Boney James is a four-time Grammy Award nominee and a Soul Train Award winner. He has also been honored with two NAACP Image Award nominations for Best Jazz Album. James has sold over three million albums and has accumulated four RIAA Certified Gold Records.

According to the Boston Globe: "Let's make something perfectly clear: James is not a smooth jazz player. Yeah, he is often grouped with people like Kenny G and Najee, but his music is muscular and gritty, whereas most smooth jazz has all the texture and complexity of a cue ball...James swaggered across the stage like a blacktop hero draining treys on an overmatched opponent. He even weaved his way through the audience, never missing a beat and all but daring the crowd not to have a good time."