Fourplay

Fourplay - © 2006 mvonlanthen

Fourplay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Fourplay is a contemporary American smooth jazz quartet. The original members of the group were Bob James (keyboards), Lee Ritenour (guitars), Nathan East (bass), and Harvey Mason (drums).[1] In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement. In 2010, Larry Carlton left Fourplay and was replaced by Chuck Loeb,[2] who died on July 31, 2017.[3] During Loeb's illness, saxophonist Kirk Whalum joined the group for occasional performances.

The group has enjoyed consistent artistic and commercial success by grafting elements of R&B and pop to jazz, appealing to a broad mainstream audience. Their debut album, Fourplay (1991), sold over a million copies and remained at the number one position on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart for 33 weeks. Their next LP, 1993's Between the Sheets, reached number one, went gold, and received a Grammy nomination. In 1995, their third gold album, Elixir, also reached the number one position and remained on the chart for more than 90 weeks. The band celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of the album Silver in 2015, which featured former members Ritenour and Carlton as guest artists.

Discography

Albums

Title Released Label
Fourplay 1991 Warner Bros.
Between the Sheets 1993 Warner Bros.
Elixir 1995 Warner Bros.
The Best of Fourplay 1997 Warner Bros.
4 1998 Warner Bros.
Snowbound 1999 Warner Bros.
Yes, Please! 2000 Warner Bros.
Heartfelt 2002 Bluebird
Journey 2004 Bluebird
X 2006 Bluebird
Energy 2008 Heads Up
Let's Touch the Sky 2010 Heads Up
Esprit de Four 2012 Heads Up
Silver 2015 Heads Up

DVD

  • An Evening of Fourplay: Volumes I and II (1994)
  • Live in Cape Town (2005)
  • Live at San Javier Jazz Festival (2006)

Charts

References

  1. ^ Yanow, Scott. "Fourplay: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
  2. ^ Lee Mergner (February 15, 2010). "Larry Carlton Leaving Fourplay". JazzTimes. Retrieved September 8, 2011. 
  3. ^ https://jazztimes.com/news/chuck-loeb-guitarist-composer-dies-61/

External links

This page was last modified 18.06.2018 01:06:39

This article uses material from the article Fourplay from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.