Playing guitars, keyboards, bass synth and programming, Chris Standring mixes smooth sounds a la vintage George Benson on this rhythmic session with a hip horn section of Dino Soldo/ts, Aaron Janik/tp, Brandon Fields/as, Katisse Buckingham/ts and Ido Meshulam/tb and a festive rhythm team of Andre Berry /b, Chris Coleman/dr and Lenny Castro/perc, with guest Rodney Lee hitting the Rhodes on the back beat of “Good Gracious”. There’s a funk fest throughout as on the disco’d “Chocolate Shake” and “Monday Mandness” with hints of The Jackson Five on “Alphabet Soup” and “Swings & Roundabouts”. Standring’s strings are clean and as polished as the grill of a ’67 Chevy Malibu.