George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
59-465: A former child prodigy , Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack McDuff and others. He then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz, pop, R&B singing, and scat singing . His album Breezin' was certified triple- platinum , hitting no. 1 on the Billboard album chart in 1976. His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and he still has
118-520: A "rage to master") the cerebellum accelerates the streamlining of the efficiencies of working memory in its manipulation and decomposition/re-composition of visual-spatial content into language acquisition and into linguistic, mathematical, and artistic precocity. Essentially, Vandervert has argued that when a child is confronted with a challenging new situation, visual-spatial working memory and speech-related and other notational system-related working memory are decomposed and re-composed (fractionated) by
177-509: A child in mathematics, but he taught himself algorithms and tricks for calculatory speed, becoming capable of extremely complex mental math. His brain, compared to six other controls, was studied using the PET scan, revealing separate areas of his brain that he manipulated to solve complex problems. Some of the areas that he and presumably prodigies use are brain sectors dealing in visual and spatial memory, as well as visual mental imagery . Other areas of
236-474: A few months later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A. , also won a Grammy. The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by Quincy Jones ) released Benson's breakthrough pop album Give Me The Night , produced by Jones. Benson made it into the pop and R&B top ten with the song " Give Me the Night " (written by former Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton ). He had many hit singles such as "Love All
295-472: A field of expertise, is capable of holding relevant information for extended periods, usually hours. For example, experienced waiters have been found to hold the orders of up to twenty customers in their heads while they serve them, but perform only as well as an average person in number-sequence recognition. The PET scans also answer questions about which specific areas of the brain associate themselves with manipulating numbers. One subject never excelled as
354-526: A greater demand for visuospatial information processing and visual-motor imagination in abacus mental calculation. Additionally, the right middle frontal gyrus activation is suggested to be the neuroanatomical link between prodigies’ abacus mental calculation and the visuospatial working memory. This activation serves a mediation effect on the correlation between abacus-based mental calculation and visuospatial working memory . A training-induced neuroplasticity regarding working memory performance for children
413-537: A guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder 's song " Another Star " from Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life . He also recorded the original version of " The Greatest Love of All " for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest , which was later covered by Whitney Houston as "Greatest Love of All." During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor Claus Ogerman . The live take of " On Broadway ," recorded
472-522: A large following. Benson has won ten Grammy Awards and has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Benson was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . At the age of seven, he first played the ukulele in a corner drug store, for which he was paid a few dollars. At age eight, he played guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights, but
531-566: A significant point, perhaps at the agricultural-religious settlements of Göbekli Tepe or Cyprus . Some researchers believe that prodigious talent tends to arise as a result of the innate talent of the child, and the energetic and emotional investment that the child ventures. Others believe that the environment plays the dominant role, many times in obvious ways. For example, László Polgár set out to raise his children to be chess players, and all three of his daughters went on to become world-class players (two of whom are grandmasters ), emphasising
590-452: A teaching position at Harvard Noting that the cerebellum acts to streamline the speed and efficiency of all thought processes, Vandervert explained the abilities of prodigies in terms of the collaboration of working memory and the cognitive functions of the cerebellum. Citing extensive imaging evidence, Vandervert first proposed this approach in two publications which appeared in 2003. In addition to imaging evidence, Vandervert's approach
649-474: Is an accepted version of this page A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some field. The term wunderkind (from German Wunderkind ; literally "wonder child") is sometimes used as a synonym for child prodigy, particularly in media accounts. Wunderkind also
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#1732877243435708-450: Is energy-consuming and requires attention to correct mistakes. As prodigies start formal chess training early with intense dedication to deliberate practice, they may accumulate enough deliberate practice for their exceptional performance. Therefore, this framework provide an arguably reasonable justification for chess prodigies. However, similar amounts of practice also make children differ in their achievements because of other factors such as
