Beyond the Blue Horizon - BONUS TRACKS
Artist: George Benson

Having taken Benson along with him when he founded CTI, Creed Taylor merely leaves the guitarist alone with a small group on his first release. The payoff is a superb jazz session where Benson rises to the challenge of the turbulent rhythm section of Jack DeJohnette and Ron Carter, with Clarence Palmer ably manning the organ. Benson is clearly... Read More

Live in Japan
Artist: The Crusaders

This CD contains selections from a triumphant Japanese tour which saw three-fourths of the original lineup augmented by such guest stars as guitarists Barry Finnerty and Roland Bautista, percussionist Rafael Cruz, and bassist Alphonso Johnson. But the interaction and contributions of Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, and Stix Hooper make this... Read More

Experience
Artist: Jean-Luc Ponty
Chain Reaction
Artist: The Crusaders
Community Score: 6.50

One of the tastiest concoctions of the mid-'70s jazz-fusion era, Chain Reaction finds the Crusaders at the top of their form. The compositions are both accessible and memorable, and the playing is uniformly excellent. Guitarist Larry Carlton delivers some of his finest licks and funkified rhythm work. Wayne Henderson shows there is a place in... Read More

Giant Box
Artist: Don Sebesky

This may have been Creed Taylor's most ambitious single project. As the cash was flowing in the wake of Deodato's massive "2001" hit, Taylor rounded up almost every headliner on CTI's roster, had house-arranger Don Sebesky write big-thinking charts for them, and gave Sebesky top billing and two LPs of space. Two decades later, the lineup reads... Read More

Body Heat
Artist: Quincy Jones

At the time, this was a breathtaking leap for Quincy Jones, right into the very heart of mainstream commercial soul -- and it turned out to be very lucrative, rising to number six on the pop album charts. Jazz per se has been left far behind but the same musical sensibility, the same brilliant production skills, and the same knack for what will... Read More

The Golden Years
Artist: The Crusaders

Issued in 1992, the first of GRP's Crusaders boxes deliberately limits its reach to a 20-year stretch, stopping just before the crucial departure of drummer Stix Hooper -- hence the arguably apt title The Golden Years. The three discs occasionally give us a good idea of the band's evolution from a fine Texas bop outfit to the soulful... Read More

Street Life
Artist: The Crusaders

Although the Crusaders could not have known it at the time, their recording of "Street Life" (which features a memorable vocal by Randy Crawford) was a last hurrah for the 20-year old group. Their recordings of the next few years would decline in interest until the band gradually faded away in the 1980s. However this particular set is well worth... Read More

Giblet Gravy
Artist: George Benson

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,"... Read More

Wade in the Water - JAZZ TIME
Artist: Ramsey Lewis
Blue Benson
Artist: George Benson

Another sampler spotlighting his bluesy, funky material, this time taken from his brief period on Verve, when he recorded with The Sweet Inspirations and also played in a quintet with Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. It's fine material, but not as strong as the Columbia or Prestige fare that preceded it. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide Read More

Weekend in L.A.
Artist: George Benson
Community Score: 9.33

Recording live at Los Angeles' Roxy club -- then a showcase for many of the hottest acts in pop -- was just the tonic that George Benson and his Breezin' band needed on this often jumping album. With unusually lively crowds (for a record-industry watering hole) shouting encouragement, the band gets deep into the four-on-the-floor funk and Benson... Read More

The Other Side of Abbey Road
Artist: George Benson
Community Score: 5.00

Just three weeks after the U.S. release of the Beatles' swan song Abbey Road, Creed Taylor ushered Benson into the studio to begin a remarkably successful pop/jazz translation of the record (complete with a parody of the famous cover, showing George with guitar crossing an Eastern urban street). It is a lyrical album, with a hint of the mystery... Read More

Shape of Things to Come
Artist: George Benson

Upon Wes Montgomery's sudden death June 15, 1968, Creed Taylor signed Benson up and immediately thrust him onto the master's pedestal -- or so the line has it. While this smashing debut for A&M has some of the Wes trappings -- Don Sebesky's charts, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter in the rhythm team -- Benson triumphantly stamps his own image on... Read More

Le Voyage: The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology
Artist: Jean-Luc Ponty

Ponty has worked with Frank Zappa and John McLaughlin, provided brilliant violin work as a session player, and has had a terrific run as a bandleader. This two-disc set dips into Ponty's Atlantic Records releases, tracing the development of Ponty's particular brand of jazz fusion and providing a very nice look at his career as a bandleader. A... Read More