Harvey Mason

This keyboardist was putting the "smooth" into "jazz" long before there was a format by that name. Since the mid-70s, Bob James has been one of instrumental music's most consistent purveyors of tunes that hover in the gray area between lighthearted pop and more sophisticated jazz textures. James' approach here is a little like his contribution to the supergroup Fourplay rather than dominate, he's content to jam and be one of the guys. Though his solos stand out, it's almost as if he's a hired gun on a project featuring the best and brightest of this second generation of smooth jazzers. He's farmed out the production tasks to some top studio guys (including musician/artists Paul Brown, Chuck Loeb, Michael Colina, and David McMurray. On the lively, shuffling "Take Me There," he bounces around joyously over Loeb's crisp guitar lines and Kim Waters' smart mix of soprano and alto saxes.

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.

Lee Ritenour co-produced this with drummer Harvey Mason (of Fourplay fame) and David Foster both who he had been working with for years. The lead vocalist is Eric Tagg a Dutch vocalist who sang on several of Rit's albums, them became a preacher although he did release an album in 1997. Highlights include "No Sympathy" and "Is It You" also featuring Bill Champlin on backing vocals. Lee and Harvey wrote the liner notes. Many other fabulous musicians are featured as well.