767-412: Is in the key of F-sharp which Slick acknowledges "is difficult for guitar players as it requires some intricate fingering". Cash Box called it "a real strong outing guaranteed to get lots of attention." Record World said it has "a little bolero sound and a haunting lyric." Reviewing several of Jefferson Airplane's albums for Mojo in 1998, Jon Savage described "White Rabbit" as "one of
826-530: Is more plastic . Besides the quality of practice, and the parental investment, the experience of flow during the practice is important for efficient and adequate practice for music prodigies. Practice demands high levels of concentration, which is hard for children in general, but flow can provide inherent pleasures of the practice to ensure this focused work. PET scans performed on several mathematics prodigies have suggested that they think in terms of long-term working memory (LTWM). This memory , specific to
885-553: Is not always maintained into adulthood. Some researchers have found that gifted children fall behind due to lack of effort. Jim Taylor, professor at the University of San Francisco, theorizes that this is because gifted children experience success at an early age with little to no effort and may not develop a sense of ownership of success. Therefore, these children might not develop a connection between effort and outcome. Some children might also believe that they can succeed without effort in
944-570: Is one of Grace Slick 's earliest songs, written from December 1965 to January 1966. It uses imagery found in the fantasy works of Lewis Carroll — 1865's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass — such as changing size after taking pills or drinking an unknown liquid. Slick wrote the lyrics first, then composed the music at a red upright piano she had bought for US$ 50 with eight or ten keys missing — "that
1003-419: Is proposed. A study examining German calculating prodigies also proposed a similar reason for exceptional calculation abilities. Excellent working memory capacities and neuroplastic changes brought by extensive practice would be essential to enhance this domain-specific skill. "My mother said that I should finish high school and go to college first." Saul Kripke in response to an invitation to apply for
1062-445: Is supported by the substantial award-winning studies of the cerebellum by Masao Ito. Vandervert provided extensive argument that, in the prodigy, the transition from visual-spatial working memory to other forms of thought (language, art, mathematics) is accelerated by the unique emotional disposition of the prodigy and the cognitive functions of the cerebellum. According to Vandervert, in the emotion-driven prodigy (commonly observed as
1121-520: Is used to recognise those who achieve success and acclaim early in their adult careers. Generally, prodigies in all domains are suggested to have relatively elevated IQ , extraordinary memory, and exceptional attention to detail. Significantly, while math and physics prodigies may have higher IQs, this may be an impediment to art prodigies. K. Anders Ericsson emphasised the contribution of deliberate practice over their innate talent to prodigies' exceptional performance in chess. The deliberate practice
1180-823: The Autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) were reported in both first-degree relatives of child prodigies and of autism, which was higher than normal prevalence. Some autistic traits can be found among prodigies. Firstly, the social function of arithmetic prodigies may be weaker because of larger activation in certain brain areas enhancing their arithmetic performance, which is also essential for social and emotional functions (i.e., precuneus, lingual and fusiform gyrus). These neuroplastic changes in neural networks may modulate their social performances in terms of emotional face processing and emotional evaluation of complex social interactions. Nevertheless, this emotional or social modulation must not score at psychopathological levels. Additionally,
1239-577: The Istanbul International Jazz Festival in Turkey on July 27. In the fall of 2009, Benson finished recording an album entitled Songs and Stories with Marcus Miller , producer John Burk, and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather . As a part of the promotion for his album Songs and Stories , Benson has appeared or performed on The Tavis Smiley Show , Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon . He performed at
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#17328772434351298-684: The Java Jazz Festival March 4–6, 2011. In 2011, Benson released the album Guitar Man , revisiting his 1960s/early-1970s guitar-playing roots with a 12-song collection of covers of both jazz and pop standards produced by John Burk. In June 2013, Benson released his fourth album for Concord, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole , which included Wynton Marsalis , Idina Menzel , Till Brönner , and Judith Hill . In September, he returned to perform at Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro, 35 years after his first performance at this festival, which
1357-631: The White Rabbit , the hookah-smoking caterpillar , the White Knight , the Red Queen , and the Dormouse . Slick reportedly wrote the song after an acid trip . For Slick, "White Rabbit" "is about following your curiosity. The White Rabbit is your curiosity". For her and others in the 1960s, drugs were a part of mind expansion and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, "White Rabbit" became one of
