Hilary Rivera

Bob James was putting the "smooth" into "jazz" long before it was an official format, and as an elder statesman, the keyboardist continues to be one of the most consistent slow groove crowd-pleasers around. But some of the most inspired moments of his career have come from key collaborations with peers from his generation like David Sanborn and Earl Klugh. While never straying far from the melodic, pleasant sort of cool he's best known for, on Playin' Hooky, James duets on various tunes with some of the new kids on the charts, from classical guitarist Fareed Haque to trumpeter Rick Braun and the increasingly ubiquitous saxman Boney James (no relation).

The latter half of the twentieth century was a period of turbulence – both artistically and culturally – and produced a wealth of provocative and often divisive music; much of which we are still coming to terms with, and much which has hugely influenced today’s pop culture and its music. 20C: Shaping the Century Volume II surveys a musical landscape of what are sometimes disparate compositional styles, and makes the repertoire accessible to everyone with an interest in this rich musical heritage. Decca’s and DG’s exceptionally-balanced survey of the music of twentieth century features one masterpiece from each featured composer, five composers per decade.Together this presents iconic works by 25 of the most iconic composers of the years 1950-2000.