1998's Better Days further solidified his place among the chart-toppers of smooth jazz. His popular 1997 tribute to Marvin Gaye's 1971 watershed album What's Going On combined the best of his two worlds, modern day contemporary jazz and the classic soul he grew up with. Raised in church and weaned on gospel and soul music, the Houston born saxman on his first two Blue Note recordings, Everette Harp (1992) and Common Ground (1994), was already leaning this way, combining dynamic funk edges and urban textures into the mix. Still, he continued to explore the innovative, improvisational potential of grafting other musical forms to the jazz idiom.Īs the 90's progressed and smooth jazz artists began incorporating more hip-hop and classic R&B grooves into the music which came to define the genre, Everette Harp found himself ahead of the curve. In subsequent years, Lorber dropped the term "fusion" from his billing as the movement evolved into what is currently known as contemporary jazz. 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. By the late 1970s, trailblazing keyboardist/composer/producer 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.
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