Urbanus, Latin for urban,[2] features Harris's band Blackout, drummer Terreon Gully, keyboardist Marc Cary, saxophonist Casey Benjamin, and bassist Ben Williams.

[5] The album was recorded in the days leading up to Barack Obama's inauguration, an event that Harris said filled the band with a sense of pride.

[8] The other nominees were Sounding Point by Julian Lage, At World's Edge by Philippe Saisse, and Big Neighborhood by Mike Stern.

It has a go-go feel that Harris attributes to keyboardist Marc Cary and bassist Ben Williams's Washington, D.C. roots.

John Kelman in All About Jazz called Urbanus "an impressive group effort...with plenty of cross-over potential and all-ages appeal"[3] but Michael G. Nastos of Allmusic quipped that the "music bears mixed results".

He conceded that there is a "majority of excellent music played on this album" but closes unfavorably writing that the band "wants to appeal to exactly what its title suggests, an urban crowd less interested in innovation or expansion as it is the beat.

"[4] Andrew Gilbert in his review in The Seattle Times wrote that "not every track...is a ringing success" and that it "sometimes feels overstuffed with ideas".