George Benson - Inside Love (So Personal) / Rock In Rio (1985)

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Schenley High School. He now lives in Englewood, New Jersey’s Bergen County. Benson started out playing straight-ahead instrumental jazz with organist Jack McDuff. Benson got his first experience playing with his several-year stint with McDuff’s group. At the age of 21, Benson recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, with Brother Jack McDuff on organ. Benson’s next recording was It’s Uptown with the George Benson Quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax. This album showcases Benson’s talent in constructing swinging bebop lines at blistering tempos. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber. Miles Davis employed Benson’s talents in the mid 1960s; Benson played guitar on Paraphenalia, which appeared on the trumpeter’s 1967 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky. He went to Verve Records for a spell afterwa