Customer Reviews

White Rabbit

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
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This record has remained one of my all time favourites for almost two decades now. It's of the rare (say, pre Breezin') quality that has made GB infamous for life. The compositions are built up and orchestrated fantastically. The recording sessions must have been one of those rare occasions where everything was in place at just the right moment, right there. Often, when I play it in the morning, I'll keep hearing it all through the day, catching myself humming along. Absolutely superb!

I've owned White Rabbit in some form or another since being introduced to George Benson's music via the smash hit Breezin' in the mid-70s, and it has remained a favorite ever since.
As ever, Benson serves up an eclectic stew of musical styles. Every cut is a masterpiece. The CD begins with a rousing version of Jefferson Airplane's hippie anthem, White Rabbit. Then it segues into a laid-back interpretation of the great French jazz composer Michel LeGrand's Theme From "Summer of 42". This is followed by an energetic rendering of Brazilian classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobo's Little Train.
But the best songs on the CD are saved until last. Here George Benson turns in a blistering 7+ minute rendition of the Mamas and Papas' California Dreaming that is sure to blow you away. Finally, this all-too-short masterpiece closes with El Mar, a Benson-composed, Spanish-tinged epic that features a blossoming young Earl Klugh on acoustic guitar.
It doesn't matter that there were aspects of this album that Benson didn't like, what matters is whether or not his fans like it, and I've never played it for anyone who wasn't spellbound by it.
For me, this is great morning music. There is nothing like kicking back on the patio in the cool morning air, watching the world awaken, with a hot cup of java in my hands and White Rabbit in my ears. Do yourself a favor and buy this today.

I bought this on vinyl in 1976 and it's still one of my favorite all time albums. The recording is incredibly clean, the songs are great, and the playing is fantastic.

I would rate California Dreamin and White Rabbit as good as any
jazz songs i've ever heard. year after year they still ring true.with herbie hancock, earl clugh, airto, hubert laws and billy cobbam on board for this recording you can't miss.

George Benson was an extremely young superstar on jazz guitar, recording his first single with RCA Victor in New York at the tender age of 10 years old! From there, his name appears in a jazz Who's Who of some of the biggest names in the industry culminating with Miles Davis. He was also a protégé of Wes Montgomery who's influence is written all over Benson's work ever since, even easily recognizable on his 80's "pop" albums. George was one of the handful of A&M artists under the wing of Creed Taylor who Creed took over to his new label CTI Jazz and under this new label, George made some of his best recordings ever. A month after The Beatles released Abbey Road (September 1969), George went into the studio and in only two weeks (October 22nd to November 5th) he recorded an incredible and amazing "tribute" to the album, the fusion masterpiece THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD (released early 1970). This album was my personal introduction to George Benson, to modern jazz music in general, and to CTI with whom I would have a loving relationship for many years! Based entirely upon the love for that album, and with a little help from seeing "White Rabbit" and "California Dreamin'" on the track listing, it was so very easy to want to pick WHITE RABBIT up as soon as it came out. I had even signed up as a member-fan of the CTI Jazz Club and received newsletters for upcoming releases!

I was by no means a jazz neophyte, my father was a huge big band audiophile and he strayed often into the worlds of bop, especially Bird and Brubeck, so an elementary introduction to the new moguls of the fusion movements was accomplished quickly thanks to the help of CTI Records which I found myself partaking of part and parcel. Benson, Deodato, Kenny Burrell, Airto, these folks were making music like no other and a classic rocker with tunnel vision, I was not. THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD was spread primarily by word of mouth among Beatles fans and many of us were young enough and experimental enough to not only immediately fall in love with this recording but become deeply interested in jazz in general, and more specifically, the artists playing on the record, most all of whom were releasing their own albums on CTI. CTI jazz albums sported incredibly hip photography (all from photographer Pete Turner) with extremely vivid cover art and color. The albums were all gatefold covers made of heavy cardboard, very glossy and durable and probably expensive to produce. The result was nice thick high-quality vinyl records, engineered for pure sound rivaling the classical recording industry (read: Angel Records, Deutsche Grammophone, etc), and encased in solid sturdy enclosures built to last physically and esthetically. Creed Taylor was a producer for Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss' A&M Records when they asked him to start a subsidiary label for their jazz musicians (mainly Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, George Benson, and Antonio Carlos Jobim). So CTI Records was born in 1967, beginning with the artists just mentioned and an "in-house" staff of musicians including Herbie Hancock and Bob James on keys, Ron Carter and Stanley Clarke on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, Airto Moreira on percussion, Hubert Laws on flute, all of whom had their own albums on CTI with the support of the other musicians. With the help of Airto and Jobim, Creed Taylor would recruit a number of Brazilian jazz artists to the label as well, Deodato, Walter Wanderly, Milton Nascimento to name a few. In 1970 Creed Taylor would launch CTI as an independent label and took all of his star-power with him. Soon he attracted Kenny Burrell, Grover Washington Jr, Milt Jackson, Chet Baker, Nina Simone, and others. In 1971 he split his "soul jazz" artists on a sub-label called Kudu Records starting with Grover Washington Jr.

