Lionel Benhamou

Lionel Benhamou

Lionel Benhamou (* 1956 ; † 1995 ) was a French jazz guitarist.

Benhamou initially studied classical guitar, but came into contact with jazz early on through his father, an amateur jazz musician, and began playing the banjo in Dixieland bands. Then he played with Bill Coleman , the " Anachronic Jazz Band " and "Sharkey & Co." In 1982 he was co-founder of the group "Galigai" (with pianist Michel Précastelli , Marc Michel, Umberto Pagnini), with whom he wrote an album of the same name in 1982 released his debut album. He also played with musicians such as John Scofield , Zool Fleischer (with his quintet on "Picnic Tragic"), Marc Bertaux , Toots Thielemans , Johnny Griffin ,Sheila Jordan , Steve Kuhn , Albert Mangelsdorff , Siegfried Kessler , Jef Gilson and John Lewis . He was a member of the big band "Lumière" by Laurent Cugny (also directed by Gil Evans ), that of Martial Solal , Denis Badault and in the "Swing String System" by Didier Levallet . In 1988 he formed his own trio with bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel and drummer Tony Rabeson (album "Fruits cuits, Fruits crus" on Open). He also appeared as a soloist, worked with Riccardo Del Fra and Stéphane Huchard and was a member of the Orchester National de Jazz under Denis Badault and under Cugny from 1991 to 1994 .

He taught guitar at the CIM.

Benhamou himself listed the most diverse musical genres as influences on his style: classical jazz (he knew all the records by Lester Young and Charlie Parker from his father ), Wayne Shorter , Wes Montgomery , Jimi Hendrix , but also Alban Berg and the later ones String quartets by Beethoven .