Let’s turn the spotlight once again on José James’ first album, which was released in 2008 by Brownswood Records, Gilles Peterson’s label. With The Dreamer, we quickly understood that the singer from Minneapolis living in New York has mastered inside out the legacy of the great soul’n’jazz voices such as Leon Thomas or Bobby McFerrin. At 30 years old, James also showed that the 90s nu soul orchestrated by D’Angelo and Erykah Badu had left a strong impression on him. But he most of all managed to offer a rather original blend of this groovy-influenced rainbow. We even found in his disc three daring and tasty covers: Park Bench People from the underrated rappers of Freestyle Fellowship, Roland Kirk’s Spirits Up Above and the song from Spike Lee’s first movie, She’s Gotta Have It, penned by double bass player Bill Lee, the father of the director. This 10th Anniversary Edition is actually released on José James’ own label, Rainbow Blonde Records, and offers four bonus tracks, among which a moving Coltrane (Dear Alice), dedicated to the saxophonist’s wife. © Max Dembo/Qobuz