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These days, George Benson (born March 22, 1943, Pittsburgh, PA) is often described as a commercial R&B/pop singer who sometimes moonlights as a pop-jazz guitarist. But early in his career -- when Benson was still in his twenties -- the jazz world thought of him as a guitar-playing hard bop/soul-jazz instrumentalist whose primary influences were Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian. In the early to mid-'60s, Benson was the epitome of straight-ahead jazz -- and jazz purists loved the bop-oriented direction of the George Benson Quartet, a hard-swinging combo that he formed in 1965 (11 years before he enjoyed a major pop breakthrough with 1976's multi-platinum Breezin'). Although the group was short-lived, many jazz purists insist that it was Benson's greatest achievement. The formation of the quartet came not long after Benson had left the employ of organist Jack McDuff; by 1965, the guitarist was ready to be a full-time leader, and Benson was exactly that when he formed a hard bop/soul-j...