George Benson - Bad Benson (1974)
1. Take Five
2. Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
3. My Latin Brother
4. No Sooner Said Than Done
5. Full Compass
6. The Changing World
7. Take The ''A'' Train (New Mix)
8. Serbian Blue (New Mix)
9. From Now On (unreleased).
Wayne Andre - Trombone
Seymour Barab - Cello
Kenny Barron - Piano
Raymond Beckenstein - Flute
George Benson - Guitar, Vocals
Phil Bodner - Clarinet, Flute, Flute (Alto), Horn (English)
Garnett Brown - Trombone
James Buffington - French Horn
Ron Carter - Bass
Warren Covington - Trombone
Paul Faulise - Trombone (Bass)
Steve Gadd - Drums
Guildhall String Ensemble - Strings
Frank Levy - Cello
Jesse Levy - Cello
George Marge - Flute, Horn (English), Piccolo
Charles McCracken - Cello
Albert Regni - Clarinet, Flute
Margaret Ross - Harp
Don Sebesky - Arranger
Alan Shulman - Cello
Creed Taylor - Producer
Brooks Tillotson - French Horn
Paul Tobias - Cello
Phil Upchurch - Bass, Guitar, Percussion
Rudy Van Gelder - Engineer.
Bad Benson
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Preceding Breezin', his crossover smash for Warner in 19786, Bad Benson shows the guitarist still hanging on to his Wes Montgomery roots in places while stretching his soul-jazz persona into even funkier arenas. CTI had a formula for making funky, accessible jazz and fusion records that in 1974 still held true. Arranged by Don Sebesky, Bad Benson is a collection of delicious, varied, and sometimes confusing choices. Benson's own playing is precise and smooth as always, and guitarist Phil Upchurch keeps a large color palette for him to draw from, as in the funkified version of "Take Five." Other notables are the stellar "My Latin Brother," which begins as a Debussy-ian impressionistic string study before becoming a heavily arpeggiated variation on the samba. Kenny Barron's pianism here is the driving force behind a rhythm section that also includes drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Ron Carter. They give Benson a harmonic floor for one of the most inspiring solos of his career. These intensely meaty cuts -- along with Upchurch's stellar swinging in the pocket groover "Full Compass" -- are juxtaposed against ballads such as "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" and "The Changing World," a pair of ballads that ape Montgomery's later snore-fest session for A&M. Thankfully, Legacy's remastered CD version includes three bonus tracks from the session: a hip and syncopated read of "Take the 'A' Train" (with truly surreal and shimmering colors courtesy of Sebesky's string section) and the amazingly driving, greasy funk of "Serbian Blue," as well as a simply beautiful -- and brief -- solo from Benson called "From Now On." Not a great album, but a very, very good one.