Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole

Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole is a studio album by George Benson. The album was released by Concord Jazz on June 4, 2013.^[1] It peaked at #89 on the Billboard album chart.

Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole
Studio album by George Benson
Released	June 4, 2013
Genre	Jazz
Length	40:50
Label	Concord Jazz
Producer	John Burk, Randy Waldman
George Benson chronology
Guitar Man (2011) Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole (2013) Walking to New Orleans (2019)
Singles from Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole
"Unforgettable (feat. Wynton Marsalis)" Released: 2013 "When I Fall in Love (feat. Idina Menzel)" Released: 2014

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]
USA Today	^[3]

Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole has received very positive reception from music critics. Steve Leggett of Allmusic affirmed that "it all adds up to a sweet and very impressive album, full of warmth and heart, and it swings where it should."^[2] At USA Today, Steve Jones praised it for "his smooth vocals [that] make this homage unforgettable."^[3]

Formats

• Vinyl LP
• Regular CD
• Best Buy Edition CD (incl. 2 Bonus Tracks)
• Japanese Edition CD (incl. Bonus Track)
• QVC Edition (Regular CD + 6-track Bonus Disc)
• HD Tracks (High Definition Music Downloads)
• iTunes (incl. Bonus Track)

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Mona Lisa" (as Lil' Georgie Benson)		0:57
2.	"Just One of Those Things"	Cole Porter	2:42
3.	"Unforgettable"	Irving Gordon	5:05
4.	"Walkin' My Baby"	Roy Turk, Fred E. Ahlert	2:43
5.	"When I Fall in Love"	Victor Young, Edward Heyman	4:04
6.	"Route 66"	Bobby Troup	3:50
7.	"Nature Boy"	Eden Ahbez	2:40
8.	"Ballerina"	Carl Sigman, Bob Russell	2:46
9.	"Smile"	Charlie Chaplin, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons	3:22
10.	"Straighten Up and Fly Right"	Nat King Cole, Irving Mills	3:06
11.	"Too Young"	Sidney Lippman, Sylvia Dee	3:28
12.	"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"	Joe Young, Fred E. Ahlert	3:05
13.	"Mona Lisa"	Jay Livingston, Ray Evans	3:02

Best Buy bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"That Sunday, That Summer"	George David Weiss, Joe Sherman	3:02
15.	"Ramblin' Rose"	Noel Sherman, Joe Sherman	2:46

Japanese bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"Almost Like Being in Love"	Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe	2:15

iTunes bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"Mona Lisa (Calypso Version)"	Jay Livingston, Ray Evans	2:45

Personnel

• George Benson – vocals, guitar
• Lil' Georgie Benson (age 8) – vocals (1), ukulele (1)
• Tim May – guitar
• Mike O'Neill – baritone guitar (15), banjo (15)
• Randy Waldman – acoustic piano, conductor, arrangements (2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15), string arrangements (4), backing vocals (10)
• Chuck Berghofer – bass
• Gregg Field – drums
• Michael Fisher – percussion
• Sheila E. – percussion (3)
• Wynton Marsalis – trumpet (3)
• Till Brönner – trumpet (9)
• Nelson Riddle – original arrangements (2, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13), horn arrangements (4)
• Idina Menzel – vocals (5)
• Alvin Chea – backing vocals (9, 10, 14, 15)
• Janey Clewer – backing vocals (9, 10, 14, 15)
• Don Shelton – backing vocals (9, 10)
• Chris Papastephanou – backing vocals (10)
• Judith Hill – vocals (11)

Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra

• Shelton Berg – dean of music
• Terence Blanchard – artistic director
• Scott Flavin – artistic coordinator
• Stephen Guerra – managing director

Brass and Woodwinds

• Cassandra Eisenreich – flute
• Neil Carson and Kevin McKeown – alto saxophone
• Derek Smith – baritone saxophone
• Mark Small and Alex Weitz – tenor saxophone
• Major Bailey, Chris Gagne, Kendall Moore and Stephen Szabadi – trombone
• Chris Burbank, Ryan Chapman, Jared Hall and Gilbert Paz – trumpet
• Jon Anderson – French horn

Strings

• Steffen Zeichner – concertmaster and violin soloist
• Rachel Hershey, Jeff Kipperman and Yen-Ling Lin – bass
• Joy Adams, Sarah Gongaware, Cecilia Huerta, Andrew Kromholz and Chia-Li Yu – cello
• Christina Hardister – harp
• Marcela Fernandez, Lauren Miller, Robyn Savitzky and Kathryn Severing – viola
• Victor Colmenares, Tomas Cotik, Adam Diderrich, Michelle Godbee, Patricia Jancova, Michelle Mlacker, Karin O'Keefe, Jonah Osawa, Rob Patrignani, Zack Piper, James Reynolds, Katrina Schaeffer, Arianne Urban, Abby Young and Steffen Zeichner – violin

Production

• Producers – John Burk and Randy Waldman
• Recording and Mix Engineers – Seth Presant and Al Schmitt
• Assistant Engineers – Chad Jolly, Chris Owens and Shinnosuke Miyazawa.
• Recorded at The Village Studios (Los Angeles, California).
• Orchestra recorded by Dave Polar at The Hit Factory Criteria (Miami, Florida).
• Trumpet on Track 3 recorded by Jeff Jones
• Additional piano recording by Randy Waldman at Randini Studio (Studio City, California).
• Mastered by Paul Blakemore at CMG Mastering (Cleveland, Ohio).
• Music Preparation – Brian Benison and Junko Tamura
• A&R Administration – Mary Hogan
• Creative Director – Larissa Collins
• Art Direction, Design and Photography – Greg Allan at Omnivore Creative.
• Management – Stephanie Gonzalez at Apropos Management.

Release history

List of release dates, showing country, record label, and format

Region	Date	Label	Format
Germany	May 31, 2013	Concord	CD, Digital download
United Kingdom	June 3, 2013
France
United States	June 4, 2013
Japan	June 5, 2013
Germany	June 14, 2013		LP record
United Kingdom	June 17, 2013
United States	June 25, 2013
Japan

References

1. "George Benson Releases Heartfelt Homage to Nat King Cole Titled Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole June 4, 2013". Jazzcorner.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
2. Leggett, Steve (June 3, 2013). "Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole - George Benson : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
3. Jones, Steve (June 3, 2013). "Listen up: Rimes, Benson serve up four-star tunes". USA Today. Retrieved June 4, 2013.