SHUYA OKINO (KYOTO JAZZ MASSIVE) - DESTINY

Timeless club soul from Kyoto Jazz Massive groover Shuya Okino – who recruits an all star line up of guests for Destiny – and crafts dancefloor ready, string-sweetened soul and jazzy boogie styled numbers that are nice as just about anything he's done to date! Most impressively, Okina honors the legacy of 70s jazzy soul while employing modern elements, and makes fresh grooves out of it that will stand the test of time. As with his United Legends album back in 2006, Shuya Okino has assembled an impressive array of international artists to help him achieve his vision, with the likes of of N'Dea Davenport, Navasha Daya, Diviniti, Clara Hill and Pete Simpson guesting on vocals, and some of the key musicians on the Tokyo scene (Masato Nakamura, Kenichi Ikeda, Motoharu, Shota Hishiyama, SWING-O a.k.a. 45, Nobukai Fujii, Takao Hirose and more) providing the backing. And with such an impressive line-up of musicians, you just know that you're in for a treat.

The central concept behind the album is 'jazz meets boogie', with the classic funk-disco sound of the late 70s early 80s and jazz sounds combining with modern production values to create a superb dance album.. Together with co-producer Kenichi Ikeda (better known as Root Soul), Shuya Okino set himself the challenge of recording covers of some all-time dance classics alongside some original tunes written in a similar boogie style. The result is an album packed full of memorable and stylish dance tunes that are likely to last the test of time.

Each guest vocalist features on one cover and one original, with the chance to tackle songs both old and new. For the covers, Okino refers to classics from the songbooks of Rose Royce, Aquarian Dream, Eddie Russ, Narada Michael Walden and Don Blackman, and the the originals, penned by Shuya Okino and Kenichi Ikeda, more than match the standards of the tunes from the past.

The opening track is a faithful, but storming version of Rose Royce's Still In Love with Navasha Daya on vocals complete with a full string section, which was out as a 12-inch earlier this year, and is already a contemporary club classic. Daya appears again later on the original Love And Live, an uptempo club number with lyrics from Daya's husband and Fertile Ground co-member James Collins, featuring a wonderful jazzy piano solo in the middle from Shota Hishiyama.

Diviniti takes the mic for the original tune Sun Will Rise, which has all the hallmarks of the classic boogie era, but also something that will appeal to the house crowd too. And she also features on the cover of the Eddie Russ rare groove favourite, Take A Look At Yourself, interpreted here with a really heavy bass line and sax from Soil & "Pimp"Sessions' Motoharu, on what is definitely one of the high points of the album.

Unlike the other guest vocalists, former Brand New Heavies singer N'Dea Davenport gets to appear on three tracks, the first of which is a cover of the Aquarian Dream disco anthem, Look Ahead, which remains faithful to the original to the original, but at the same time brings the tune into 2011.

The title track is an original that has all the hallmarks of a Kyoto Jazz Massive classic, with infectious dance grooves and a sing-along refrain. The third track featuring N'Dea Davenport is the mid-tempo Deep Into Sunshine, a delightful summer tune with guest sax from Masato Nakamura.

Clara Hill guests on Just Do It, a cool, stripped down mid-tempo late night tune as well as a delicious cover of Narada Michael Walden's Give Love A Chance, where she sings in a suggestive breathy fashion.

Pete Simpson is the final guest vocalist, with Let Nothing Change You, a fantastic original that could have been written thirty years ago, but at the same time belongs in the present. Then, to close the album, we have the classic Don Blackman tune Holding You, Loving You, given a jazzy treatment here with some wonderful piano and double bass to accompany the soulful vocals from Simpson.

Destiny is a superbly crafted album that sees Shuya Okino continuing his mission of blending influences of classic soul and funk with modern electronic grooves.