This then is the background from which THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD and WHITE RABBIT arose. Although sparse, Benson contributed some of his first vocals to THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD. He would not sing again until the mega-hit crossover album BREEZIN'" in '76, and then only on one track, "This Masquerade". Luckily for those of us who enjoy his strong vocals and scatting, the follow-up '77 album IN FLIGHT would provide four more vocal tracks and WEEKEND IN L.A. would contribute some more! But for the most part, before BREEZIN', George Benson was a guitarist, and what a guitarist he was.

I have two bones to pick, issues to raise, with two misconceptions which should be addressed in reviewing WHITE RABBIT. First, concerning the liner notes written for this digitally remastered CD issue. This is a 2011 remaster, the liner notes however are from a 1986 reissue of the album on CBS and written by Didier C. Deutsch. Mr. Deutsch has been a record producer since 1955, and I am sure he knows his stuff (he started with Brubeck) but he notes WHITE RABBIT as being "the second effort for the label, following the very successful BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON". I'm sorry Mr Deutsch but you are incorrect. Creed Taylor designed the label logo, and autonomously managed CTI Records as a subsidiary but independent label of A&M from 1967 to 1971. In '71, when CTI Records became its own incorporated company, Creed Taylor did not change the label, the name, nor anything about the company, other than removing A&M from the copyright symbol. All records produced under CTI Records from inception in `67, were identified with the CTI logo. WHITE RABBIT was not Benson's second album on CTI! His CTI releases were, in order, SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME ('68), TELL IT LIKE IT IS ('69), I GOT A WOMAN AND SOME BLUES ('69), THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD ('70), BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON ('71), and then, WHITE RABBIT ('71). For those interested, the rest of his CTI catalogue, all wonderful albums, some more wonderful than others, is BODY TALK ('73), BAD BENSON ('74), GOOD KING BAD ('75), IN CONCERT (CARNEGIE HALL '75), and BENSON & FARRELL (with Joe Farrell, '76, his last album before signing with Warner Brothers).

My second issue is with the often made statement that the cover art features a man with cocaine all over his face. I have read this in professional and customer reviews for many years and it irks me to no end. Creed Taylor hired professional art photographer Pete Turner to create all of his album covers, all of them ranging from stunningly beautiful to artistic quirky. The cover of WHITE RABBIT is a photograph of an old African woman painted in white-face. Quirky as that sounds, it is rather an artistic arrow directed at the minstrels of the early 1900's who would sing "negro" songs on stage, always white men, painted in black-face. Anyone who ever owned the original vinyl LP would be able to clearly see this (CD's lose so much of their charm in this department) and appreciate the talents of the artist, photographer, what they were "saying".

WHITE RABBIT is quite simply one of the best ever jazz recordings made. My prejudice in favor of Beatles is the only thing standing in my way from making this album my favorite Benson. The music on it is phenomenal and should be considered a masterpiece work of art and music that should be catalogued in the Library Of Congress for its artistic and historic value. First there is George's band who play off and with him so well it is an inspired dance of spirits. George on guitar, Jay Berliner on the acoustic and Earl Klugh makes his debut appearance (a protégé of George Benson) on classical jazz guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Herbie Hancock on electric piano, Billy Cobham on drum, Airto on percussion (and vocals), Hubert Laws on flute, and an assortment of other wind and string accompaniment for atmospheres. John Frosk needs to be singled out for his astounding trumpet solos on "White Rabbit" and "El Mar".

