George Benson’s latest album was recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s in London. (Photo: Carl Hyde)
“He plays jazz language, not guitar language. George really hears all those lines. He knows jazz, bebop and after, and all that just flows out of him.
“We all bow down to George. There’s a whole school of younger guys trying to play like him.”
Prominent among the younger players influenced by Benson is Camila Meza. Born and raised in Chile, Meza, 35, first became aware of Benson when, as a 16-year-old, she heard bootleg copies of the 1976 disc
Breezin’. That album, pushed to triple-platinum status by the title track and “This Masquerade,” was Benson’s commercial breakthrough. To a jazz novice, Meza said, it was a revelation that opened up a new world.