George Benson is the first predominately jazz-oriented musician in 20 years to undergo the rare phenomenon that simultaneously metamorphosed the careers of Nat "King" Cole and Ray Charles. Like Benson, Cole and Charles were successful, often brilliant instrumentalists whose vocals caught the mass ear and eventually pushed their musicianship into second place. Happily, Benson seems intent on maintaining equal billing for his guitar and newly idolized voice.
Known for years as a guitarist with an effortlessly fluid, near-flawless technique, Benson has in addition always been a charismatic performer and a gifted singer. Growing up, Benson was influenced by Cole, Charles and Sam Cooke; it's
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plain today that George has more than once walked around his living room singing along with Stevie Wonder. But his singing is much more than merely derivative—Benson can sensitively interpret a wide range of lyrics, and he can scat along with anything he can play on guitar, which is quite a lot.
During ten years of recording for Columbia, A&M and CTI, the Benson persona (both instrumental and vocal) evolved into a uniquely broad-minded synthesis of jazz, R&B and rock; he was as comfortable playing "White Rabbit" or singing "Here Comes the Sun" as executing the most difficult Wes Montgomery octave runs. He's never had to make any clumsy leaps to "cross over" because he was never strictly a jazz player in the first place. So while Breezin', which sold 2 million units, was a surprise, it wasn't a fluke.
In Flight was made by the same lineup as Breezin': Phil Up-church, guitar and bass; Ronnie Foster and Jorge Dalto, keyboards; Stanley Banks, bass; Harvey Mason, drums; and Ralph MacDonald, percussion. Predictably, four of In Flight's six songs contain vocals.
The jacket photos—Benson in the tropics—accurately describe the music, which, as on Breezin', is relaxed, self-assured and shimmeringly warm. Benson's vocals are like two-sided mirrors, be-having as another instrument as they convey the lyrics. On the longest track, "The World Is a Ghetto," Benson waits several minutes before singing, and when he does, his voice is mixed only slightly to the fore and complemented by the tone of his hollow-bodied electric, undisturbed and not too loud. This lack of aggression is appealing; a confident man with few musical pretensions, Benson sings because he doesn't need to shout.
Whatever faults In Flight may have relate to its conservatism. Benson drives the band a little harder than on Breezin', but his fire is mitigated by Claus Ogerman's string arrangements, which on the one hand unify the album with a sweet, pencil-thin outline, but on the other can also be distracting.
On In Flight, Benson nearly always seems to cruise along in mellow fashion, holding back, never fully climaxing. His CTI live album, In Concert, however, despite problems related to studio
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