Charles Elam III, a/k/a Chucky C, is the kind of journeyman saxophonist who can easily take the lead role in a back-up band for a headlining artist or MC an opening set and leave listeners wondering, “Just who IS that saxophone cat? He’s pretty darn good all on his own.” And it’s true, whether backing a well-known recording artist or fronting his own combo, as he does here, Chucky C is truly a standout.

Just the list of his performing and recording credits is pretty amazing: Percy Mayfield, O.V. Wright, and Syl Johnson; Edie Brickell, Maria Muldaur, and Bo Diddley; Irma Thomas, Marva Wright, Marcia Ball, Tracy Nelson, and Aaron Neville.

And the résumés of his band members in Clearly Blue are equally impressive (including gigs with Gatemouth Brown, The Neville Brothers, Boz Scaggs, Percy Sledge, Allen Toussaint, and Buddy Miles, just to name a few).

Together, they create a seamless blend of smoothly rendered, nightclub R&B with distinctive jazz and blues touches, occasionally mounting musical forays into the straight blues (with Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man”), slinky R&B jazz (Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” with Chucky C on lead flute), and full-bore R&B (“Untouchable Glide,” Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me”).