The Will Downing and Gerald Albright collaboration, Pleasures of the Night, was the best-selling contemporary jazz recording according to the October 31, 1998 issue of Billboard. At the time, Downing said, ““This is a departure for us both. It’s pretty much a traditional sounding record with flavorings of contemporary jazz sprinkled in so as not to exclude the audiences we’ve already built up over the years. It gives both of us an opportunity to stretch out more than our own records. It’s not often that you have the opportunity to do exactly what you want to do, no holds barred.”
Here’s the complete Top Contemporary Jazz Albums for that time:
- Will Downing and Gerald Albright – Pleasures of the Night
- Kenny G – Greatest Hits
- Rick Braun – Full Stride
- Down to the Bone – From Manhattan to Staten
- George Benson – Standing Together
- Fourplay – 4
- Keiko Matsui – Full Moon and the Shrine
- Marc Antoine – Madrid
- Various Artists – KKSF Sampler for AIDS Relief, Volume 9
- Medeski, Martin and Wood – Combustication
Also of note in that top ten is that the debut recording of Down to the Bone was in its 37th week on the chart.
Boney James, Sweet Thing, Warner Bros.