Best of George Benson: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of His Guitar Styles and Techniques (Signature Licks) (Paperback)

~ Wolf Marshall (Author), George Benson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn and explore the music of one of the most respected and pioneering jazz guitar players of our time. This book/CD pack provides a hands-on analysis of 13 great performances: Affirmation * Billie's Bounce (Bill's Bounce) * Body Talk * The Borgia Stick * Breezin' * C-Smooth * Clockwise * The Cooker * Easy Living * So What * Stormy Weather * Take Five * This Masquerade. The CD includes full-band examples of all the exercises.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634011316
• ISBN-13: 978-0634011313
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #646,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breezin' through Benson, June 17, 2004

By	Concerned - See all my reviews

Wolf Marshall has been industriously turning out transcriptions and re-recordings of major jazz guitarists' soli for about three years now. "Best of George Benson" is one of his early efforts in this vein, and has since been joined by works on Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, Grant Green and Joe Pass.
The book is balanced roughly equally between Benson's early recordings and his later CTI and commercial career. The early studies include the "Easy Living" chord solo from "The New Boss Guitar of...," "Clockwise" and "Stormy Weather" from "It's Uptown," "The Cooker" and "The Borgia Stick" theme from "The George Benson Cookbook," and "Billie's Bounce" from "Giblet Gravy." The CTI phase of his career represented in this book and recording includes "So What" from "Beyond the Blue Horizon," "Body Talk" from the album of the same title, and "Take Five" from "Bad Benson." "Breezin'," "This Masquerade," and "Affirmation" are all from 1976's "Breezin'." The book closes (somewhat incongruously) with "C-Smooth" from 1998's "Standing Together."
The transcriptions are clearly printed, meticulously detailed, and annotated by Wolf Marshall, who draws upon years of transcription and guitar performance experience to discuss departures from conventional chord changes, unusual passages, and linkages to past and contemporary jazz musicians. The transcriptions typically include the introductions and heads of the tunes as well as Benson's solos. Marshall's choices of material scruple to adhere mostly to Benson's more important work while giving a chronological overview of Benson's evolution. In this light it's easy to see why there's such a focus on "Breezin'"- arguably Benson's most important album in terms of his own career, and also possibly the single most influential album of the Benson oeuvre - even though most guitar nuts might prefer Benson's exciting explorations of the early 70s (even those from other leaders' albums - it's a shame licensing for transcriptions doesn't apparently extend to albums by Freddie Hubbard). The inclusion of "C-Smooth" from 22 years after "Breezin'" seems almost an afterthought. One can almost hear Marshall saying "...and now he's doing this..." but without much evolutionary context, it's not as appreciable, perhaps. Still, there are limits to what both media and market will accept, and I am very grateful to have access to as much insight as has been granted here.
The recording is beautifully (and very clearly) done by a small group led by Marshall, who does an admirable job of replicating the early frenetic Benson of "...Cookbook" as well as the comparatively mellow Benson of "Breezin'." The audio has been mixed with the guitar to one side so that the CD may be used as a play-along as well as an audio reference.
All in all, this is really wonderful work, documenting as it does the uniquely American art form of jazz guitar, and helping its legacy inform the future. I look forward to other and forthcoming volumes in Wolf Marshall's series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A So So Book On George Benson Transcriptions, November 27, 2008

By	Charles Brady "Boss Guitar" (Cranbury, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hello Folks....Unfortunately you will never find perfect transcriptions on Jazz Guitarists especially this one on George Benson. The transcritpions are somewhat inaccurate. For instance, for the Affirmation Intro there are mistakes on the tablature for the beginning 1st measure. The notes are not at the location specified in the F# Phyrgian Mode. I hope I'm not the only one that notices this. This is my observation so far and the chords for Bm7 are not accurate either. Guitar transcritpions are only used as an study aid and not for copying the artist style note for note.

5.0 out of 5 stars This REALLY deserves 5 Stars., September 29, 2008

By	maxwell silverhammer (Wien) - See all my reviews

I am writing this review, because the review of the guy who's gotten a broken CD is misleading in my opinion. now the book has fewer stars than it deserves and this is unfair to Wolf Marshall who did a great job.

I received the book a few days ago and i am already into it.
Wolf Marshall's transcription books really diserve praise. The book features a nice selection of songs, the transcriptions are extremely accurate and it comes with a CD of Marshall playing the transcriptions. The solos are in both standard and TAB notation.
If you want to take your jazz guitar soloing to the next level, transcriptions and not scales are the way to go in my opinion, and this book really offers you an arsenal of new devices that you can incorporate into your own soloing. you have to understand basic jazz theory of course.

Fazit: Highly accurate useable transcriptions AND a CD that really helps to speed up the learning process for in my opinion few money considering the amount of work that went into this.
Recommended.