Shine
Smooth jazz star Boney James's first album for Concord is loaded with guest contributors: old guard pros including Philip Bailey, George Duke, George Benson, and Wah Wah Watson; and young stalwarts including Faith Evans, Ann Nesby, Dwele, Esthero, and Christian Scott. You don't need to be told it's a sleekly produced affair, replete with real strings as well as synthesized ones and vocal choruses, and that it showcases James's candy-sweet sound on saxophones. But James, who produced the album, tilts more than usual toward contemporary R&B, with the Evans-sung "Gonna Get It" taking top honors. He also reaches into the Antonio Carlos Jobim songbook with "Waters of March," covered not long ago by Cassandra Wilson, and with Nesby doing the emoting, animates the Chuck Mangione ballad, "Soft," with rippling keyboards. In striving to expand his appeal, though, he doesn't sell his fans short.  --Lloyd Sachs