Fourplay to jazz up Newport Beach

Young Chang

Fourplay, an award-winning jazz quartet, came together almost by

accident.

Ten years ago, pianist and composer Bob James hired his three would-be

band members for a project he had underway.

Rehearsals became fun, chemistry brewed and the quartet threw around

talk of forming a group.

Then James, bassist Nathan East, drummer Harvey Mason and guitarist

Larry Carlton recorded an album.

The self-titled debut shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard contemporary

jazz charts and stayed there for almost 33 weeks. Band members and their

agent, Warner Bros. Records, were stunned.

“The group sort of took off and got a life of its own,” James said.

“All of a sudden we had given birth to this thing.”

The group released its seventh release, “Yes, Please!” last month.

On Wednesday, Fourplay will perform its medley of blues-funk-urban-pop

jazz at the Hyatt Newporter Outdoor Amphitheater in Newport Beach. The

concert will feature old and new hits.

Fourplay has a romantic sound, accommodating its seductive group name.

Members took full advantage of the name’s double entendre, James said,

not only with their four-person arrangement, but with bedroom-music

style.

“In order to be tasteful, we spelled it differently,” said James, who

takes the blame for the name.

Mason calls their music “love music,” a kind that comes from their

hearts.

Track five on “Yes, Please!” titled “Blues Force,” is one the group

wrote together, almost as an impromptu throw-together of tunes. They

rarely do that, but the combination of creativities worked.

“We all had good intentions. We were all sympathetic to each other,”

Mason said. “We just enjoy making good music that people appreciate.”

Each member of Fourplay brings his own style to the quartet.

Bassist East, who has recorded with and for music giants including

Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins and Babyface, has this

energetic, optimistic personality, James said. He walks in and adds

“tremendous spirit to any musical situation.”

Carlton, who has 20 solo albums and two Grammy awards to his credit,

has lent his guitar style to projects with Barbra Streisand and Steely

Dan, to name a few. He’s the quiet one in the group, sometimes even

considered mysterious.

Mason is what they call a hit-maker, James said. A drummer, producer

and composer, he first shined with jazz legends Duke Ellington and Erroll

Garner in the 1960s. With seven Grammy nominations to his name, he has

contributed to several movie scores, including “The Color Purple.”

James, who said he is happy with having only 25% of the responsibility

for the leader-less group, wrote the theme for the television series

“Taxi.” With a run of chart-topping albums, 29 solo albums, and 12 Grammy

nominations, he’s a musician who likes to take risks.

“In this group there are two different challenges,” James said. “One

is to reach a wide audience, because we’re communicators. But the group

is also an opportunity to make an artistic statement.”

FYI

* WHAT: Fourplay

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday

* WHERE: The Hyatt Newporter Outdoor Amphitheater, 1107 Jamboree Road,

Newport Beach.

* HOW MUCH: Tickets are $35 to $52.95.

* CALL: (213) 480-3232.