The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-01)

(Antfer) #1
26 May 1, 2022The Sunday Times

Travel


The first time I ever left my
home town of Pittsburgh
was when I was ten years
old. I was already gaining
some local attention as a musician and
my manager said: “Georgie, we’re going
to New York.” We stayed just around the
corner from the Waldorf Astoria.
Our suite cost £300 a night. This is in
1953! I was stunned by this new world
of elegance and money. He took me to a
restaurant called the Coconut Grove and
for the first time in my life I had steak.
Unfortunately my young body couldn’t
handle it and I had terrible
convulsions.
My manager had
persuaded this rich
society lady that I was
something special and
she arranged a bunch of
auditions for me at the top
radio stations. This kind lady
bought me a brand-new guitar,
but what I really wanted was
a toy cowboy gun. We got one
in Times Square and I loved it
so much that I fired it all the
way back to Pittsburgh. Pow-
pow-pow!
My family didn’t have money
for vacations, so the only time I
got to travel was with my music. At

20 years old I got on a plane for the first
time and flew to the French Riviera. I was
there for a big jazz festival at Juan-les-Pins,
but I spent most of my time just walking
up and down the promenade. I felt like
I was living in a movie
with all the sports
cars and the boats
and the beautiful blue sky.
I remember one
afternoon sitting at this
café, watching the
pavement
artists. This
guy drew a
beautiful
picture of Charlie Christian
and underneath it wrote “The
greatest jazz guitarist of all time”.
There I was, thousands of miles from
black America and the home of jazz
music, but the whole town was alive
with jazz.
When I was touring the US in
the Sixties and Seventies I got
used to being treated differently.
Groups of young black guys
weren’t always given the
warmest welcome. But that was
nothing compared to what I saw in

George Benson was in Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera for a jazz festival, but spent most of his time at the beach

The jazz musician loved the


French Riviera — and the toy


gun he bought in New York


MY HOLS


GEORGE


BENSON
FAITHIE/ALAMY; RISHI DEKA/ZUMA WIRE/SHUTTERSTOCK

back to that first trip when I was a 20-
year-old kid. You know the place I really
enjoy? Marbella. Getting breakfast and
catching up on all the local gossip in the
News Café in Puerto Banus. The morning
sunshine making strange patterns on the
water, kinda like musical notes.
There is a certain lifestyle and a
certain mood when you’re on that coast.
The warm nights and the cool music.
Right from the start Europe seemed
ready to accept this new music. In the
early days jazz didn’t get the attention
it deserved in America because it was
played by black musicians.
In Europe they just loved
the music. And that’s how
it should be.

George Benson, 79, is one of the top jazz
guitarists, who has accompanied some
of the biggest names in music — Miles
Davis, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra —
as well as enjoying solo success with
albums including Breezin’ and Give Me
the Night. Benson’s UK tour begins on
June 16 at Hampton Court Palace. He
lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife, Jo

Interview by Danny Scott

Johannesburg back in the days of
apartheid. The crazy thing was that, as
musicians, South Africa treated us like
kings — even the white guys. They put us
in the top hotels and made sure we had
the best of everything. But if I’d walked
out and tried to sit in the wrong seat in a
restaurant I could have ended up in jail.
Music is about memories. And travel
brings those memories to life. I will never
forget nervously waiting all night in a New
York studio for Miles Davis, the baddest
cat in jazz. He turned up, played three
notes on his horn and stormed out again.
Or eating homemade pasta with Franco
Cerri in Stockholm. Or me and my kids
hanging out with Rod Stewart and his kids
at Mr Chow’s in London.
London is a city that has treated me
well: a truly multinational, multicultural
city that welcomes visitors with open
arms. It’s also a city with hidden depths.
Initially you are captivated by all the
famous sites — Hyde Park, Buckingham
Palace — but then you take a drive out
west and you realise that the city goes
on for miles and miles.
If I want to get away from everything
I still seem to be drawn to the
Mediterranean coast. I guess it all goes

Down in the Olive Tree,
Chris Cleghorn’s inventive
tasting menus comprising
six and nine courses draw
heavily on seasonal and
local ingredients. One
six-course menu for two,
excluding drinks, is included
in the prize.
For more information see
thequeensberry.co.uk.
The prize must be taken
before August 31, 2022,
subject to availability and
excluding public holidays.

The winner and guest will stay
for two nights, B&B, at the
Queensberry Hotel in Bath.
Owned by Laurence and
Helen Beere since 1998, this
fiercely independent hotel is
enjoying an excellent run of
form. Its Olive Tree restaurant
has held a Michelin star since
2018, while the hotel won a

four Red-Star certification
from the AA last October, in
recognition of its sumptuous
sitting rooms and high
standards of hospitality.
The hotel occupies a row
of four 18th-century houses
close to the Circus, and
offers 29 bedrooms, many
recently refurbished with
fresh, contemporary colours
and art deco furniture.

Only one entry per person,
at thesundaytimes.co.uk/
wherewasi by Wednesday.
Normal Times Newspapers
rules apply. No correspondence
will be entered into.

The answers are Culham
Science Centre and
Radiohead. Susan Sellick
of Bristol wins a luxury
break for two at Lainston
House near Winchester.

ago. Its stables are now a pub
— where we have lunch. We
then cross a street that runs
east-southeast and was (until
the 20th century) the main
road in these parts for at least
1,900 years. Then, a mile
north-northwest of the
pub, we reach my main goal:
a farmhouse that was the
childhood home of one
of my favourite singer-
songwriters.
When I tell him which one,
Friend squeaks with delight
— for ten minutes. I’m furious,
and storm off to a large open
space just west of the farm.
Friend follows. “Well, it’s not
exactly West Yorkshire,” he
scoffs, “but it’ll have to do!”
And off he prances.
I can’t help wishing he was
184 miles away on a windy
moor as well.
Sean Newsom

COMPETITION


THE QUESTIONS


THE PRIZE


HOW TO ENTER


LAST WEEK’S PRIZE


WIN A


MICHELIN-


STARRED


BREAK IN


BATH AT THE


QUEENSBERRY


HOTEL


Although Friend and I often
complain about each other’s
day-trip choices, we generally
don’t ridicule them. Today
that taboo has been broken.
I’ve brought him to a
National Trust property of
great cultural interest: the
forcing house of an influential
19th-century movement.
But despite the architecture,
murals and simple, honest
furniture, all Friend can do
is channel Jimi Hendrix. The
first owner of this house may
have gone on to write his own
songs and chants, but I doubt
he’d have appreciated
Friend’s warbling about a key.
And I’m sure our tour guide
doesn’t. So I drag him off into
the garden.
At the back, he finds an
air-raid shelter. “Is it blooming
clover?” I ask — and realise
we need to get on. Next
up is a Palladian house, half
a mile westwards. Built in
the 1760s it was used as
a location in a gritty BBC
drama, broadcast five years

1 What is the name of
the Palladian house?
2 What is the name of
the large open space?

WHERE WAS I?


*
Free download pdf