1416-883: The GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a limited-edition model with a gold-foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form. In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master , the United States highest honor in jazz. Benson performed at the 49th issue of the Ohrid Summer Festival in North Macedonia on July 25, 2009, and his tribute show to Nat King Cole An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole as part of
1475-565: The Hill District. However, he dropped out, choosing to focus on music. In 1987, Benson received an honorary degree from Pittsburgh Public Schools . As a youth, Benson learned how to play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relationship performing for several years with organist Jack McDuff . One of his many early guitar heroes was country-jazz guitarist Hank Garland . At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar , featuring McDuff. Benson's next recording
1534-565: The Hurt Away," " Turn Your Love Around ," "Inside Love," " Lady Love Me ," "20/20," " Shiver ," "Kisses in the Moonlight." More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he rediscovered his love for Nat King Cole , Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway in the process, influencing a string of further vocal albums into the 1990s. Despite returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently, this theme
1593-461: The Looking-Glass . It was released as a single and became the band's second top-10 success, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 . The song was ranked number 478 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004, number 483 in 2010, and number 455 in 2021 and appears on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll . In 1998, the song
1652-470: The Stars planned for January 2025. Benson has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965 and has seven children. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, due to his commitment to his family and religious practices, with Benson being a Jehovah's Witness . Benson has been a resident of Englewood, New Jersey . List of Grammy Awards received by George Benson Child prodigy This
1711-603: The Year . (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition of " Here Comes the Sun " on The Other Side of Abbey Road album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 José Feliciano composition " Affirmation ". In 1976, Benson embarked on a tour called George & Minnie Live! with soul singer Minnie Riperton ; she had recently been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and would die in 1979. In addition, Benson appeared as
1770-429: The ability to understand and reason using concepts framed in words. However, this positive link is absent among adult experts. Remarkably, in the sample of chess prodigies, the more intelligent children played chess worse. This is considered as the result of less practice time of more intelligent chess skills. Practice-plasticity-processes (PPP) model was proposed to explain the existence of chess prodigies by integrating
1829-516: The attentiveness to details, a typical characteristic of AQ, is enhanced among prodigies compared to normal people, even those with Asperger syndrome . White Rabbit (song) " White Rabbit " is a song written by Grace Slick and recorded by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane for their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow . It draws on imagery from Lewis Carroll 's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through
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1888-476: The bill for bigger bands like the Grateful Dead . They made a series of demo records for Autumn Records , for which they were assisted by Sly Stone . Grace Slick said: "We were so bad that Sly eventually played all the instruments so the demo would sound OK". When Slick joined Jefferson Airplane later in 1966, she taught the song to the band, who recorded it for their album Surrealistic Pillow . "White Rabbit"
1947-497: The brain is, the easier it is for them to acquire chunks, templates, and heuristics for better performance. On the other hand, inherited individual differences in the brain are circumscribed children to learn these skills. Music prodigies usually express their talents in exceptional performance or composition. The Multifactorial Gene-Environment Interaction Model incorporates the roles of adequate practice, certain personality traits, elevated IQ, and exceptional working memory in
2006-660: The brain showed use by the subject, including a sector of the brain generally related to childlike "finger counting", probably used in his mind to relate numbers to the visual cortex . This finding is consistent with the introspective report of this calculating prodigy, which states that he used visual images to encode and retrieve numerical information in LTWM. Compared to short-term memory strategies, used by normal people on complex mathematical problems, encoding and retrieval episodic memory strategies would be more efficient. The prodigy may switch between these two strategies, which reduce
2065-473: The cerebellum and then blended in the cerebral cortex in an attempt to deal with the new situation. In child prodigies, Vandervert believes this blending process is accelerated due to their unique emotional sensitivities which result in high levels of repetitious focus on, in most cases, particular rule-governed knowledge domains. He has also argued that child prodigies first began to appear about 10,000 years ago when rule-governed knowledge had accumulated to
