Mtume - The Essential Mtume (2019)

Led by James Mtume and featuring the powerful lead vocals of Tawatha Agee, Mtume were a dynamic, chart-topping R&B band that recorded for major-label Epic from 1978 through 1986. As a top-level jazz percussionist and composer whose most prominent work was with Miles Davis from 1971-1975, James Mtume was frequently credited simply as Mtume. During that early part of the decade, the musician had also recorded mononymously as a leader, blurring the distinction between the individual and the band. Mtume the band continued the path James Mtume and guitarist/partner Reggie Lucas had taken when they departed from the jazz field and co-wrote "The Closer I Get to You," the sparkling Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway duet that topped Billboard's R&B chart in 1978. The first lineup was filled out by keyboardist Hubert Eaves III, bassist Basil Fearington, and drummer Howard King, though the band's founder and Agee were the lone original members after the second full-length. The most significant departures were Eaves, who moved on to D Train and other production work, and Lucas, whose greatest subsequent success came with producing the majority of Madonna's self-titled debut.