George Benson's Body Talk was the followup to his highly successful CTI recording White Rabbit. Body Talk features charts by James Brown musician and arranger Pee Wee Ellis, and as you might expect, it marked Benson's move into a more R&B-influenced territory. Not that Benson was altogether new to soulful R&B sounds-he cut his teeth with Brother Jack McDuff playing funky blues and honing his considerable chops. There is less arrangement here than on White Rabbit, and many straight-ahead jazz fans will probably enjoy this disc better.

Benson swings with ferocity on tracks like "When Love Has Grown" and "Plum", showing his debt to jazz guitar greats Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery. Earl Klugh appears, giving a gentle counterpoint to Benson's electric work. The resulting sound is unique in the annals of jazz guitar. Klugh left shortly after Body Talk was released and was replaced by Phil Upchurch, who continued to work with Benson on CTI and later on the breakthrough Breezin' album.

Benson is also backed by CTI's house rhythm section of Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette with Harold Mabern manning the electric piano and percussionist Mobutu providing some tasty side dishes. The horn section includes trumpeter Jon Faddis and tenor man Frank Foster.

"I expect to be around another 20 years because one thing I'm doing is inventing something it will take another artist 20 years to copy. You see, there is nobody who can play George Benson better than George Benson," the guitarist told Downbeat in an interview shortly before recording Body Talk. This album, along with CTI releases White Rabbit and Beyond the Blue Horizon are among Benson's best, and if you didn't pick up on him until the release of Breezin' or later (or if you never listened to him because of his later work) you owe it to yourself to check out Body Talk.