney Kessel and, more recently, Andreas Öberg, Benson's commercial success outside the box makes the purists shun him. To me, he's one of the sovereign jazz guitar giants, and has been for decades. Which way would Wes had gone, had he lived longer? Examples of his surrender to "easy listening" exist.

  13. #12

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    Kudos to Benson (one of the greatest jazz guitarists ever) for his pecuniary success. Listen to his playing on Jimmy Smith's album "Off the Top". Jazz guitar doesn't get any better than that.

    IMO, when cats put down the playing of the jazz guitar masters on an online forum, they invalidate themselves.

  14. #13

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    I don’t sit and listen to Benson, and I don’t know why that is the case, because every time I hear him I think: Wow, he’s definitely one of the all-time greats!

    I suppose I listen more to jazz than jazz guitar - an odd thing to admit on this forum! Digging Miles Smiles again just now. Is it odd to say I never noticed there wasn’t a guitar player on that album?

    But for sure, every time I hear George Benson, I’m knocked out. I might get Off The Top, suggested above by Stringswinger.

  15. #14

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    "Listen to his playing on Jimmy Smith's album "Off the Top". Jazz guitar doesn't get any better than that."

    This.
    I bought that record when it came out even though it had a bassist (the great Ron Carter) because I prefer organ bands where the organist plays the bass line. Glad I didn't let that stop me from hearing a fantastic recording.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by bluejaybill
    Or check out his early version of Billie's Bounce, I'm still mining that one for ideas! Utterly fantastic. Someone transcribed the solo on Youtube btw.

    I can't fault him for his commercial decisions. Not everyone wants the jazz life, the small clubs, late nights and not great pay. I'm not a particular fan of the Breezin' years, but the guy can sing. And you could say some of the same things about jazzers who became Fusion players, funkmeisters etc. And let's not get started on "easy listening" jazz!
    GB's solo on Billies Bounce is my fav jazz blues solo.

  17. #16

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    That was great. I saw GB live in a jazz club a few years before his commercial success. It was one of the most incredible musical experiences in my life. I couldn’t believe how good he was. And a really nice, approachable guy too. I talked to him after, asked about his D’Angelico, and he just handed it to me. Of course, I didn’t want to play in front of him. In this video, I think I see a Silverface Twin Reverb with JBL’s sitting on top of what looks like a Polytone. It looks like there isn’t anything plugged into the Twin and a microphone is on the Polytone. Is that correct ?
    Keith

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    I don’t sit and listen to Benson, and I don’t know why that is the case, because every time I hear him I think: Wow, he’s definitely one of the all-time greats!

    I suppose I listen more to jazz than jazz guitar - an odd thing to admit on this forum! Digging Miles Smiles again just now. Is it odd to say I never noticed there wasn’t a guitar player on that album?

    But for sure, every time I hear George Benson, I’m knocked out. I might get Off The Top, suggested above by Stringswinger.
    Here’s one of my favourite early Benson tracks. Dr. Lonnie Smith (RIP) is on the organ.


  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stringswinger
    Kudos to Benson (one of the greatest jazz guitarists ever) for his pecuniary success. Listen to his playing on Jimmy Smith's album "Off the Top". Jazz guitar doesn't get any better than that.

    IMO, when cats put down the playing of the jazz guitar masters on an online forum, they invalidate themselves.
    Yeah, I love that album. His solo on "I'll Drink to that" makes me literally laugh out loud at how absurdly good he is every time I listen to it (just yesterday, it happened again). I have no quarrel with his pop music side. I like some, I don't like some, but that's true of pretty much every artist I've ever listened to. He's not debasing his gifts any more than the rest of us do when we make a living using abilities that could in theory be applied more "nobly" (e.g., using one's intellectual skills in business rather than academically or to write the great American Novel). Arguably less so, given that at his "worst" his making music that millions of people enjoy. Plus, he's a great fans of other people's music, and I've never heard anything but good things about him as a person.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Digging Miles Smiles again just now. Is it odd to say I never noticed there wasn’t a guitar player on that album?
    You want Benson with Miles? Here ya go!


  21. #20

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    Benson with Dexter Gordon (guitar solo starts at 4:25):


  22. #21

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    George is obviously one of our greatest living guitarists.

    I don't diss George's commercial success, I just think that some of the songs he has recorded since he became very successful are not great, and some of his arrangements even of good songs don't bring out the best of his playing.

    That said, he can still bring it when he gets a chance. I was hoping to see him while he is still touring, but it looks like he won't be playing in the States til 2023 at the earliest.

  23. #22

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    While not really influenced by GB, I recently spent time transcribing a lot of Benson licks (on Breezin’ era stuff) alongside some of other well known players for a website, which naturally meant a lot of listening to him at half speed

    good god does this man have amazing time. Not a controversial take, or course; but it’s not simply his innate time feel and sense of groove which is of course killer but also the sheer precision and lack of ‘lag’ in his articulation. He plays rhythms so exactly it’s scary. If there’s another guitar player who can rival him on this I can’t of them.
    Last edited by Christian Miller; 09-30-2021 at 10:59 AM.

  24. #23

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    Here is a theory. Music is heard differently between trained musicians (be it formal or informal) and people who have not spent years focusing their mind and hearing on the nuances of sound, and the organizing of sound.

    Art (what ever form) is the ability to express what it means to be human.

    That expression becomes a mirror for people to see what it is to be human.

    In as much as that mirror allows for humans to become healthier it can be judges as powerful. (That is a tricky premise. We have to deals with ideas of value and utility).

    What is heard as a limiting use of musical ideas in some of Benson’s work by musicians, might be exactly what heals the most people. (I use the word heals with its’ connotations not denotations. Also I use that word very open to a person’s own understanding if what healing looks like).

    (Here is a huge leap). So maybe Benson’s work is more important then that of someone like Coltrane.

    However, I would not argue that. First, because of the individuality of any healing process. It would be like saying medicine x is the only one needed because it works for more people, yet does not work for some. Of course there is no reason to throw away medicine y because only a few are not helped by medicine x. If you think about that, it generates a whole bunch of other premises, that could be applied.

    I could go on and on, with thoughts around aesthetics. The funny thing is that I have read that the study of aesthetics, is no longer seen as important in philosophy. Apparently, I disagree.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    I recently spent time transcribing a lot of Benson licks (on Breezin’ era stuff), and good god does this man have amazing time. Not a controversial take, or course; but it’s not simply his innate time feel and sense of groove which is of course killer but also the sheer precision and lack of ‘lag’ in his articulation. He plays rhythms so exactly it’s scary. If there’s another guitar player who can rival him on this I can’t of them.
    Pat Martino

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    While not really I glue fed by GB, I recently spent time transcribing a lot of Benson licks (on Breezin’ era stuff) alongside some of other well known players for a website, which naturally meant a lot of listening to him at half speed

    good god does this man have amazing time. Not a controversial take, or course; but it’s not simply his innate time feel and sense of groove which is of course killer but also the sheer precision and lack of ‘lag’ in his articulation. He plays rhythms so exactly it’s scary. If there’s another guitar player who can rival him on this I can’t of them.
    Tough call, but Pat Martino, Mike Stern, and Russell Malone come to mind, and maybe some of the other Benson-school players (Bobby Broom, Mark Whitfield)? But only Benson is Benson.