From: Bob Davis (earthjuice_at_prodigy.net)
Date: 2003-01-22 01:34:51
Jeff Lorber's long been one of my personal favorites.
I saw him perform live in Dallas Tx, back in 1983 and he was off the hook!
Anyone else here ever seen him perform live?
He's got something new coming out soon according to this press release I just got.
I thought some of you might be interested in reading about this up comming release.
Looks pretty interesting, doesn't it?
I told yall this was going to be a good year for Jazz!
Let's see...
So far we got Jazzhole, Hubert Laws, Jeff Lorber (and a few others I haven't mentioned here
yet....)
JAZZ -FUNK that is, (not that ELEVATOR CRAP THEY PLAY ON THE RADIO NOWADAYS)
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Keyboardist to Release His Narada Debut Album on March 11
Keyboardist Jeff Lorber will release his 16th album, "Philly Style," on March 11th. It's his
debut collection for the Narada record label. The ten songs that comprise the disc were
produced by Lorber and Steve Dubin (Peter White, Richard Elliot). Lorber wrote or
collaborated on nine songs, including the first radio single, "Gigabyte," which is powered by
a buoyant piano melody and a funky rhythm track that is made electric by a vibrant horn
section. Lorber's core backing musicians are rhythm kings Tony Maiden (guitarist for Rufus),
Alex Al (bass), Lenny Castro (percussion), "Little" John Roberts (drums) and Jerry Hey
(Flugelhorn, horn arrangements). Sax sensation Richard Elliot makes an appearance on the
title track. Of interest is Lorber's cover version of The Goodie Mob's "Soul Food," on which
Gary Meek serves up some sax and Naila croons the sumptuous chorus.
Lorber's hometown of Philadelphia turned out to be a happy coincidence in the making of the
new record. Album co-producer Dubin also hails from Philly as does Roberts, who uses his own
brand of drumsticks that he calls "Philly Style," which is what inspired the album title.
"When I first came on the scene in the 1970's, Gamble & Huff and Grover Washington Jr. were
influential Philly voices in urban, jazz and pop. Today artists like Musiq, Jill Scott, and
Floetry prove that Philly continues to breed recording artists of great distinction," said
Lorber, who now resides in the Los Angeles area.
As one of the architects of the contemporary instrumental genre today known as "smooth jazz,"
Lorber is too modest to include his own name amongst other music legends from Philly. His own
unique musical voice swirls R&B, jazz, pop and rock into compositions that are accessible to
the mainstream yet challenging enough for musical scholars (Lorber is a graduate of the famed
Berklee College of Music). Testament to his incredible diversity is the fact that Lorber's
records have landed on the national jazz, R&B/hip hop, pop, and dance charts. In 1977, Lorber
released a debut album of avante garde jazz with his Grammy nominated band The Jeff Lorber
Fusion. After years on the road he disbanded the unit, preferring the serenity of the
recording studio where he elected to focus on playing, producing, programming, arranging and
engineering. Lorber has recorded with such artists as Kenny G, Herb Alpert, The Isley
Brothers, Dave Koz, Karyn White, Gerald Albright, Chris Botti, Manhattan Transfer, Eric
Marienthal, Art Porter, Michael Franks, Tower of Power and many, many others. In 1991, Lorber
launched his solo career and since then, three of his albums have made it into the Top 10 on
the smooth jazz charts, with one hitting #1 ("Worth Waiting For"). Two singles from Lorber's
most recent CD, 2001's "Kickin' It," went #1.
The songs contained on Jeff Lorber's "Philly Style" album are:
"Under Wraps"
"Gigabyte"
"Regardless Of"
"Philly Style"
"Soul Food"
"Laissez Faire"
"Step On It"
"Uncle Darrow's"
"When She Smiles"
"Serpentine Lane"
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