2124-400: The explanation of music prodigies. A study comparing current and former prodigies with normal people and musicians who showed their talents or were trained later in life to test this model. It found prodigies neither have exceptional performance in terms of IQ, working memory, nor specific personality. This study also emphasises the significance of frequent practice early in life, when the brain
2183-506: The first songs to sneak drug references passing censorship on the radio. Marty Balin , Slick's former bandmate and co-founder of Jefferson Airplane (and later Jefferson Starship ), regarded the song as a "masterpiece". In interviews, Slick has related that Alice in Wonderland was often read to her as a child and remained a vivid memory well into her adulthood. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Slick mentioned that, in addition to Alice in Wonderland , her other inspiration for
2242-418: The future as well. Dr. Anders Ericcson, professor at Florida State University, researches expert performance in sports, music, mathematics, and other activities. His findings demonstrate that prodigiousness in childhood is not a strong indicator of later success. Rather, the number of hours devoted to the activity was a better indicator. Rosemary Callard-Szulgit and other educators have written extensively about
2301-569: The jazz field. In addition to his own albums and performances, during this time Benson was a core member of the CTI All-Stars collective both touring and recording. As well as the collective's live albums, he also played and recorded on a number of the collective's members' individual albums. Benson played on Freddie Hubbard 15th Annual Grammy Awards winning "Best Jazz Performance by a Group" album First Light as well as five other Hubbard studio albums. His 1974 release, Bad Benson , climbed to
2360-426: The latter's acclaimed album Sugar . By the mid-to-late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records , a whole new audience began to discover Benson. On 1976's Breezin' , Benson sang a lead vocal on the track " This Masquerade ", a song written by Leon Russell . Benson's version (notable also for the lush, romantic piano intro and solo by Jorge Dalto ), became a huge pop hit and won a Grammy Award for Record of
2419-414: The masters, Benson played them for his current label, Rhino Entertainment , who encouraged Benson to complete the project. Were the album released when it was recorded it would have predated most of the wave of Great American Songbook albums released by popular artists at the end of the 20th century and well into the 21st century. Benson also announced plans for a four-night festival called Breezin' With
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2478-437: The physical abacus act as visual proxies of each digit for prodigies to solve complex computations. This one-to-one corresponding structure allows them to rapidly encode and retrieve digits in the long-term working memory during the calculation. The fMRI scans showed stronger activation of brain areas related to visual processing for Chinese children being trained with abacus mental compared to control groups. This may indicate
2537-573: The police soon closed the club down. At age nine, he started to record. Out of the four sides he cut, two were released: "She Makes Me Mad" backed with "It Should Have Been Me", with RCA Victor in New York. Although one source indicates this record was released under the name "Little Georgie", the 45rpm label is printed with the name George Benson. The single was produced by Leroy Kirkland for RCA's rhythm and blues label, Groove Records . Benson attended Connelley Vocational High School on Bedford Avenue in
2596-483: The potency a child's environment can have in determining the pursuits toward which a child's energy will be directed, and showing that an incredible amount of skill can be developed through suitable training. Co-incidence theory explains the development of prodigies with a continuum of the discussion of nature and nurture. This theory states that the integrative of various factors in the development and expression of human potential, including: Prodigiousness in childhood
2655-438: The practice extreme and innate talent extreme theories. Besides deliberate practice, neuroplasticity is identified as another critical component for developing chess heuristics (e.g., simple search techniques and abstract rules like “occupy the centre”), chunks (e.g., group of pieces locating in specific squares), and templates (e.g., familiarised complex patterns of chunks), which are essential for chess skills. The more plastic
2714-420: The problem of perfectionism in bright children, calling it their "number one social-emotional trait". Gifted children often associate even slight imperfection with failure, so that they become fearful of effort, even in their personal lives, and in extreme cases end up virtually immobilized. Prodigies have been found with the over-representation of relatives with autism on their family pedigrees. Autism traits on
2773-427: The quality of deliberate practice, and their interests in chess. Chess prodigies may have higher IQs than normal children. This positive link between chess skills of prodigies and intelligence is particularly significant on the “performance intelligence”, regarding fluid reasoning, spatial processing, attentiveness to details, and visual-motor integration, while least significant on the “verbal intelligence”, regarding
