That long list of vocalists is the giveaway. This bumper 3-CD, three-hour-plus release draws on nine albums over 15 years, and reveals Duke at his most commercially successful, and his soulful best. Despite his conservatoire training, jazz heritage and Zappa success, or maybe because of all that, this is Duke in many ways at his most confident, not simply as a player, but as a composer, arranger and most notably as a colossus in the studio.

As this is a Soul Music Records release, they were bound to concentrate on Duke’s soul-drenched material, but it’s a tad frustrating that there’s only one nod to Duke’s excellent ‘classical’ piece of the era, ‘Muir Woods Suite’, and that’s a live trio cut from the Montreux Festival, not the original release. It’s not that his early run outs with Elektra were stand outs either: Thief in the Night still tries to pitch Duke the vocalist, and although his vox on later releases was more assured, the early outings wobble. But with the first Warner release, 1992’s Snapshot, Duke hits pay dirt with a top 40 R&B and a No.1 Contemporary Jazz chart hit. It’s a run of success mirrored through the subsequent release of Illusions, Is Love Enough?, After Hours and Cool, all heavily featured here. So slip off your slipons, don your shades: it’s time to chill.