Fourplay Snow

There was no great cunning master plan that brought noted jazz instrumentalists Bob James (keyboards), Lee Ritenour (guitar), Nathan East (bass) and Harvey Mason (drums) together to form a supergroup. Released in October 1991, Fourplay - aided by the success of the smash single 'After The Dance' - peaked at No. 1 in America' s Contemporary Jazz charts for 33 weeks and sold over a million copies. It rose to No. 16 in the R&B rankings and N o. 97 in America' s list of top pop records, The Billboard 200.Thanks to the group' s impeccable musicianship and it's internal creative chemistry, Fourplay created an immediately identifiable signature sound, setting the gold standard for smooth jazz in the 1990s.

'Between the Sheets' is the second studio album of smooth jazz group Fourplay and was released in August 1993. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart and No. 15 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. 'Between the Sheets' sold over 500,000 copies in the United States and thus certified gold by the RIAA. 'Between the Sheets', the popular single, written by the Isley Brothers, features Fourplay members Bob James (piano), Lee Ritenour (guitar), Nathan East (lead vocals and bass) and Harvey Mason (drums) with guests, soul singer Chaka Khan on lead vocals, backed-up by Philip Bailey and Phil Perry. Sultry and smooth, oozing with class. Amoroso is a sprightly tune that features sparkling solos from James and Ritenour while East and Mason (composer) keep a lively groove simmering underneath. This continues to be a defining album for smooth Jazz genre and Fourplay.

What looked at first like a premature marketing ploy – a greatest-hits collection after only three albums? – now makes some historical sense, for founding member Lee Ritenour left the quartet not long after the CD's release. So this is in essence a summary of Fourplay's first edition, a collection of mildly funky, ethereally voiced selections from Fourplay, Between the Sheets, and Elixir, where Ritenour, Bob James, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason integrate their personalities into a smoothly homogenized whole.