Jeffrey Osborne – From The Soul

In the R&B world Jeffrey Osborne is a household name. In his 35 year career, this legendary singer/songwriter has produced hits like Love Ballad and (Everytime I Turn Around) Back In Love Again with the 70’s R&B outfit L.T.D. followed by a successful solo career with songs like I Really Don’t Need No Light, Stay With Me Tonight, and We’re Going All The Way.

While on Tour with sax player Dave Koz, Osborne discovered that the smooth jazz audience was indeed singing along with his R&B hits. This prompted his decision to record one hell of a record. That record is his latest release produced by the king of popular, smooth jazz, Grammy Award winning producer/engineer and guitarist Paul Brown.

On ‘From The Soul,’ Osborne has recorded all of his favorite R&B numbers but there’s a twist. He has done them in the genre of smooth jazz and it is a monster. From Teddy Pendergrass’ Close The Door to Stevie Wonder’s Knock Me Off My Feet, Jeffrey Osborne has used his undeniably distinctive voice to bring these classics alive in the smooth jazz vein. The CD even contains one of my all time favorite songs, Curtis Mayfield’s – People Get Ready and a song that Osborne co wrote, All At Once, originally recorded by Whitney Houston on her multi platinum debut.

Yet, the moments that stand out most for me on this fabulous and very relaxing disc are Osborne’s rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s, For What It’s Worth, and I literally got chills during Roberta Flack’s beautiful, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

To be honest, I haven’t heard some of these songs since I was a kid. This disc brought back many fond memories of my youth, which I cherish. That alone is worth the cost of the CD, not to mention Jeffrey Osborne has just done an incredible job capturing the soul of each and every one of these songs.