Fourplay (stylized as fOURPLAY) is a contemporary American

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

quartet. The original members of the group were Bob James (keyboards),

Lee Ritenour Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s. Biography Ritenour was born on January 11, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At the age of eight he started play ...

(guitars),

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(bass), and

Harvey Mason Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony ...

(drums). In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorded ...

as his replacement. In 2010, Larry Carlton left Fourplay and was replaced by

Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – July 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist and a member of the groups Steps Ahead, Metro and Fourplay. Early years and education Loeb was born in Nyack, New York, near New York City. At a ...

, who died on July 31, 2017. During Loeb's illness, saxophonist

Kirk Whalum Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk' ...

joined the group for performances. The group has enjoyed consistent artistic and commercial success by grafting elements of R&B and pop to jazz, appealing to a broad mainstream audience. Their debut album, '' Fourplay'' (1991), sold over a million copies and remained at the number one position on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' contemporary jazz chart for 33 weeks. Their next album, '' Between the Sheets'' (1993), reached number one, went gold, and received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nomination. In 1995, their third gold album, ''

Elixir ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring t ...

'', also reached the number one position and remained on the chart for more than 90 weeks. In 2015 the band celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of the album ''Silver'' with former members Ritenour and Carlton. In 2017, the band announced that it was going on hiatus for 2018 and would return to performing in 2019.

Discography

DVD-Video

* ''An Evening of Fourplay'' Volumes I and II (1994) * ''Live in Cape Town'' (2005) * ''Live at San Javier Jazz Festival'' (2006)

References

External links

* {{Authority control American jazz ensembles Smooth jazz ensembles Warner Records artists Bluebird Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in the United States