Personnel: George Benson (vocals, guitar); David Sanborn (alto saxophone); Mike Brecker (tenor saxophone); Ron Cuber (baritone saxophone); John Frosk, Alan Rubin, Joe Shepley, Randy Brecker (trumpet); Benny Green (trombone); Hubert Laws (flute); Kenny Barron (piano); Don Sebesky, Don Grolnick, Bobby Lyle, Ronnie Foster (keyboards); Lonnie Smith, Clarence Palmer (organ); Phil Upchurch (guitar, bass); Eric Gale (guitar); Ron Carter, Gary King (bass); Jimmy Lovelace, Ray Lucas, Marion Booker, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Gadd, Andy Newmark, Marvin Chappell (drums); Sue Evans (percussion).

Compilation producers: Steve Berkowitz, Kevin Gore, Mike Berniker.

Principally recorded between February 9, 1966 and December 4, 1975. Includes liner notes by Tom Piazza.

This is part of Legacy's THIS IS JAZZ series.

Columbia happens to be where George Benson made two of his best jazz albums ever, and this collection is slanted accordingly. In 1965 Benson left organist Jack McDuff's band at all of 22 years old to form his own quartet with baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber, organist Lonnie Smith, and drummer Jimmy Lovelace. The group made two uncompromising and straight-ahead albums for Columbia, IT'S UPTOWN and COOKBOOK, before the guitarist moved on to work with producer Creed Taylor and his CTI label.

Half of the tracks on THIS IS JAZZ 9 come from those two quartet records. "Clockwise" is a bop-blues burner with airtight stop time and unison lines framing all-round relentless soloing. Moodier tunes like "Willow Weep for Me" and "The Borgia Stick" maintain a taut edginess, too. Of the post-quartet recordings, only "Good King Bad," with its good-time '70s pop-funk feel, represents the poppier Benson. "Stormy Weather" and "Summertime" (the latter awash in apparently overdubbed strings) feature Benson's vocals.