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| 5.421 Ft
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| 1. | Rain Dance/Wanna Fly
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| 2. | Dr. Moy
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| 3. | Pixel
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| 4. | Sugar Free
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| 5. | Mysterious Traveller
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| 6. | Curtains/Before We Go
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| 7. | Black Ice
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| 8. | Las Rosas
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| 9. | Chinese Medicinal Herbs
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| 10. | Water Sign
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| 11. | Sumatra
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Jazz
Ada Rovatti - Engineer
Alex Al - Bass
Allen Sides - Mixing
Bobby Colomby - Composer, Producer
Chris Bellman - Mastering
Dave Weckl - Drum Engineering, Drums
Derek Jones - Drum Engineering
Eric Marienthal - Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Frankie Biggz - Composer, Vocal Engineer, Vocals (Background)
Irene B. - Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Irene Bauza - Composer
Janet Wolsborn - Package Design
Jeff Lorber - Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer, Synthesizer Bass
Jens Wendelboe - Horn Section, Trombone
Jerry Hey - Arranger
Jimmy Branly - Drums, Percussion
Jimmy Haslip - Bass, Composer, Percussion, Producer
Larry Koonse - Guitar
Lenny Castro - Percussion
Lil John Roberts - Drums
Lori Stoll - Photography
Paul Jackson, Jr. - Guitar
Randy Brecker - Flugelhorn
Steve Dubin - Composer
Steve Jankowski - Flugelhorn, Horn Section, Trumpet
Teddy Mulet - Horn Section, Trumpet
The Blood Sweat & Tears Horns - Horn
Tom Timko - Flute, Horn Section, Saxophone
Tony Maiden - Guitar
Vinnie Colaiuta - Drums
Wayne Shorter - Composer
By the late 1970s, keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber had become a prominent figure in the new movement known as jazz fusion - a marriage of traditional jazz with elements of rock, R&B, funk and other electrified sounds. Lorber and his band, the Jeff Lorber Fusion, first honed their craft in the Portland, Oregon, club scene and rapidly expanded their reach to a national and international audience via a combination of complex harmonies, unconventional time signatures and compelling rhythms.
In subsequent years, Lorber dropped the term "fusion" from his billing as the movement evolved into what is currently known as contemporary jazz. Still, he continued to explore the innovative, improvisational potential of grafting other musical forms to the jazz idiom.
More than three decades after his earliest recordings, keyboardist and composer Jeff Lorber has come full circle. His new recording, Now Is The Time, delves back into his early catalog and reinvents some of the most compelling compositions from the Jeff Lorber Fusion heyday. As a result, the artist once again makes a bold statement in the evolution of jazz.
"We all had a vision of what we wanted this record to be," says Lorber, who points to a recent European tour with many of these same musicians - and the positive response that resulted from it - as the primary catalyst for the album. "We wanted a return to the sound of the Jeff Lorber Fusion, but informed by everything I've learned since then. All of a sudden, people seem to be interested in hearing that again. They're ready to hear musicians who can really play, really stretch the envelope with their technique, with their songwriting, and with harmonic structure."
In some ways, Now Is The Time is a culmination of all that has come before - and a nod to the raw energy and enthusiasm that fueled the music of the early days. The set opens with a reinterpretation of Lorber's "Rain Dance," a song that has been sampled by Lil' Kim and other hip-hop artists since the original recording on the Water Sign album in 1979. The combination of vocals by Irene B and trumpet by Randy Brecker - with additional brass by the Blood Sweat & Tears Horns - provides a fresh look at an early Jeff Lorber Fusion classic.
This new incarnation of the Jeff Lorber Fusion includes luminaries like bassist Jimmy Haslip (who co-produced with Lorber and Bobby Colomby), saxophonist Eric Marienthal, trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., and drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Dave Weckl.
