No, you're not in Creed Taylor country yet, but you might as well be, for many of the ingredients that would garnish Benson's albums with Taylor are already present in this often enjoyable prototype.
The immediate goal was to groom Benson as the next Wes Montgomery (who was about to leave Verve) -- and so he covers hit tunes of the day ("Sunny," "Along Comes Mary," "Groovin'"), playing either with a big band plus voices or a neat quintet anchored by Herbie Hancock, and the sound is contoured to give his guitar a warm mellow ambience.
But the eclectic Benson is his own man, as his infectious repeated-interval rhythm trademark tells us on his self-composed title track, and despite Tom McIntosh's mostly lame arrangements, George's work is always tasty and irresistibly melodic.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Along Comes MaryTandyn Almer | George Benson | Play | 03:02 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 2 | SunnyBobby Hebb | George Benson | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | Giblet GravyGeorge Benson | George Benson | Play | 04:50 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | Walk on ByBurt Bacharach | George Benson | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Thunder WalkHarold Ousley | George Benson | Play | 04:42 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | Groovin'Eddie Brigati, Felix Cavaliere | George Benson | Play | 02:46 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 7 | Low Down and DirtyGeorge Benson | George Benson | Play | 08:40 | 19 MB | 46 MB |
| 8 | Billie's BounceCharlie Parker | George Benson | Play | 06:14 | 14 MB | 38 MB |
| 9 | What's New | George Benson | Play | 05:32 | 12 MB | 29 MB |
| 10 | Sack Of Woe | George Benson | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 11 | What's New_ - alternative take 1 | George Benson | Play | 05:41 | 13 MB | 30 MB |
| 12 | What's New_ - alternative take 2 | George Benson | Play | 05:28 | 12 MB | 30 MB |
| 56 mins | 129 MB | |||||
| 56 mins | 332 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pepper Adams | Guest Artist, Sax (Baritone) |
| 2 | Cannonball Adderley | Composer |
| 3 | Tandyn Almer | Composer |
| 4 | Burt Bacharach | Composer |
| 5 | George Benson | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist |
| 6 | Eddie Brigati | Composer |
| 7 | Johnny Burke | Composer |
| 8 | Ron Carter | Bass, Guest Artist |
| 9 | Felix Cavaliere | Composer |
| 10 | Billy Cobham | Drums, Guest Artist |
| 11 | Bob Cranshaw | Bass |
| 12 | Esmond Edwards | Producer |
| 13 | Eric Gale | Guest Artist, Guitar |
| 14 | Eileen Gilbert | Vocals |
| 15 | Tom Greenwood | Production Coordination, Research Coordination |
| 16 | Bob Haggart | Composer |
| 17 | Herbie Hancock | Guest Artist, Piano |
| 18 | Bobby Hebb | Composer |
| 19 | Nat Hentoff | Liner Notes |
| 20 | Carlos Kase | Production Coordination, Research Coordination |
| 21 | Hollis King | Art Direction |
| 22 | Bryan Koniarz | Production Coordination |
| 23 | Daniel Kramer | Cover Photo |
| 24 | Carl Lynch | Guitar |
| 25 | Tom McIntosh | Arranger, Conductor |
| 26 | Harold Ousley | Composer |
| 27 | Jimmy Owens | Flugelhorn, Guest Artist, Trumpet |
| 28 | Johnny Pacheco | Congas, Guest Artist, Tambourine |
| 29 | Charlie Parker | Composer |
| 30 | Alan Raph | Trombone (Bass) |
| 31 | Albertine Robinson | Vocals |
| 32 | Ernie Royal | Trumpet |
| 33 | Sherniece Smith | Production Coordination |
| 34 | Lois Winter | Vocals |
| 35 | Ben Young | Research |
| 36 | Snooky Young | Guest Artist, Trumpet |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |