A highly respected figure in his native Brazil, the late trombonist Raul De Souza will most likely be on the radar of fusion fans, given his excellent work with the likes of American keyboardist-composer George Duke, among others, in the mid 1970s. The three albums spread over this 2-CD set document De Souza's own engagement with electric jazz, soul and funk in the same period when he was signed to Capitol, who probably saw a berth for the artist in more or less the same territory as that occupied by The Crusaders, Ronnie Laws and Chuck Mangione. The results are largely good, as De Souza moves coherently between covers of melodically rich songs such as Wayne Shorter's ‘Beauty And The Beast’ and uptempo originals such as the rollicking, dancefloor-friendly ‘Daisy Mae’.

Accessible, if not commercial, the music nonetheless has sufficient integrity to ward off unseemly ageing, and in the company of stellar players such as the aforesaid Duke, drummer Harvey Mason and bassist Robert ‘Pops’ Popwell, De Souza performs at a high level. His tone can be sensual or aggressive, and his improvising has the requisite bluesy fire to serve the material well.