…..Layering contemporary narratives over time-honored musicality, Introducing…..sifts through facets of the human experience, elucidating the personal, the political and every other type in-between. The smattering of a few recognizable faves (for example, production duo Carvin Haggins and Ivan Barrias, along with jazz pianist Robert Glasper) enhance the project without compromising Stokley’s uniqueness or overtaking Williams’ finesse; he and Estelle convey the wonder of newfound love in the tangy mid-tempo duet, “U & I,” and “Art In Motion,” with Glasper, spells out a lady’s delectable qualities into a breathless, name-dropping soliloquy of praise: “Complicated like a piece from Beethoven/so damn graceful like a dance from Misty Copeland. Like a sonnet, you have the spirit of Maya Angelou, you’re like a session orchestrated by Quincy Jones.” A decidedly hip-hop number appears in the form of “Way Up,” intertwining a nimble double-time delivery via Stokley’s tenor and Wale’s syrupy rhymes over an enchanted, lofty groove.

Due to the variety of genres that Williams was influenced by, and dabbled with, over the years, Introducing…. also mirrors his ever-shifting palette; a drama-filled union is put out of its misery in the angst-filled and edgy rock number, “Forecast,” and 80s-esque R&B makes a comeback in the swaggering, steel-drum-anchored “Be With U.” Michael Jackson, the polar opposite of his Minnesota mentor, emerges via the familiar “I Can’t Help It” sample within the flirtatious “Cross The Line.” “Think About U” is the conventional, ‘Quiet-Storm’-worthy flip-side of the kinetic first single, “Level” ….(please click here to read the full-length review at soultracks.com)