Glasgow Jazz Festival
George Benson
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Stuart Morrison
five Stars
GEORGE Benson has reached the point in his career, when the epithet "Legendary" is not only appropriate, but accurate. Now 73 years old, he has been playing guitar since he was eight and has been a star in both jazz and pop for more than forty years. He has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, for goodness sake. So, when the lights dimmed and the voice announced: "Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome, multi-Grammy award winner, the legendary, George Benson", nobody was arguing.
Benson sauntered on to the stage, gave a little shimmy for the ladies and picked up his guitar as his ridiculously tight band eased their way into Love x Love. The voice, a little rusty at first, warmed up during a lovely cover of Norah Jones’s Don’t Know Why and by Turn Your Love Around and Kisses in the Moonlight, it was at full throttle. He ranged across his career, playing the hits but also reminding us that he was, first and foremost, a jazz guitarist. He played a blistering, solo, jazz arrangement of Danny Boy, taking that most traditional of tunes to a different place altogether. Stevie Wonder’s Lately also received the treatment, this time with his band. But, of course, it was the hits that most people wanted to hear and he played most of them, with only Nature Boy and Greatest Love of All, being obvious omissions. In Your Eyes, Give Me the Night and Never Give Up on a Good Thing, breezed by. This Masquerade made a welcome appearance and he finished with a cover of the Drifters’ On Broadway, allowing his band to stretch out.
Legendary? You better believe it.
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