Calling this set of refashioned classics Now Is The Time was no accident, says Lorber. The album represents a transition in the artist's creative perspective - one that might well be a reflection of the changes in the audience's perceptions as well. "This record is a clear statement," he says. "It represents a real musical shift toward something a little jazzier, and a little more exciting. The title has a very positive thrust to it, and it evokes a certain sense of being serious and taking charge."
Jeff Lorber made a very honest statement when, in 1998, he told the Houston Chronicle that the mid-'80s found him featuring R&B vocalists so prominently that he had become, in effect, "a sideman on my own records." Lorber wasn't saying that he would never feature vocalists again, but he obviously realized that his own musicianship and his own personality needed to take center stage instead of being merely a side dish -- and thankfully, Lorber the jazz instrumentalist made an exciting comeback in the '90s and continued to generate excitement in the 21st century. 2010's Now Is the Time, in fact, is credited to the Jeff Lorber Fusion -- which is appropriate because parts of this album find him revisiting fusion and crossover jazz pieces he originally recorded in the late '70s and early '80s. Now Is the Time isn't totally instrumental; four of the 11 tracks feature singer Irene B ("Water Sign," "Rain Dance/Wanna Fly," "Sugar Free," and "Curtains/Before We Go"), and she favors an enjoyably jazzy R&B vocal style along the lines of Erykah Badu and N'Dea Davenport. So what is the difference between the way Lorber features Irene on Now Is the Time and the way he featured, for example, Karyn White and Michael Jeffries on 1986's Private Passion? It's a matter of presentation. Irene is clearly a guest vocalist on a mostly instrumental album that is jazz-oriented even though it isn't jazz-exclusive, and Lorber (who produced this 47-minute CD with Bobby Colomby and Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip) never sounds like a sideman on his own album. Lorber is in the driver's seat; he has plenty of room to stretch out as a keyboardist, and there is also plenty of solo space for alto/soprano saxophonist Eric Marienthal. Now Is the Time is hardly the work of a jazz purist or a bop snob, but it certainly has a jazz improviser's mentality, and Lorber sees to it that his 2010 versions of Jeff Lorber Fusion gems like "Black Ice" and "Chinese Medicinal Herbs" are not carbon copies of the original versions. That sprit of improvisation prevails not only on the Jeff Lorber Fusion-era material he revisits, but also, on an appealing arrangement of Wayne Shorter's Weather Report-associated "Mysterious Traveler." Now Is the Time is a fine album that will easily appeal to those who appreciate the spontaneity of early efforts like Water Sign and Soft Space. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Jeff Lorber
Active Decades: '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Nov 04, 1952 in Philadelphia, PA
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Crossover Jazz, Fusion, Jazz-Pop, Smooth Jazz
With a smooth sound bringing together elements of funk, R&B, rock, and electric jazz, keyboardist Jeff Lorber helped pioneer a genre of fusion later formatted under such names as NAC and contemporary jazz. Born in Philadelphia on November 4, 1952, he began playing the piano at the age of four, and as a teen performed with a variety of local R&B bands. Lorber's infatuation with jazz began during his stay at the Berklee College of Music, and after forming the Jeff Lorber Fusion he issued the group's self-titled debut in 1977. During the first half of the following decade, the band became one of the most popular jazz acts of the period, touring nonstop and even scoring a Best R&B Instrumental Grammy nomination for the radio hit "Pacific Coast Highway." Released in 1986, Private Passion was Lorber's most successful outing yet, but at this commercial peak he stopped recording, instead turning to production and session work. He did not issue his first proper solo LP until 1991's Worth Waiting For, remaining both a prolific performer and producer for the rest of the decade. He recorded for Verve and Zebra in the '90s before moving over to Narada in the 2000s and releasing successful smooth jazz albums like 2003's Philly Style and 2005's Flipside. He released He Had a Hat on Blue Note in 2007. In 2010, Lorber released the '70s funk and soul inflected Heard That.
---Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide |
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