Review: Detroit Rising - Lush Grooves Vol. 1-3 (DownJazz Records)

Detroit Rising brings us a 3-phase "Cosmic Jazz-Funk Adventure" that's got many 'Lush Grooves' lined up - old and new!

Following on from label's recent album by Mark Adams & The Ubiquity Band (see review HERE) (Mark being Roy Ayers' band's Musical Director for 25 years), here's the expanded version of 'Lush Grooves'; having already reported on Vol. 1 (see review HERE) with remixes by Jimpster, Kaidi Tatham, Kai Alcé, DJ Spinna and Matica (represented here with a Funk Dub and a Love Dub!)

Such a collection of world-class musicians owes much to legacy of Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith and other founding fathers of soul-jazz, jazz-funk dance that Adams has spent decades preserving, promoting and enhancing. His 'This Is Neo Soul' project, was a three‑year undertaking featuring artists who have performed with Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, Gloria Gaynor, Chic, Gil Scott-Heron and more. It blended re‑worked classics with new compositions, from the strident 'Sweet Tears' to the meditative 'Day Dreaming' and the cosmic uplift of 'Expansions'. 

DownJazz Records weren't going to miss the chance to further develop the project by picking some of the best in deep, soulful house, broken/bruk and more and in addition to those already mentioned, there's EVM128 (jazz-funk-house 'Open Letter'), Makez ('Dre's World' and the jumpin' and pumpin' 'Open Letter'), Bruk Rogers ('Talking Walls'), Don Surf ('Don't Look Back' is a monster) plus 'Man Of The Moment', Streeton (as recently seen on Soul Quest - see HERE - and Sonar Kollektiv - see HERE) and if you wanna "get ready", you need his Shakedown Edit of 'Dre's World': "Should be longer" you say, don't worry, there's the instrumental too!)

It's cool that some 'duplicate' tracks are included as a head-to-head remix-off, but there's no padding in the 20 tracks here as it's a compilation (vocals, instrumentals/dubs) without being a compilation; and just to re-emphasise, Vol. 1 is now a firm favourite with it's 'star' remixers!

I must say that I was a little concerned that having a three volume release would be a dilusion but it's actually a stronger fusion of 'Lush Grooves' as a package of 3; a weighty celebration of past and future of R&B, downtempo, nu-jazz, electronica in a fusion that will last as long as there's a dancefloor and millions of folks that have heard Roy, Lonnie and Mark over the years. 

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: https://bfan.link/lush-grooves-vol-3

Artist: Detroit Rising 

Title: Lush Grooves Vol. #1/2/3

Release date: 26th June, 2026

Label : Downjazz Records

Catalog Number : DJRLUSH001/2/3

Format : Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp