A sprawling multi-disc, 26-track set with a De Millean cast means plenty to listen to and much to talk about. Keyboard player-programmer-producer Bobby Sparks belongs to the select coterie of musicians, along with such as Poogie Bell, who are known first and foremost for sideman duties, and highly respected by bigger names for what they bring to any session.

Paranoia duly makes a case for Sparks as a composer and social commentator capable of creating a new ‘Negro National Anthem’ to celebrate the primacy of African-American culture, all the while highlighting the interconnected nature of soul, blues, gospel, jazz and pop. Covers of Prince and Elton John classics make that explicit, and the coherence with which Sparks has recast a dance-friendly P-Funk sound with the kind of expansive soloing that would not be out of place on any live set by players with serious chops is not at all uninteresting. Sparks was an invaluable member of the late Roy Hargrove’s feted ‘RH Factor’, and the prevailing vocabulary of that project is intermittently present on several tracks. Or maybe the mission statement is really to show that another Roy, the revered vibraphonist Mr Ayers, also has a legacy that permeates a large swathe of the post-jazz funk world.

In 2022 everybody still loves the sunshine, and chances are that whosoever is drawn to black music that has mainstream as well as arthouse appeal will find their lives brightened by Sparks and his small army of both lordly stars and session royals.