Jazz Group Fourplay Reaches #1 on Billboards Contemporary Jazz Charts This Week with “Esprit de Four”!

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Esprit De Four, the 12th release by the jazz quartet Fourplay, is a quiet and confident recording. The confidence can be viewed in light of the fact that pianist Bob James, drummer Harvey Mason, bassist/vocalist Nathan East and guitarist Chuck Loeb never seem to feel the need to raise the volume of their music to compete with performers who often feel the need to scream. The members of this quartet go through the tracks on Esprit De Four with the confidence that the virtuosity and creativity of their musicianship and the quality of their compositions speak plenty loud enough.

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Fourplay may well be the last true super group left on the contemporary jazz scene. Their new release Esprit De Four which may be arguably their best release thus far has just hit the streets and Bob James was kind enough to field a few questions both on the band and on their stellar new release!

Can you tell us about the origin of Fourplay? Also Esprit De Four celebrates the greater good of a rock solid quartet. Is this perhaps the most collaborative release to date?
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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’s Harvey Mason has been inducted into the  Soul Music Hall Of Fame!

The people  have spoken!

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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