Fourplay’s Esprit de Four debuts at #1 on the Contemporary Jazz,  #2 Current Jazz Albums Charts, and cracks the Billboard’s Top 200!

Contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay have released their thirteenth album, entitled Esprit De Four. Originally formed in 1991, the band currently consists of bassist Nathan East, drummer Harvey Mason, keyboardist Bob James and guitarist Chuck Loeb. This is Loeb’s second recording with Fourplay and the band is taking advantage of the new direction.

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Fourplay is one of those amazing groups that only seems to improve with age and despite numerous changes in the bands line up over the years.

Esprit De Four is their latest and for me perhaps their finest release in their storied career. This is the second release featuring guitarist Chuck Loeb with the fascinating aspect that the band made the necessary adjustments to fit his sound and the unique and harmonious symmetry continues without interruption but instead a fresh perspective.

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The twelfth studio album from the mighty Fourplay, and the second record to feature ‘new boy’ Chuck Loeb, is an exciting prospect.  Even more so because I only recently became aware of its impending release.  Shall we get straight to the music FFF’s (Fellow Fourplay Fans)?

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From his roots in Atlantic City, New Jersey to the top of the world, Harvey Mason has been in our ears for decades – whether we knew it or not!

Those that have shared the stage or the recording studio with Mase would be too numerous to mention here – but you certainly need to know how much our guest has accomplished.  His work with the tops in Pop music as well as Jazz – from Sinatra to Donna Summer to Donald Byrd and Herbie Hancock. His production skills and compositions that have found their way to Mary J. Blige, Nancy Wilson, and Notorious B.I.G.  The “first call” status at the Academy Awards, where he has been invited to play 25 times.  And “Modern Drummer Magazine” has given Harvey its highest accolade four times – readers have given him Best Drummer status in the publication’s annual poll.

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If thirteen is lucky for some then all those who appreciate the enduring magic of the fabulous Fourplay will hit the jackpot with the band’s thirteenth CD, ‘Esprit De Four’ which will be released September 18 on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group. In keeping with what has gone before the essence of ‘Esprit De Four’ is in the way, both individually and collectively, the players expertly interpret their own immaculate compositions and with writing credits shared around between band members Chuck Loeb, Bob James, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason, the album feels very much like a delicious throwback to the nineties and the early days of Fourplay.

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Twenty years and counting, the legendary group Fourplay releases yet another inspired work of genius that is nothing short of religious in its listening experience. Songs from the newest collection, ‘Esprit De Four’ is what makes music from Fourplay a pilgrimage to listening enjoyment. Envision the thirty minutes before a sunrise or the thirty minutes after a sunset, when everything in the world takes a moment to reflect in the peacefulness a sunrise and sunset offers, is one testimony to the ‘Esprit De Four’ experience.

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Premier smooth jazz outfit Fourplay have been in business since 1991 when keyboard doyen Bob James set to work with drummer Harvey Mason, bassist Nathan East and guitarist Lee Ritenour to craft an album which successfully blended jazz with soul, R&B and pop. The success of that self-titled set encouraged the foursome to continue and though there’s been the odd personnel change (Larry Carlton replaced Ritenour in the mid 90s and Chuck Loeb replaced Carlton in 2010) the Fourplay sound remains essentially the same – that gentle, often soporific mix of light jazz and soul grooves that proved so effective back in ’91.

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“If there is any one thing that defines Fourplay, besides being one of the most consistent and extraordinarily talented groups ever to grace the contemporary jazz scene, it is that the quartet has loads of class and, as the driving catalyst for one of the tracks on this newest album, Esprit de Four, demonstrates, compassion. The referenced track is ‘Put Our Hearts Together’ and is inspired by and dedicated to the March 11, 2011, Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims. Actually, there are two tracks—the instrumental and the vocal versions of the same tune. It is the group’s collective voice that should call to all of us to remember that we in America are not alone as victims of tragedies. All over the world, we are truly all in this together…A beautifully arranged album that is unmistakably all jazz in its finest form.”

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