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JOY RIDE was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance.

James traipses from tight, funky ensemble workouts to soupy, unctuous melanges of sound that do for eardrums what sensual massages to for sore backs. ...    Full DescriptionOnly a cynic won't fall for these 12 brightly colored instrumental cuts. As always, James has assembled the creme de la creme of studio musicians to help flesh out his keyboard noodlings into grandiose aural landscapes.

"Take Me There" floats its gentle streaks of Kenny G-like soprano sax across a backwash of keyboards, percussion, and heady bass (courtesy of "Late Show With David Letterman" band bassist Will Lee). Saxophone takes center stage on the deeply grooved "Raise the Roof," the instrumental tension of which arises from the alteration of sultry Brazilian rhythms and more orchestral and airy passages. And anyone who isn't drawing a bubble bath, preparing two glasses of champagne, and spooning out mouthfuls of beluga caviar during the downright erotic "It's All Right" has failed to grasp the song's raison d'etre.

Tracklist:

1 Take Me There    
 2 Raise The Roof 
 3 It's All Right    
 4 Swingset    
 5 Joy Ride 
 6 What's Up    
 7 Fly By    
 8 First Time    
 9 Strollin'    
 10 Sweet Talk Me Now    
 11 Trade Winds    
 12 Bisso Baba