The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
As the Delta variant cases are increasing and vaccinations have leveled out masking and social distancing remain the modus operandi of the day. In my continuation of revisiting albums I have in my collection. So this week I turn to George Benson and his 1972 recording White Rabbit. It was recorded on November 23, 24 & 30, 1971 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album was produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and Don Sebesky did all the arrangements. The album cover was designed by Bob Ciano and the cover photography was taken by Pete Turner. The original cover photo was of a Pondo tribe woman that he photographed in South Africa in 1970.
Don Sebesky brought the title track to Taylor and Benson’s attention as Benson had never heard of Jefferson Airplane or Grace Slick. However, Benson doesn’t read music, he just heard the song and automatically fell into the groove, proving that music doesn’t exist on the page, only in the air. White Rabbit was his second CTI Records project and his first Grammy Award nomination in the category of Best Jazz Performance by a Group. This continues to be one of my road trip albums.
Track Listing | 36:18- White Rabbit (Grace Slick) ~ 6:55
- Theme From Summer Of ‘42 ( Michel Legrand) ~ 5:08
- Little Train | from Bachianas Brasileiras (Heitor Villa~Lobos) ~ 5:47
- California Dreamin’ (John Phillips, MIchelle Phillips) ~ 7:22
- El Mar | The Sea (George Benson) ~ 10:49
- George Benson ~ guitar
- Jay Berliner ~ Spanish guitar
- Earl Klugh ~ acoustic guitar (5)
- Herbie Hancock ~ electric piano
- Ron Carter ~ electric bass (1, 3), double bass (2, 4, 5)
- Billy Cobham ~ drums
- Airto Moreira ~ percussion, vocals
- Phil Kraus ~ vibraphone, percussion
- Gloria Agostini ~ harp
- Phil Bodner ~ flute, alto flute, oboe, english horn
- Hubert Laws ~ flute, alto flute, piccolo, flute solo (1)
- George Marge ~ flute, alto flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn
- Romeo Penque ~ english horn, oboe, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet
- Jane Taylor ~ bassoon
- Wayne Andre ~ trombone, baritone horn
- Jim Buffington ~ french horn
- John Frosk ~ trumpet, flugelhorn, trumpet solo (1, 5)
- Alan Rubin ~ rumpet, flugelhorn
More Posts: adventure,album,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,travel