2832-533: The song was Ravel's Boléro . Like Boléro , "White Rabbit" is essentially one long crescendo . The music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggests the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens , and the song was later used in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state. The song was first played by the Great Society in a bar in San Francisco in early 1966, and later when they opened
2891-468: The start of 2024 due to ill health - cancelling a series of UK concerts that summer. Benson released a new album, Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon on July 19, 2024. The album was an abandoned project based on recordings with arranger and conductor Robert Farnon backed by the London Symphony Orchestra from 1989 that were thought to have been lost. Upon location of
2950-401: The storage retrieval times of long-term memory and circumvent the limited capacities of short-term memory. In turn, they can encode and retrieve specific information (e.g., the intermediate answers during the calculation) in the long-term working memory more accurately and effectively. Similar strategies were found among prodigies mastering mental abacus calculation . The positions of beads on
3009-615: The top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-ups, Good King Bad (#51 Pop album) and Benson & Farrell (with Joe Farrell), both reached the jazz top-three sellers. Benson also did a version of The Beatles 's 1969 album Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road , also released in 1969, and a version of " White Rabbit ", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society , and made famous by Jefferson Airplane . Benson played on many sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine , notably on
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#17328772434353068-720: Was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet , including Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone . Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook , also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker. Miles Davis employed Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his guitar on "Paraphernalia" on his 1968 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky before Benson went to Verve Records . Benson then signed with Creed Taylor 's jazz label CTI Records , where he recorded several albums, with jazz heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in
3127-487: Was Surrealistic Pillow , and Slick provided two songs from her previous group: her own "White Rabbit" and " Somebody to Love ", written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick and recorded under the title "Someone to Love" by the Great Society. The Great Society's version of "White Rabbit" was much longer than the more aggressive version of Jefferson Airplane. Both songs became top-10 hits for Jefferson Airplane and have ever since been associated with that band. "White Rabbit"
3186-494: Was "on her own... in a very strange place, but she kept on going and she followed her curiosity – that's the White Rabbit. A lot of women could have taken a message from that story about how you can push your own agenda". Slick added that "The line in the song 'feed your head' is both about reading and psychedelics...feeding your head by paying attention: read some books, pay attention". Characters Slick referenced include Alice ,
3245-452: Was OK because I could hear in my head the notes that weren't there" — moving between major chords for the verses and chorus. She said that the music was heavily influenced by Miles Davis 's 1960 album Sketches of Spain , particularly Davis's treatment of the Concierto de Aranjuez (1939). She later said: "Writing weird stuff about Alice backed by a dark Spanish march was in step with what
3304-407: Was going on in San Francisco then. We were all trying to get as far away from the expected as possible". Slick said the song was supposed to be a wake-up call to parents who read their children novels such as these and then would wonder why their children used drugs. She later commented that all fairytales read to little girls have a Prince Charming who comes and saves them. But Alice did not, she
3363-513: Was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . "White Rabbit" was written and performed by Grace Slick while she was still with her previous band, the Great Society . Slick then left the Great Society to join Jefferson Airplane to replace their departing female singer, Signe Toly Anderson (who left the band to give birth to her child). The first album Slick recorded with Jefferson Airplane
3422-533: Was reflected again much later in Benson's 2000 release Absolute Benson , featuring a cover of one of Hathaway's most notable songs, " The Ghetto ." Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums. In 1990, Benson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music . To commemorate the long relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30 years of collaboration on
3481-550: Was then the inaugural one. In July 2016, Benson participated as a mentor in the Sky Arts programme Guitar Star in the search for the UK and Republic of Ireland 's most talented guitarist. In May 2018, Benson was featured on the Gorillaz single " Humility ". On July 12, 2018, it was announced that Benson had signed to Mascot Label Group . Benson stopped touring internationally at
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