José James

1978 was nothing less than a banner year in music: a meeting and merging of styles, soul, R&B, funk, rock, disco and jazz all freely intermingling on radio waves and dance floors. It was also a year when music from other shores—reggae and African music — made significant inroads into the American scene, and an entirely new way of music-making, fresh from the streets of The Bronx, was just starting to be heard: hip-hop was its name. 1978 was also the year that singer / songwriter / producer José James was born in Minneapolis, and now, significantly, it is the title he has chosen for his twelfth album, released April 5th, 2024.

Unsurprisingly, 1978 is historical, timely, and autobiographical: a double-disc LP featuring 9 transcendent tracks that capture José James at a mid-career apex, craftily overlapping Soul, Hip-Hop, Jazz and other Jazz-adjacent styles. The songs range from the deeply personal intimacy to socially minded and message-driven. The grooves stretch from edgy and resolute, to relaxed and seductive. The performances are supported by a lean-and-lithe lineup of young talent and unexpected collaborators. After recent recordings found the forward-looking singer paying tribute to such iconic singer/songwriters as Billie Holiday, Bill Withers and Erykah Badu, James has returned to a self-focused project relying on his songwriting, bandleading, and — for the first time since The Dreamer (2008) — entirely his own production skills.