Jeff Lorber started out like most successful musicians do, as a fan. Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock being two of his earliest inspirations. To figured out how to play like his heroes, he had to go back and study the history of jazz piano where he discovered Wynton Kelly, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Red Garland, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and many more. Combine that with his love of Funk and R&B, and you get one of the most storied careers in modern Jazz history.

Jeff began his recording career in 1977 with The Jeff & Lorber Fusion self-titled debut. The ensemble quickly gained traction and became one of the most popular touring acts on the scene. In 1982 Lorber made his solo debut with It’s A Fact. In 1985 he scored his first Grammy nomination with the hit “Pacific Coast Highway” from the album Step By Step. He has continued to write and record over the last 40 plus years releasing a string of successful projects including West Side Stories (1994), State of Grace (1996) and Midnight (1998), Kickin’ It (2001), Philly Style (2003), Flipside (2005), He Had A Hat (2007, Grammy nominated), Now Is The Time (2010, Grammy nominated), Galaxy (2012, Grammy nominated) Hacienda (2013 Grammy nominated), and Prototype (2017) for which Je$ won his first Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Je$ is also an accomplished producer of not only his own recordings, but also producing other artists such as Michael Franks, Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright, and Rick Braun, among others.

Jeff Lorber’s latest release, Elevate, (His 32nd in case anyone is counting) is a solo passion project filled with friends and collaborators both old and new. Although the new album comes fairly soon after his last release, Jeff felt inspired, “When I signed with SRG Jazz, they were excited about me being there, so it seemed natural to start working on a new record. I’m writing new stuff all the time, so I took some things that were in progress and collaborated with Claude Villani, who’s the president of the label. He helped weed out some of the various ideas I had going and helped me develop them.”

Label presidents regularly collaborate with artists on budgets and sales and marketing strategies, but rarely if ever musically. “I’ve never been at a record company before where the president was also a musician, so that’s refreshing. It was really fun collaborating with Claude. He is very passionate about what he’s doing with his company and what’s happening with diDerent artists on the label. He knows a lot about both harmony and the nuts and bolts of record making. He’s a busy guy but he’s able to make decisions very quickly, in fact it seems like this record came together with very little diDiculty and it was a lot of fun to work on with him.”

Why Elevate? “Elevate is a great word in general when it comes to music because it represents what you want music to do for you when you listen to it, to elevate your mood, or to help to transcend into a happier more peaceful or maybe more engaged state of mind.”

Elevate features some of the most notable players in the genre today including guitar players Erick Walls and Mark Lettieri, bass player Cornelius Mims, drummer Gary Novak, alto sax player Randal Clark, and many others. In addition to collaborating and writing with SRG/ILS CEO Claude Villani, Je$ also covered a classic R&B song by D’Angelo called “Spanish Joint” and recorded a new composition by Brian McKnight called “I Love My Life With You” which Brian also sings.

“At Claude’s suggestion I also recut the song “Shadows” which was originally recorded in the early 80’s for my Wizard Island album. Another song that is special “Glacier”, was written for another project, but I liked it so much that I decided to save it for my own album.”