For George Benson's 2nd CTI project, producer Creed Taylor together with arranger Don Sebesky successfully house the guitarist inwards a Spanish-flavored setting total of flamenco flourishes, brass fanfares, moody woodwinds together with such. The persuasion industrial plant best on "California Dreamin'" (whose chords are based on Andalusian harmonies), where, driven past times Jay Berliner's exciting Castilian musical rhythm guitar, Benson comes through amongst or thence terrifically inspired playing. On "El Mar," Berliner is replaced past times Benson's protégé Earl Klugh (then solely 17) inwards an inauspicious -- though at the time, widely-heralded -- recorded debut. The championship rails is or thence other winner, marred solely past times the out-of-tune brasses at the close, together with inwards a skillful illustration of the CTI classical/jazz formula at work, Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Little Train of the Caipira" is given an attractive early-'70s facelift. Herbie Hancock gets enough of nimble solo infinite on Rhodes electrical piano, Airto Moreira contributes percussion together with atmospheric wordless vocals, together with Ron Carter together with Billy Cobham consummate the high-energy musical rhythm section. In this prime number sample of the CTI idiom, everyone wins.
After 3 late-1960s A&M albums amongst mastermind Creed Taylor prior to the creation of CTI Records, guitarist George Benson striking 1971 running amongst 2 CTI debuts, issued a few months apart. Beyond the Blue Horizon was closer, inwards complexion, to his A&M recordings—harkening back, even, to his impressive 1966 Columbia Records two-punch, It's Uptown together with The George Benson Cookbook—although the virtuosic, soul- drenched guitarist was clearly evolving every bit a thespian together with maturing into i whose firebrand, virtuosic tendencies were becoming refreshingly balanced amongst greater maturity together with restraint.
White Rabbit was (and remains) an anomaly inwards Benson's prodigious catalogue, amongst its heavy orchestration past times CTI regular Don Sebesky. It's also the album that showtime paired Earl Klugh—a guitarist who, inwards the facial expression upwards of Charlie Byrd together with Laurindo Almeida, took the nylon-string into the realm of lite funk together with soul—with the electrical Benson. The partnership would terminal a couplet to a greater extent than years to the to a greater extent than decidedly groove- centric Body Talk (CTI, 1973), which foreshadowed Benson's rocket to stardom amongst his movement to Warner Bros. together with 1976's megahit, Breezin'.
Despite or thence genuinely dated material—in detail the championship track, an overblown expect at Jefferson Airplane's drug-drenched, 1967 striking single—Benson transcends it all, amongst or thence bright playing, fifty-fifty every bit "White Rabbit" strives to intermission out of Sebesky's overbearing bolero-like arrangement. Herbie Hancock, too, turns inwards an energetic electrical pianoforte solo, together with comps amongst soft (and welcome) pushes towards the outer reaches during Hubert Laws' flute feature, creating or thence much-needed tension together with release, fifty-fifty every bit the rails heads towards an overly cluttered ending that, amongst tympanis pounding, is indicative of CTI at its worst.
That said, Sebesky's gentle strings together with harp on "Theme from 'Summer of 42'" are far to a greater extent than successful—and appropriate. It's slow listening, to locomote sure, amongst Benson joining Klugh on nylon string guitar, every bit the vocal moves into lite Latin territory, only the to a greater extent than change-heavy stimulate got on a classical piece—Villa Lobos' "Little Train," taken from the composer's "Bachianas Brasilerias #2," is an album highlight; Benson's fleet-fingers matched past times Hancock together with bolstered past times bassist Ron Carter together with drummer Billy Cobham, who ready without overbearance.
Another dated track, The Mamas together with The Papas' pre-Summer of Love hit, "California Dreamin,'" begins amongst an almost non-sequitur of Castilian tinges but, to a greater extent than than anywhere else on the album, demonstrates the simpatico interplay betwixt Benson together with Klugh, suggesting that Klugh was, indeed, a star inwards the making. Klugh's gorgeous intro to Benson's closing "El Mar"—the album's solely original—sets the phase for an 11-minute highlight that suggests a stylistic breadth to Benson that, despite a subsequent career living every bit much inwards the popular Blue Planet every bit anywhere else, has continued to this day.
An anomaly inwards Benson's catalogue, perhaps, together with i amongst its fair portion of weaknesses to offset its many strengths, this CTI Masterworks reissue of White Rabbit remains, inwards many ways, a curiosity that transitions betwixt his to a greater extent than mainstream efforts together with the soulful jazz/pop star he was virtually to become; non without its merits, only non essential either.
Track listing:
01 "White Rabbit" (Grace Slick) - 6:55
02 "Theme from Summer of '42" (Michel Legrand) - 5:08
03 "Little Train (from Bachianas Brasileiras No.2)" (Heitor Villa-Lobos) - 5:47
04 "California Dreaming" (John Phillips, Michelle Phillips) - 7:22
05 "El Mar" (George Benson) - 10:49
Personnel:
George Benson - guitar
Jay Berliner - acoustic guitar
Earl Klugh - acoustic guitar (5)
Ron Carter - bass
Herbie Hancock - electrical piano
Billy Cobham - drums
Airto Moreira - percussion, vocals
Gloria Agostini - vibes, percussion
Woodwinds:
Phil Bodner - flute, alto flute, oboe, English linguistic communication horn
Hubert Laws - flute, alto flute, piccolo, flute solo on 1
George Marge - flute, alto flute, clarinet, oboe, English linguistic communication horn
Romeo Penque - English linguistic communication horn, oboe, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet
Jane Taylor - bassoon
Brass:
Wayne Andre - trombone, baritone
Jim Buffington - French horn
John Frosk - trumpet, flugelhorn, solo (1, 5)
Alan Rubin - trumpet, flugelhorn
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