NEW RELEASES: NAJEE – YOU, ME & FOREVER; ALTON ELLIS – SOUL TRAIN IS COMING; JASON PALMER – WONDALAND: JASON PALMER PLAYS JANELLE MONAE

NAJEE – YOU, ME & FOREVER

Multi-Platinum seller, recipient of multi-Grammy nominations, the NAACP Image Award and the Soul Train Award, Smooth Jazz icon Najee has shared the stage with such greats as Prince, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Lionel Richie, and his beloved mentor, George Duke. You, Me & Forever is the highly anticipated follow up to Najee s much loved The Morning After which was #1 both on the Billboard chart and at Smooth Jazz Radio. As the title implies, the album represents Najee s exploration into the world of sensuality and romance, interspersed with some fantastic spirited grooves that have made Najee a favorite the world over. Featuring keyboard great Alex Bugnon and Kenny G s longtime collaborator and music director Robert Damper, Najee explores such classics as Antonio Carlos Jobim s Wave , Ambrosia s The Biggest Part of Me plus some great Najee originals. ~ Amazon

ALTON ELLIS – SOUL TRAIN IS COMING

One of the more obscure sides of work from the legendary Alton Ellis – but one of the best as well! The set features some cuts issued by Alton on his own Ellis label – and many of the numbers here feature the singer acting as a producer too – a surprisingly strong side of his talents, as he's able to craft just the right sort of laidback rocksteady grooves for his wonderfully soulful voice! Alton never broke as big on an international scale as artists like Peter Tosh or Jimmy Cliff – but hearing these tracks, you'll definitely feel the way in which the paths Ellis took were clearly roads that allowed much bigger reggae grown in years to come! Titles include "My Time Is The Right Time", "I Love You Girl", "Again". "Dedication", "Baby Talk", "Past Time", "Soul Train Is Coming", "Bam Bye", "If I Had The Right", and "Big News".  ~ Dusty Groove

JASON PALMER – WONDALAND: JASON PALMER PLAYS JANELLE MONAE

The music of Janelle Monae gets some really wonderful treatment here – served up in an instrumental mode by trumpeter Jason Palmer – with a similar spirit to his previous project based around the music of Minnie Riperton! The approach is definitely jazz, but it's wonderful to hear Palmer and the group work some new magic with these familiar vocal tunes – with a mode that relies heavily on Fender Rhodes from Luke Marantz, whose spacey lines really help capture some of Monae's energy, but redirected towards a jazz basis that's quickly picked up by Palmer on trumpet, Godwin Louis on alto, Greg Duncan on guitar, Dan Carpel on bass, and Lee Fish on drums. The whole thing's completely charming – not gimmicky at all – and titles include "57821", "Sir Greendown", "Neon Valley Street", "Wondaland", "Say You'll Go", and "Oh Maker".  ~ Dusty Groove