What keeps George Benson inspired

MANILA, Philippines - Like the Nat King Cole song, George Benson is “unforgettable” that’s how he is. How could he not be, when at 70, the American jazz guitarist-singer is still at it, touring the world with his latest album Inspiration, which pays tribute to his own music inspiration Nat King Cole.

He will be bringing his Inspiration tour to the Philippines on Sept. 5 at the Big Dome with Patti Smith as a special guest.

Like a Nat King Cole song, George Benson is “unforgettable” that’s how he is. How could he not be, when at 70, the singer-guitarist is still at it, touring the world with his latest album Inspiration, which pays tribute to his own music inspiration Nat King Cole.

Like a Nat King Cole song, George Benson is “unforgettable” that’s how he is. How could he not be, when at 70, the singer-guitarist is still at it, touring the world with his latest album Inspiration, which pays tribute to his own music inspiration Nat King Cole.

On his previous visits to the Philippines:

“I’ve been there a few times before, we’ve played in Folk Arts Theater. I enjoyed the country, I enjoyed the theater. I know I got a lot of fans there, people who love us.

“But it’s been too long (since I was last there). I need to come back there and play for my fans there. They have shown that they love what I do. So when I had the opportunity to come back and do something there I took it.

“I got lots of memories. I got a chance to go out and heard some local entertainment and some very nice, well not nice, but great local singers, mostly female singers. They have great voices, and they know what’s great. And there was a lot of American hits on the radio, and they treated me like a king.”

On Nat King Cole as a music inspiration:

“Well, in the early days of my life, in my career, Nat Cole’s the biggest inspiration of all as a vocalist. You know, long before I was known as a guitar player, I was the little Georgie Benson the singer. So in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I did everything. I had a radio show, I worked in nightclubs when I was a little boy, and I made records when I was 10 years old but as a singer. And Nat Cole was my favorite at that time. So, I’ve always wanted to make a tribute to him and I finally got around to doing it. And my latest album which is Inspiration, only means that I was inspired by the great works of Nat Cole.

“(But) I’ve never met Nat King Cole. He died in 1965 and I was still a young man then, but it was my dream to meet him, and I know lots of his relatives like his two brothers, one of whom is Freddie Cole who is still alive. And of course, everyone knows his daughter Natalie, my friend and he has two other daughters, one had just passed away. And I know his wife Maria Cole, so I knew a lot of family members.”

On how he got the idea of a tribute album:

“I got the inspiration when I did a tribute way back in the ’70s or the ’80s at one of the concert halls in New York City, and it came out so great and I said, ‘man I gotta do a whole, you know, show dedicated to Nat. I was just getting around to it, you know, in the last few years. The last four to five years I’ve done several shows dedicated to Nat Cole, but now I’ve gotten a lot more requests to do that show.”

On the biggest challenge of doing Inspiration:

“Well, trying to convince people that we are serious. You know, because Nat is such a great reputation. Anybody who attempts to do a Nat King Cole Song must do it with bigger, more suave, you know, expertise… He was a very meticulous man, he had great arrangements, great compositions and we borrowed songs from his repertoire and we tried to put them together in what would be the early days and we had a lot of fun doing it.”

On what makes the album extra special:

“I don’t do this kind of material every day. It’s a very special record… in a big band like, you know, the way they used to do things years ago —big orchestration and great arrangements — but it was like the songs (in Inspiration) were dated in that time period. So, it’s like I went back in history and I’m reliving that part of history. It really has a nice color and flavor to the record. You know, very few people heard me in this light before.”

On his songs being a favorite choice for covers:

“I don’t worry about it because I know that each generation inspires the next generation and when I hear people doing my materials like an honor, it says that they appreciate the contributions I’ve made to the music world and you can’t be mad about that. You can only be happy, you know.”

On what keeps him doing the things he loves best:

“Well, I like great songs. I’ve always looked for songs that I think will affect people in a big way, and I think that’s a secret to (success), because there’s a lot of artists out there, a lot of records out there, people really don’t know what they want. They’ve got so much to tell, it’s hard to make decisions. So you got to make sure what you put up is something people will spend on and pay attention to. And that’s what I think about when I think about music.”

On advice for the new and aspiring music artists:

“Well, first you have to do what you believe in. If you got to give somebody else to believe in, you have to believe it first. And they can feel it when they hear you perform. Whatever you do, whether you are an instrumentalist or vocalist, if they can feel what you’re doing, then they’ll probably listen to you, but if they can’t feel it, if they feel you’re just doing it for some ulterior motive, they probably won’t be (listening) to the next. So if you’re sincere in what you do, I think that’s the key. If you’re sincere in what you do, I think people will feel it to connect.

“There are so many people in the world, and they’re not gonna like the same thing. Very few artists connect with the planet in general. ‘Coz when you think about it, if you sell 50 million records, that would be something great, but that’ nothing compared to the entire population on the earth. So, like I’ve said, if you’re sincere, people will listen to you. Throughout the years, you’ll gain quite a collection of listeners. So that’s what I think about (when I’m making music). I think about, is the music that I’m making something I will be proud of 10 years, 20 years from now? I think about that.”

On his current playlist:

“I listen to a little bit of everything. The world is made up of a little bit of everything. People from all different walks of life, so I listen to what they’re doing. Some of them young, some of them traditional artists, but I listen to all of them.”

On what’s next after his Inspiration album and tour:

“Now, I’m really concentrating on this one, because we’ve been getting such great response to this record. We’re concentrating on keeping it alive and getting people into you know, listening to the record because we’ve put our hearts and soul in it and we seem to be getting the response we were looking for. But you can bet on this, when I get to the Philippines, I’m gonna do the things that I know you wanna hear that makes me George Benson. We’re gonna do the hits.”

On being asked to judge American reality talent shows and declining the offers:

“I have being asked, but I don’t really like to do it. I feel bad for the ones who were not taken because they were all good. So I feel bad for them ‘coz I’ve been in that position and I know what it means to be overlooked. I had talent, but you know, everybody can’t win. So I don’t wanna be the one to pick the winner and lead the rest of them out. I don’t wanna be that guy.”

(George Benson Inspiration Tour is presented by Ovation Productions and brought to you by Air 21, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV, Diva Universal, Jack Cit, History Channel and RJ 100.3 FM. It is also supported by The Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin, BusinessWorld, 96.3 Easy Rock, Mellow 94.7, Monster Radio RX 93.1, Crossover 105.1 and Radio High 105 9.  Ticket prices for the Smart Araneta Coliseum concert are P6,020, P4,695, P3,910, P2,855, P1,800 and P740. For info, visit www. ticketnet.com.ph. Ticket prices for the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino show are P4,500, P4,000, P3,000, P2,000 and P1,000.  For info, call (032) 232-6888/0917-622-8705).