Given the use of the b-word in the title and the fact that Payton, once touted as a serious contender for the trumpet virtuoso crown, is using all manner of electronics and drum programming and singing, this could be seen as a classic case of “jazz goes urban”. With a radio play-led commercial breakthrough as part of the mission statement. Possibly, but even if the leader does become ‘tainted’ by success, then this work's integrity is very much intact. Curiously, it's come at more or less the same time as Robert Glasper's Black Radio and may cop similar sell-out or cheapskate charges from the purist jury. Yet Payton's obvious riposte would be that instead of trying to reinvent himself as R. Kelly with a horn, he is doing nothing other than taking his cue from a certain Louis Armstrong and giving more space to the vocalist rather than the trumpeter this time round. Eyebrows might be raised at the leader's decision to ditch a live band, duly shoulder the role of producer/programmer and construct funky electronic parts against which his sung melodies unfold, but there are two important things about his modus operandi that should be taken into account. Firstly, although lengthy improvisations are off the menu, Payton doesn't entirely bin his knowledge of smart chords and wily progressions amid the heavy thud of a backbeat and catchy choruses. Secondly, Payton has some rapturous melodies. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the gorgeous, house-slanted ‘Freesia.’ Bolstered by the presence of Esperanza Spalding, the piece might initially evoke the Erykahs, Indias or Jills of this world, but on closer inspection what really comes to light is the ethereal harmonies and gospel subtleties of Earth, Wind & Fire in ‘Clover’ mode. If the tune and its execution are spot on there, the input of associate producer Mark De Clive-Lowe, a key player on London's broken beat scene, ensures that there is a delicious audiophile sheen on most of the material. Sadly, the standard of the writing slips a bit in the second part of the set, but Payton's duets with such as N'dambi and Cassandra Wilson are pleasingly articulate performances that resolutely eschew the creative dumbing down that has occasionally afflicted the jazzer-plays-pop scenario.