George Benson sings, They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway.
And Olaf de Shield hopes to recite that very tune - among many others - under bright and sunny skies on Saturday at Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre.
That's when de Shield and his six-piece rhythm and blues band, Soultrax, will perform out of endearing respect and admiration for the guitar legend in A Tribute to George Benson & Jimmy Smith as part of Evergreen's fourth annual Music on the Grill summer concert series.
"It's a tribute, not a replicate," insists de Shield, who first heard and became instantly hooked on Benson's music when he was a child and casually listened to a tape of the performer's music his dad owned. "It really is a tribute to what he's all about, and his fire and energy."
In his late teens, de Shield recalls actually meeting the now 69-year-old Benson at a Toronto club in the mid-1970s, a memory he holds with great fondness.
"The place was full but it wasn't packed," de Shield recalls. "I went up to him [during a break] and shook his hand. There weren't a lot of videos back then, so I actually got to see him - and his hands - in person. He was a very amazing guy, just sitting back having a Heineken.
"He was great... easy-going. That solidified my respect and admiration for him."
As for Smith, the Vancouver-resident de Shield says he was "a master" jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped popular the instrument before his passing in 2005. Smith would play primarily blues and soul, although de Shield recalls him once doing a funky rendition of The Rolling Stones' rock classic, Satisfaction.
Enter Soultrax keyboard player and Chicago native Fran Jare, who joins de Shield along with acoustic/bass guitarist Brent Gubbles, drummer Don Powrie, saxophonist Dave Say and Derry Byrne on trumpet.
Although he's uncertain if they ever played together despite both enjoying their initial sense of musical fame about the same time in the 1960s, de Shield believes the joined talents of Benson and Smith jive wonderfully.
For the Coquitlam performance, de Shield quips: "It's a great, joyful music [show] to get into and groove along with."
Music on the Grill tickets are $50 for a barbecue (7 p.m.) and concert (8 p.m.), with a table of eight at $350. For the concert only, tickets are $30. Call 604-927-6555 or visit www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca for more information.
