Certain purists may raise their eyebrows at the inclusion of the likes of Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, but the influences they share with the jazzmainstream give them credibility, and no one will disagree with the bulk of the stars represented.
Having brought jazz into the mainstream, he then transformed it, with innovative new rhythms on albums like Time Out -- the first jazz album to ever sell more than a million copies and still one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.