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Boney James has spent more than three decades making the case that smooth jazz and genuine musicianship are not in conflict. Nineteen albums in, four GRAMMY nominations, four RIAA Gold Record certifications, a Soul Train Award for Best Jazz Album, and a 2024 milestone that speaks for itself: the first artist in history to score 20 number one singles on the Billboard Smooth Jazz chart.

His latest, Slow Burn, released on Concord Records in October 2024, is among the strongest work of his career. The album opens with Marcus Miller on acoustic upright bass, one of the rare times the legendary musician has committed that instrument to record. Herbie Hancock and Bennie Maupin’s “Butterfly” gets a luminous reading featuring Miller again alongside Cory Henry on electric piano. R&B vocalist October London appears on lead single “All I Want Is You.” Co-writer and co-producer Jairus Mozee, known for his work with Anderson Paak and Anthony Hamilton, shapes four of the album’s tracks. Rick Braun turns up on a warm tribute to Stanley Turrentine’s “Sugar.”

The collaborators are impeccable. So is the playing. James calls it his best record yet, and the evidence is hard to argue with. Slow Burn follows 2022’s Detour, which debuted in the Top 10 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart