No Masquerade : George Benson Doesn’t Mind Charting Mainstream Course

Even though his first fame was as a facile and inventive jazz guitarist, George Benson has been known more as a pop vocalist than a technically dazzling improviser ever since his hit rendition of Leon Russell’s “This Masquerade,” which won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1976.

He followed that with a string of top-selling LPs and hit singles including “Give Me the Night” and “Turn Your Love Around,” which have rewarded him handsomely. “I passed ‘millionaire’ a long time ago,” he said.

Given his success as a singer, Benson, 45, might be content to continue to knock out his pop ditties and an occasional jazz/funk instrumental until he retires.

But there’s a catch: Benson, who plays tonight at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and Sunday and Monday at the Universal Amphitheatre, is a jazz lover to the core.

“It’s my favorite music,” he said from a tour stop in Denver. “Jazz allows you to be anything you want to be.”

Why, then, doesn’t he play more jazz, both on record and in person?

“Jazz is in my show, with tunes like ‘Beyond the Sea,’ but I’m not going to load my set down with it because I know my fans don’t want to hear it. They come to my shows to hear my hit vocal records,” he said.

As much as Benson loves jazz (when at home in New Jersey, he often travels to New York and sits in with the likes of Bob James, Jimmy Smith, Chick Corea and Billy Eckstine), he is also truly fond of pop.

“There’s no way I could have done what I have for 13 years if I wasn’t sincere,” he said. “And I have learned to revere those people who love me for what I am, not what I was.”

The difference between what he was, in his days on the jazz circuit, and what he is now because of pop success is “night and day,” Benson said.

“I had some rough times in jazz clubs,” he said. “The owner would let me work through the week, knowing he wasn’t going to pay me. I’d draw small crowds, like 25 on Friday night, and this was during the CTI (Records) days of the latter ‘60s,” when Benson was one of jazz’s most respected performers.

“Today, 50, 75, 100 people go to work when I work,” he continued. “The promoter is, in most cases, a happy man who wants to see me back. I sell more records because there are people at the concerts, so it’s much broader in every respect. The cats in my band have homes, they can send their kids to college. This is what I wanted when I got into music.”

Benson started out as a singer and dancer and cut records for RCA at age 11. But by 18, he had heard Charlie Parker and his heart had turned to jazz. He spent the early ‘60s touring with organist Jack McDuff in a band that featured sax man Red Holloway.

He later recorded with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard and many others. “I had a lot of accolades and I played with the greatest,” he said.

One of Benson’s chief inspirations was guitar great Wes Montgomery. Benson, who has flexed his acting muscles with appearances in two episodes of “The New Mike Hammer” TV series, has been signed to star as the late Montgomery in “The Boss Guitar,” a feature film that is scheduled to begin shooting in London in January.

“It’s an interesting story about a family man who played locally in Indianapolis most of his life,” Benson said. “Montgomery didn’t want to forsake his family for music.”

In that respect, Benson is a lot like Montgomery. “I do love jazz, but should I live my life just for myself and let others go down?” he said. “Should I worry about what a jazz critic says, or should I worry about my children and their health. They’re much more important.”

That’s also why he doesn’t appear overly concerned about the mostly fair-to-mediocre reviews he has drawn since turning to pop. Still, Benson is looking for a way to get more jazz into his life. “I’m going to do a jazz LP in the next year,” he said. “I have to, for my own self, because I do have some more things to say. And I think I could get away with more solos on the LPs, but really what I need is more recognizable instrumental hits. There is a balance to be found there, somewhere.”

George Benson plays at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, tonight at 8. Tickets: $19 to $21.50. Information: (714) 740-2000.