He brings his sax ... or his flute ... or his guitar ... or his Hammond B3 and, I believe you get it already ... he plays whatever he likes. He plays standards because people know them. What he does with them is the trip.
In a lot of lead work it's all the same. Trill, trill, trill, move, trill, trill, trill, blah, blah. Do this in front of a jazz guy and he will laugh silently at you. Do it in front of a blues guy and he will laugh out loud. (That's because the blues guy has been shooting down Jack Daniels all night)
Lead guitar is leading the band and it's also playing that splashy lead with all that trill, trill, trill out where the girls can see you.
But that isn't what George does. (He doesn't have to as the sax guy always gets the girl anyway!)
When George plays a lead line, it's not something he memorized but rather he is taking the steps, each one leading to another but not necessarily leading to the same other as the last time. This is the jazz in which, to some extent, the music makes itself as you are tuned right to it as you are with the people around you making it. George will use tracks to back himself but you'll notice he knows everyone in them. It's not just some guy playing a guitar, George knows the musicians and has usually has jammed with him.
You can just relax and let George's blues carry you away if you like, he doesn't make an aggressive sound, it's not like that. You can also come in close and listen to that lead line, go on all the pathways with him and let him surprise you.
At a certain point, you realize that the mind will complete things. If a word is missing then your mind will put there. The same thing happens with music and a musician can play to this in creating musical expectations ... and then doing something else, all during the course of a single lead. I'm not going to go at length on this as you'll need to play for yourself to see what I mean. I know this much: George already knows.
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