Don't look for conventional covers of the familiar titles. While the integrity of the original scores are nodded to, this is not smooth jazz, but rather bop and fusion influenced, a good deal of it, thankfully to arranger Don Sebesky's and Benson's bent on a Latin tinged free-form style that leans towards expository interplay. Anyone familiar with the original recording of "White Rabbit", not by Jefferson Airplane, but by Grace Slick & The Great Society in its bolero-instrumental composition, will fully appreciate the work done by Benson and crew here. The song is wrapped up appropriately enough in true bolero trappings and George, Herbie, and Hubert do their noodlings on the fully instrumental section of the Great Society work, with only melodious hints at the final melody used in the Jefferson Airplane recording. Legrand's theme from "Summer Of `42" remains consistent to the original score with nice jazz guitar interpolations through the center. The Spanish classical Villa Lobos "Little Train" is the kind of suite you would hear in a traditional jazz coffee bar, with large amounts of free-play from each band member and just sets the mood right no matter where or how you are, big kudos to Herbie Hancock for a terrific solo piece. "California Dreamin'" and Benson's own "El Mar" (which comprised the second side of the LP) are pure heaven. Classical jazz guitar and electric guitar harmonies and duets and duels, with flourishes from Hubert and Herbie in all the right places. On "El Mar", Airto provides salt and pepper shakers percussion and Brazilian vocalizations on essentially a flamenco inspired classical Spanish construction with dances between George and his student, Earl Klugh. There are spacey distortions of Herbie's keys and what you are left with is a ten minute George Benson classic that ranks in his top 10 performances. If you have never heard this album but love BREEZIN', I challenge you to get your hands on WHITE RABBIT and give it a listen. Warning: if you do, you most likely will end up purchasing a lot more CTI Jazz recordings, like those listed above, and Deodato's "Prelude", Kenny Burrell's "God Bless The Child", Hubert Law's "Rite Of Spring", and a whole slew of Wes Montgomery's last albums before his untimely death. If you love Wes, and you love George, and you haven't heard this album, you are in for a huge treat!

The Best Benson collection:
(Jazz)
* The Other Side Of Abbey Road Other Side of Abbey Road
* White Rabbit White Rabbit (CTI Records 40th Anniversary Edition)
* Bad Benson Bad Benson
* Breezin' Breezin
* In Flight In Flight (Deluxe Edition)
* Weekend In L.A. Weekend in L.A.
* Collaboration (with Earl Klugh) Collaboration
(pop)
* Give Me The Night Give Me the Night
* In Your Eyes In Your Eyes
* 20/20 20/20

After 30+ years this album/CD still sounds as great as it did the first time that I heard it. The rhythm section combined with Don Sebesky's skills sets a magical backdrop for Benson's brilliant dexterity on the fretboard !

George Benson himself recently said in an interview just how he hated the cover. Being a devoutly religious man himself he didn't like the inference made of a black man (who many wrongfully mistook for George himself) with his face covered in heroin.("White Rabbit" being another slang for the substance). Being a fairly innocent chap he just liked the tune and decided to cover it completely ignorant of the deeper significances . I can fully sympathise with his view because the pic gives me the creeps!!
However.. the music, thankfully , is gorgeous.The overall theme on this album is strongly Latin. Everywhere from the opening flamenco tinged intro to the title tune, wonderfully added by the phenomenal Earl Klugh, right to "Little Train of Capira" the laid back,Spanish tones can be heard.
It reminds me of a guitar version of one of Miles Davis's more commercial Spanish influenced albums ("Siesta" for example).
George's version of Michel Legrands "Summer of '42" was the main reason i bought this album in 1975. Benson puts so much feeling & empathy into the romantic phrases that once again the listener is bathed in a warm glow. George's guitar literally speaks to you. Very few guitarists have this talent. Wes Montgomery had it.
Hats off to Earl Klugh on this whole project. His acoustic guitar sets the scene even further. The album would never have had the same effect without his presence.

Is this fusion? Well, it's a fantastic blend of psychedlia, jazz, and latin stuff that'll make you dance. A good idea and very underrated. Herbie always rocks too. I don't think Benson liked the way the album was made, but get it anyhoo. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I bought this tape back in 1984 and was blown away by the musicianship(GB, Earl Klugh, Herbie, Airto, and Billy Cobham) and the string arrangements. I'm glad to see this album is out on CD.

I received this product in excelent performance than here in brazil (contact,delivery,price).
My congratulation to all people in Amazon.
Best Regards
Bedrikow