Remembering Pat Benham
Born in Hove, Sussex, on 9 February 1940, he took piano lessons and played recorder and harmonica as a child. Buying his first guitar aged 15, he took lessons from a local dance band guitarist and was soon playing with local jazz groups. In 1957 he joined the Les Jowett Seven where, in the words of pianist Terry Whitney in the book 'The Brighton Jazz Line', “the guitar chair was taken by the young, and gifted, Pat Benham.”
After hearing Segovia perform, Pat studied classical guitar at Len Williams's Spanish Guitar Centre in London and moved to Bristol in 1962. Having already started to compose for the instrument, he there joined the staff under Mike Watson at the Spanish Guitar Centre (Western Area) and went on to be commissioned by the BBC to compose and perform guitar music for television and radio.
He also performed live as a classical guitar soloist on HTV and BBC Radio Bristol, played in several stage shows for famous names, and was a much sought-after guitarist and bassist for jazz and dance bands in the south west.
In 1969 he became guitar tutor at Millfield School in Somerset, a post he held until his retirement in 2005, where the exacting demands of his enthusiastic pupils required him to be a jump ahead on everything from Bach to blues and flamenco to Pink Floyd. He also directed the school's jazz band, which won national acclaim. Trinity College London have included some of Pat's compositions in 'Raise the Bar', published in 2017, a selection of the most popular pieces from their guitar exam syllabuses.
Brian Farrell, one of Ireland's leading classical guitarists, who recorded 'West Country Sketches' and other pieces by Pat, said: “I feel very privileged to have known Pat and his music. I'm very happy to have had some input into his music and I even have a few more pieces that he sent me that I plan on recording someday.”
By Judith Benham