George Benson - Breezin' (1976) Part 1 (Full Album)

Track List: 1-3 1. Breezin' (0:00) 2. This Masquerade (5:44) 3. Six To Four (13:51) Part 1.    • George Benson - Breezin' (1976) Part 1 (Fu...   Part 2.    • George Benson - Breezin' (1976) Part 2 (Fu...   Playlist:    • George Benson   Personnel: George Benson – guitar, vocals Jorge Dalto – acoustic piano, clavinet, acoustic piano solo (2) Ronnie Foster – electric piano, Minimoog synthesizer, Minimoog solo (3), electric piano solo (5) Phil Upchurch – rhythm guitar, bass (1, 3) Stanley Banks – bass (2, 4–6) Harvey Mason – drums Ralph MacDonald – percussion Claus Ogerman – arrangements and conductor Production: Tommy LiPuma – producer Noel Newbolt – associate producer Al Schmitt – recording, mixing Don Henderson – assistant engineer Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California). Ed Thrasher – art direction Robert Lockhart – art direction Peter Palombi – design Mario Casilli – photography AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell: All of a sudden, George Benson became a pop superstar with this album, thanks to its least representative track. Most of Breezin' is a softer-focused variation of Benson's R&B/jazz-flavored CTI work, his guitar as assured and fluid as ever with Claus Ogerman providing the suave orchestral backdrops and his crack then-working band (including Ronnie Foster on keyboards and sparkplug Phil Upchurch on rhythm guitar) pumping up the funk element. Yet it is the sole vocal track (his first in many years), Leon Russell's "This Masquerade" -- where George unveiled his new trademark, scatting along with a single-string guitar solo -- that reached number ten on the pop singles chart and drove the album all the way to number one on the pop (!) LP chart. The attractive title track also became a minor hit single, although Gabor Szabo's 1971 recording with composer Bobby Womack is even more fetching. In the greater scheme of Benson's career, Breezin' is really not so much a breakthrough as it is a transition album; the guitar is still the core of his identity.