Filmed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam on 10 July 2009, this live concert captures George Benson performing his programme “A Tribute to Nat King Cole.” A leading figure of jazz and soul since the 1960s, the American guitarist and singer revisits the repertoire of the crooner who shaped his childhood, moving between polished standards and ballads. Backed by a big band and strings, Benson alternates velvety vocals with his fluid guitar lines, his signature scat doubling the guitar in unison. Running roughly 80 minutes, this full concert gathers his own classics alongside the songs made famous by Nat King Cole, in the carefully produced style of the Dutch festival’s archive. For lovers of vocal jazz and guitar playing, this 2009 recording is a valuable document of an artist who has always linked instrumental virtuosity with a feel for popular melody, before the audience of one of Europe’s foremost jazz gatherings.
Personnel & credits
- George Benson — vocals, guitar
- Randy Waldman — conductor, piano, keyboards
- Janey Clewer — backing vocals
- Erwin van Motman — backing vocals
- Tarif Heljanan — backing vocals
- Russell Patawala — backing vocals
- Dani Duzant — backing vocals
- Anna Mackaloy — backing vocals
- Michael O'Neill — guitar
- Thom Hall — keyboards
- Stanley Banks — bass
- Teddy Campbell — drums
- Babette Beertema — violin
- Maria Chiarizia — violin
- Eva Petrarca — violin
- Noa Eyl — violin
- Marianne Hutchinson — violin
- Hoei Lien The — violin
- Bas Treub — violin
- Nadia Frissen — violin
- Pieter van Loenen — violin
- Hadwijch Hofland — violin
- Esther Op t Land — violin
- Maria Claire Boel — violin
- Margot Kolodziej — violin
- Killian van Rooij — violin
- Koos Verhage — violin
- Annelies de Rooij — violin
- Sophie Groote — viola
- David Lopez — viola
- Mirjam Klein — viola
- Estella Briceno Mesquita — viola
- Jobine Siekman — cello
- Marjolein Nieuwenkamp — cello
- Anna Drijvers — cello
- Cristina Dulanto — cello
- Martijn Kortleve — cello
- Marijke van den Bergen — cello
- Astrid Haring — harp
