With an incredible catalog of songs accumulated over the course of his life, Michael Jackson’s music was something that transcended many different styles and influenced a generation of listeners. Growing up, I remember not only being glued to the television watching the Jackson 5 cartoon show, but also being on the front lines for the “Thriller” and “Bad” album phenomenons (the former still ranks as the biggest selling album of all time).

People just couldn’t get enough of his music; and many a child of the 80′s will tell you (albeit, secretly) that they regularly paid homage to Jackson by imitating his moonwalk or wearing the same jacket and glove style he made famous.

Like me, Grammy winning jazz guitarist Norman Brown never had the opportunity to meet the King of Pop, but his work on the new BWB album “Human Nature” channels the connection Jackson had between himself and his music in a cool and powerful way.

Fans have lamented that more than a decade has passed since Brown and BWB (with fellow jazz greats Kirk Whalum on sax and Rick Braun on trumpet) released their last album, “Groovin”. With “Human Nature”, not only has the supergroup reunited, but the reunion also allowed them the opportunity of putting their own unique spin on eleven Michael Jackson classics; including tasty renditions of “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Man in The Mirror”.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Brown and discussing “Human Nature” and more in this exclusive Guitar World interview.

Human Nature will be released on June 18th, 2013

For more on Norman Brown and BWB, check out his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/normanbrownfans