Fourplay fans traveling the friendly skies with Delta Airlines will be in for a treat.
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The former San Diegan is one of the most in-demand bassists of the past 30 years.

Get out of town!

It was while earning his degree in music at UC San Diego in the late 1970s that budding bass guitar great Nathan East received perhaps the best advice anyone has given him.

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Bands don’t last over two decades with minimal turnover in personnel and continued success if they’re composed of egotists, prima donnas, drama queens or people that just don’t play nice together. Fourplay has endured and thrived because it is an egalitarian coalition of seasoned professionals who set aside private agendas to serve the group dynamic.

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Photos: Akin Aworan

Former John Stevens sideman Francis Graham-Dixon reviews Fourplay in performance on the eve of the London Jazz Festival and asks why is this kind of music generally so ill-served by the jazz press?

Fourplay embarked 20 years ago on a collective project that has stood the test of time. Those lucky enough to witness their performance at The Grand, Clapham at the end of a European tour were treated to a spellbinding night of music combining emotional power and intensity with peerless virtuoso brilliance; hardly a surprise when you consider that this group of musicians comprise some of the very best instrumentalists and songwriters of any era, and all at the top of their game. Yet I have seen no other review of this brilliant gig in the jazz press. Why is this kind of music generally so ill-served by the specialists?

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The Grand in Clapham has not long re-opened its doors after a cool half a million quid was spent on a major refurbishment. The revamp of this important 111 year-old listed building is described as “demanding of passion and vision…. A labour of both preservation and re-invention. “

Having been there in the 1990s shooting a show and since the refurb’, to do an interview and photo shoot, I can confirm they did a marvellous job in bringing this beautiful theatre back to life, and providing London with a venue to be very proud of. Sight lines and acoustics are spot on. Staff friendly and facilities are fine.

Passion. Vision. Preservation. Re-invention. Apt labels that could also be applied to the band I went to see there. Fourplay. The so-called Jazz “Supergroup,” who have clocked up two decades since celebrated pianist and film/TV score composer Bob James, grabbed bass legend Nathan East and drum hero Harvey Mason at a recording session for his own album in 1990, and suggested they form a band. Guitar star Lee Ritenour completed the quartet and they were off, with the release of their million selling self-titled debut album in 1991. Lee stayed for six years, until the great Larry Carlton replaced him. Celebrating their 12th album, the guys flew into London for a one-night stand in Clapham, minus Larry; who left to focus on his solo career last year. But they brought with them Mr Charles Loeb on guitar. Chuck to his friends, having played on many sessions with Bob over the years. Big shoes to fill for sure, and he himself told me in the dressing room in the afternoon, a daunting task when he got the call, but one he took on with relish and brought many, many new tricks to the party. His own.

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Photo by Cedric Perrier

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