The album was released in 2010 on Heads Up Records and was produced by Jeff Lorber, Bobby Colomby, and Jimmy Haslip.

This version of The Fusion includes Lorber on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ, and acoustic piano with bassist Jimmy Haslip, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., trumpeter Randy Brecker, and drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Dave Weckl.

[1] The album also features the Blood, Sweat & Tears horn section, Tom Timko, Steve Jankowski, Jens Wendelboe, and Teddy Mulet,[3] on two tracks, "Pixel" and "Sumatra"[4] and vocalist IreneB on four tracks, "Water Sign", "Rain Dance/Wanna Fly", "Sugar Free", and "Curtains/Before We Go".

[8] George Benson's touring drummer, Lil' John Roberts, plays on the album's second track, "Dr.

[10] "Black Ice", a remake from the 1978 album Soft Space,[8] is highlighted with a Jimmy Haslip bass solo.

[4] Reviewer Howard Dukes called Now Is the Time a "listener's album" "with its radio friendly R&B songs and instrumentals that cover the scope of electrified jazz".

[4] Marvin Leon Lake, of The Virginian-Pilot calls the album "a successful endeavor" that "captures the improvisational energy of fusion, while infusing more jazz and R&B into Lorber’s tunes".