1. Fortune Teller
2. The Whistler
3. Ultralight
4. Cape Town
5. The Yes Club
6. Prelude for Lovers
7. Look Both Ways
8. Argentina
9. Comfort Zone
10. Sebastian
Bob James - Keyboards
Larry Carlton - Guitar
Nathan East - Bass, vocals
Harvey Mason - Drums
Sara East, Noah East, Elijah East - Background
vocals (track 4)
Marcel East - Programming, percussion, keyboards,
guitar (track 4) Esperanza Spalding - Vocals
(track 6)
Fourplay's debut album for
the Heads Up label has an appropriate title,
as the music certainly has energy - although
it is restrained energy, not wild. Fourplay
has been recording since 1991 and has had
a consistent personnel except for the replacement
of Lee Ritenour with Larry Carlton in 1998.
All four musicians have done extensive studio
work - in pop and rock as well as jazz, so
their music tends to mix genres, producing
a sound which might be classed as jazz-fusion
or jazz-funk. Keyboardist Bob James is known
for his association with Creed Taylor's CTI
label, and his own recordings have often been
in the fusion mould, while guitarist Larry
Carlton came to prominence in the Crusaders,
and drummer Harvey Mason was part of Herbie
Hancock's Headhunters.
If you are prejudiced against
jazz-fusion, you may well dislike this album,
but if you are open-minded enough to accept
the various strands that have fed into modern
jazz, this CD offers many rewards. Now and
then it veers dangerously close to the "smooth
jazz" category, but this is because the tunes
are mostly melodious and it is offset by the
expertise of the musicians. The sympathetic
interplay between keyboard and guitar may
remind you of that between Pat Metheny and
Lyle Mays in Metheny's bands, although those
groups are possibly more complex. And Nathan
East's atmospheric wordless vocals are very
like those used by Metheny in some of his
albums.
The drumming on some tracks
is almost robotically unvaried, and I could
have done without the massed voices (presumably
the bassist's relatives) on Cape Town,
especially with the mechanistic handclaps.
The solo vocal of Esperanza Spalding in Prelude
for Lovers is much more acceptable, as
it is soulfully individual.
Despite the occasional embarrassments,
this is a fine album of very acceptable music.
The quartet even goes into a straightforward
four-four jazz rhythm in Look Both Ways.
Fine solos by Bob James and Larry Carlton
add to the appeal, and I can't argue with
music being pleasant to listen to. Perhaps
this album isn't what fashionable people would
consider "cutting-edge" but nevertheless I
like it a lot.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Heads
Up HUCD 3146
