![jeff lorber fusion prototype jeff lorber fusion prototype](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fEV2FtKbMs4/maxresdefault.jpg)
In 1984 he released his second solo album In the Heat of the Night and Jeff Lorber Fusion compilation album Lift Off. The Jeff Lorber Fusion's 1980 album, Wizard Island, introduced saxophonist Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, better known as Kenny G. Like his contemporaries, Lorber performed on multiple keyboard instruments, including piano, Rhodes piano, and analog synthesizers, often favoring the Minimoog and Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. These early albums showcased a funky sound influenced by other jazz fusion practitioners such as Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and Return to Forever, the latter's Chick Corea appearing on several songs. Supported by a revolving cast of musicians, including drummer Dennis Bradford, he recorded five studio albums under this moniker. His first group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, released their self-titled debut album The Jeff Lorber Fusion in 1977 on Inner City Records. “I was also a big fan of Horace Silver, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Kelly and Red Garland, and I really admired what Weather Report was doing.Jeff Lorber at Jazzy Days in Denmark 2018 “Along with studying the history of jazz piano, and jazz music in general, I was very influenced by both Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea,” he added. I was lucky to meet and play with John Scofield, who was already an incredible guitar player, and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who went on to great success with the Cars.”ĭuring his time at Berklee, Lorber also studied with the renowned piano teacher Madame Margaret Chaloff, whose other students included Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Hal Galper and Kenny Werner. “Besides the music education, I found that hanging out with all the talented musicians and finding out what they were listening to was just as valuable. “I was very lucky that I ended up at Berklee, and what I learned about harmony, improvisation and arranging there is the backbone for how I approach music,” he explained in a Berklee alumni profile. While attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Lorber developed an enduring love of jazz. Growing up in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Cheltenham, where he attended the same high school as Randy and Michael Brecker, pianist Marc Copland, saxophonist Andy Snitzer and baseball player Reggie Jackson, Lorber began playing the piano at the age of four and as a teen performed with a variety of local R&B bands. It represents something more ambitious and more jazzy and more compelling, I hope.”
![jeff lorber fusion prototype jeff lorber fusion prototype](https://www.riminibeach.it/var/news/storage/images/_aliases/hotel_gallery_image/eventi/jeff-lorber-fusion/2311517-1-ita-IT/jeff-lorber-fusion.jpg)
“I guess the Venn diagram of my music intersects with some of those characteristics of smooth jazz, but my music has always been melodic, it’s always been funky and I definitely try to keep an attention to soloing. “While I’m grateful to the format for providing a platform for modern instrumental music, I was doing my music way before there was the term ‘smooth jazz,’” he said. A member of the all-star group Jazz Funk Soul, featuring saxophonist Everette Harp and guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., Lorber has also headlined The Smooth Jazz Cruise, dubbed “The Greatest Party at Sea.”Īs for the tag ‘smooth jazz,’ Lorber believes it is more a marketing term than a musical category. From 1977’s Jeff Lorber Fusion to 2017’s Prototype, named Best Contemporary Instrumental Music album at the 2018 60th annual Grammy Awards, to his recent collaboration with guitar great Mike Stern on Eleven, Lorber has shown a knack for creating fresh vibes and funky grooves while layering on jazzy improvisations on piano, synthesizer and his signature Fender Rhodes electric piano.Īn acknowledged pioneer of what would later become known as “smooth jazz” and “urban jazz,” Lorber has woven together elements of funk, R&B, rock and electric jazz into an appealing hybrid that has consistently won over listeners from coast to coast and resulted in several #1 radio hits. Jeff Lorber, Grammy Award-winning keyboardist-composer-producer has, over the course of 42 years and 24 albums, pioneered the post-fusion sound of contemporary jazz with his radio- friendly, groove-oriented instrumental music.