65 Quotes by George Benson

No matter what they take from me, they can’t take away my dignity.

The melody is the most important thing that must stay in the minds of the people who listen to you. No matter how many notes you play, you can’t let them forget what the song is.

The first time I tried to sing along with my guitar, everybody in the studio booed. They all said it wouldn’t work.

People who love jazz musicians love us when we play what we want to play and we’re starving. But as soon as you commercialize your sound like Wes Montgomery did, the jazz fans and the critics are down on you!

I’ve had the pleasure of playing with the baddest Jazz cats on the planet.

Guitar gigs were everywhere in the ’50s, and I started diddling around so I could keep working. Playing honky-tonk, simple stuff. I took a few gigs with an organ band that put me out front.

There is no finer guitarist than Kenny Burrell.

As my career has progressed, I’ve had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet. But that doesn’t change my desire to entertain folks. That’s really who I am.

My whole career from the early 70s on has been mind-blowing. I didn’t imagine in my life that I would ever be considered a guitar player first of all because I started off as a singer.