The Rippingtons wrapped up 2006 with one of the top-selling smooth jazz albums of the year. Their set, simply titled 20th Anniversary, was a celebration of the band's longevity and creativity.

Band co-founder and producer Russ Freeman explains how he approached the project, fusing the feel of the group's very first album, Moonlighting, with a contemporary style: "It was intriguing how the whole band started, and there was such a conglomeration of great talented musicians around that time, I wanted to recreate the energy that we had when we made our first record, but I didn't just want to do the old songs. So I came across the idea to call the old players to play new material, and I thought, well that's cool. But also to have some of the older players to play some of the things they'd done before in a medley, and I thought, now that's kind of cool."