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George Benson age 21, playing a LP


jaxson50

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George Benson started playing banjo at age 6, started playing for tips on the streets at age 8,

Here he is at age 21

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ivYFzlapYTA

 

Nice stuff....keyboardist has some skills for sure..........funny tho....he sure doesn't look like today's 21 year olds.....he looks more like todays 40 and 50 year olds.

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Interesting that although taking the lead in turns George's guitar is by far the most subdued of the instruments. He could have done with turning his amp up a couple more notches.

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1490739321[/url]' post='1845306']

What I noticed was his tone. It's unmistakably George Benson regardless that he using a Les Paul and unknown amplifier. Goes to prove that the tone is mostly in the player and not the equipment.

 

That was my first thought. It's all him, not the gear. What is the amp he's playing anyways?

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That was my first thought. It's all him, not the gear. What is the amp he's playing anyways?

 

Maybe a tweed? At the beginning the announcer speaks a French/English combo, and then George turns around and futs with what looks like a tweed colored amp. Agree , sound is unmistakable, no matter what.

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Never seen Benson playing an LP before. Love it. [thumbup]

 

I'm always surprised more jazz players didn't embrace Les Paul's (or SG's for that matter) as they have a great tone for jazz and a nice alternative from the usual archtop tone.

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I've heard some pretty funny stories about George, some of which can't be repeated in public... but

 

My favorite was told to me by Freddy Cole (Nat "King" Cole's brother), and kind of starts out like a bad joke... "two old black guys walk into a bar"...

 

Freddy had stopped by George's house for a visit (Phoenix, AZ I believe), and George says "hey, let's go out for a couple drinks." So Freddy and George walk into this little bar and there happens to be small jazz combo playing. After a few drinks, Freddy goes up to the band and asks if he and his friend could sit in on a couple tunes. Asked what instruments they played, he said he played piano, and his friend played a little guitar. The bandleader says OK, and asked what there names were. Freddy replies "my name's Fred and my friend's name is George."

 

After playing a few tunes, one of the band guys says "hey, you guys are pretty good." I wonder if the band ever figured out who they really were.

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