Dave Badie is being touted as “the man who outsold Erykah Badu.” At this past summer’s Essence Festival, the smooth grooves of The Court Jazzster CD were playing over the Superdome’s P.A. system and people were lining up to buy the record without even knowing who the artist was.

Consequently, Badie outsold the records of Badu and other festival headliners, launching his first solo effort in a big way. Badie is related to jazz bassist Chuck Badie and, in the 1970s, he played in a band called the Creators which included Wynton and Branford Marsalis. Now, the question arises—is Dave Badie as good as his hype? The answer is a big YES! He is.

His style is smooth jazz and it is an absolute joy and pleasure to listen to. All nine original compositions are consistently mellow, low-key and easy on the ears. Badie’s primary instrument is the soprano sax, although he doubles on keyboards and handles some of the electronic programming as well. His forte is primarily the slow, romantic, dance-real-close-together-with-the-lights-down-low style defined by George Howard, Marion Meadows, Warren Hill and others in that vein.

On this, his maiden voyage, Badie is ably accompanied by Stanley Perkins on bass and keyboard sequencing, Joe Scatassa and Anthony Brown alternating on guitars and Matt Barone on piano on four tracks. The great drummer, Herman LeBeau, sits in on one of the tracks and Keith Clayton shines during a vibes solo on “When We Say Goodbye.” Clyde Jenkins lays down keyboards and drum and keyboard programming on two of the tracks.