Fourplay – Silver was produced by Fourplay with Executive Producers Mark Wexler and Sonny Abelardo and released on the Heads Up International label, a division of Concord Music Group. Fourplay is celebrating their 25^th Anniversary [Silver Anniversary] with the release of Silver.  A band with consistency of personnel and diversity in music has created another stellar release.

The release leads with the track Quicksilver, written by the newest member, Chuck Loeb, which echoes a Brazilian samba beat and is centered on the guitar work of Chuck Loeb and tight baseline of Nathan East and Harvey Mason. The track Horace, written by Bob James, is a tribute to one of Bob James’s favorite jazz pianists, Horace Silver. The moving melody is carried on the back of the keyboard work of Bob James and the ringing cymbals and slight drum skin strokes by Harvey Mason.

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Mike Ragogna: What? Fourplay’s been around for 25 years? The hell you say!

Bob James: You gotta love it! Here we are, Mike. Humbled by the math, but still thinking of adding some more arithmetic.

Nathan East: Hi Mike! It’s hard to believe 25 years since we started Fourplay but as they say “time flies when you’re having FUN!”

Chuck Loeb: Yes! Amazing…let’s do this!

MR: Cool. Before we get into the material on Silver, what are your thoughts about reaching that milestone?

BJ: Looking down at the roses beats pushing them up.

NE: When you embark on a career-defining journey with a gathering of musical-champions, in an exhilarating atmosphere like the vibrant music industry in 1990, it’s celebrated with the kind of energy that makes a milestone like this more likely.

CL: My situation in the band is unique, in the sense that I am the newest member of the band, and I’m just celebrating my fifth year as a member. This offers me some insight from a different perspective of the 25th anniversary. Back at the inception of the band I was a fan of all of the original members individually, and was just totally knocked out when I heard the collaboration on the original CD Fourplay. And so, I can offer my perspective as both an avid observer, and a member. I think the thing that contributes the most to the longevity of the band is the continual striving for excellence in all the facets of creating contemporary jazz: composition, improvisation, production, performance, and a strong connection with the listening audience. I know that the band hit those marks in the first 20 years, and it is my hope that they’ve continued to be met on the three CDs I have had the pleasure to have been involved with, including Silver.

Harvey Mason: From the outset of Fourplay, we insisted our project would not be a “one off” as we intended to follow the longevity model of the Modern Jazz Quartet, commonly known as the MJQ. The synergy was so very special why not continue making this great music. Twenty-five years is indeed a group milestone achieved by few, I’m proud and happy we’ve reached it. From my perspective it has certainly come quickly.

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Jazz musicians, more than artists in any other genre (with the possible exception of classical music), have a transient existence. Go back and look at someone like my personal favorite jazz musician, Miles Davis, and realize that in five plus decades of making music, he was really the only constant in any of those great combos. There were plenty of comings and goings in those group. John Coltrane came and went, came back and then left again because, even as these legends played with Miles, they were also working their own projects.

That’s the way it is with jazz musicians to this day, and that probably explains why fans in that genre suffer none of the angst that fans in other genres feel when, say, a Lionel Richie leaves The Commodores to embark on a solo career. Besides, an in-demand jazz musician may front or be the side man in several bands while also getting some studio work along with arranging and composing.

Fourplay has experienced turnover since the band was formed in 1990, but the lineup has remained remarkably stable since their self-titled debut that featured El DeBarge singing “After the Dance” took the world by storm in 1991.

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