Billy Price's lifelong involvement with old school or classic horn band rhythm and blues has made him a soul music institution across the globe, with fans stretching from England to Japan. He will in fact be featured this spring in the British publication Juke Blues.

With so many blues-rock R&B bands littering the local musical landscape, Price's influence has been obscured. The New Jersey native -- who came here from State College in 1971 with his Rhythm Kings -- single-handedly introduced Pittsburgh to a whole range of R&B, from the now hugely popular swing-based jump band blues of Tiny Bradshaw to the contemporary soul offerings of O.V. Wright and Al Green.

Back then, the city's musical tastes favored doo-wop oldies or British glam/hard rock. The most crucial characteristic of Price's music that was absent in the music then performed in Pittsburgh -- including last-gasp psychedelia -- was its call-to-the-dance-floor tempos. Except for his occasional "house-wrecking" ballad, all the forms of R&B Price favors have this trait.

As a teenager, Price had access to New York City's finest soul radio stations, and it was just a quick journey into the big city to catch shows at the Apollo and other New York theaters. While white America was discovering the guitar-oriented blues of Muddy Waters and B.B. King that fueled the Sixties blues revival, Price preferred the horn bands of Junior Parker and one of his greatest influences, Bobby "Blue" Bland.

During soul music's peak in the mid- and late '60s, Price spent many of his Saturdays catching performances by Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Ben E. King, James Brown and Jackie Wilson. (Later, Price, under his real name Pollak, would write an investigative feature for the Village Voice on Jackie Wilson's tragic last days.)

The tight arrangements of the horn-band R&B Price performs are best suited for a vocalist of his caliber. To hear the singer's powerful, clear tenor rise above a surging reed-and-brass section is to experience the human voice in its most heart-rending incarnation. This was what led the late guitar virtuoso Roy Buchanan to hire Price as his lead singer. Too often Buchanan was unfocused musically and his rock-oriented jams were the opposite of Price's aesthetic. The guitarist was a mighty blues player and Price helped Buchanan make the best album of his career, Livestock. Price's reading of Tyrone Davis' "Can I Change My Mind" from Livestock is a staple of classic rock and blues shows around the world and established the singer's presence in Europe and Japan.

Can I Change My Mind is the title of Price's new CD, which is an anomaly as far the songs are concerned. "After The Soul Collection [a compendium of cover tunes] I wanted to make a record with all previously unrecorded songs," Price says.

"Can I Change My Mind" is the exception. "I've never become tired of performing it," Price says. The arrangement differs markedly from the original, featuring a gritty flute solo over a fusionistic funk beat. "I was a little taken aback when 'Swamp Dogg' put a flute in the song," Price laughs about L. A. producer Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, who has recorded, among others, ZZ Hill, Patti Labelle and Kid Rock.

Price wanted to challenge his preconceptions with this record. "For this CD I wanted to put my ego on the shelf and see what a good producer could do with me," he says. He first entertained hiring some of the former Muscle Shoals-based soul producers, but settled on Williams after his enthusiastic response to Soul Collection. Though Price is a longtime fan of Williams' work, the making of this CD "wasn't a love fest. I was horrified when he first suggested using a flute and I would have never thought of using a flute, let alone a flamenco guitar."

It's a tribute to Price's unerring musicality that he trusted his producer. Price is unquestionably at his peak as a singer, with his timbre and intonation remarkably free of grain; his phrasing is exceptionally well developed and his expressive abilities define the term "deep soul." Mind remains true to soul music's essence and confirms its relevance in contemporary music.