CD8:2002 Fourplay-Heartfelt
Fourplay fans might be surprised to find that the supergroup's new album Heartfelt (Bluebird), represents a daring departure from the silky smooth style that made them one of smooth-jazz's most successful acts. This time out, the foursome created the material via a series of improvisational performances that they assembled into full compositions. The new tunes might have less clearly defined melodies than their predecessors, but they are filled with exploratory yet accessible performances.
In "Tally Ho!" Bob James' Piano, seemingly urged on by Harvey Mason's crashing cymbals, picks up speed until Larry Carlton's guitar enters and engages in its own chase with Mason's robust drumming. It wouldn't be a Fourplay album without at least one boudoir bound tune, and here it's "Let's Make Love," written by bassist Nathan East and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and sung by East. The title track possesses a moody beauty, while "Ju Ju" features a march rhythm that's overlaid by Carlton's bluesy improvisations. Yes, the direction is different, but it's also very satisfying. I hope Fourplay will continue in this vein on future albums.
2002年7月23日，爵士四人行发行了他们的最新专辑《Heartfelt》，这也是他们自1991年发行他们的首张专辑《Fourplay》以来的第八张专辑。这也是他们加盟RCA新东家以来的首个杰作。新作品拋开传统，把他们全新的风格注入其中，希望让歌曲散发更大的魅力、更独特的韵味。而听过《Heartfelt》这张专辑的人都会赞同，他们全新的风格是非常的成功的。
该碟亦是瑞士尖端音响名厂GOLDMUND的老板非常推崇的一款试音唱片。他声称自己当时就在现场，而录音效果的回放竟可以还原出90%以上的真实度，当然，这是在GOLDMUND这样高级的音响器材中才有的聆听感受。
专辑曲目：
1.Galaxia-05:45
2.That's The Time -06:44
3.Break It Out-05:43
4.Rollin'-04:11
5.Let's Make Love -03:56
6.Heartfelt-06:59
7.Tally Ho!-05:55
8.Cafe L'amour-05:18
9.Ju-Ju-05:27
10.Goin' Back Home-05:58
11.Karma-05:28
12.Making Up-04:35
CD9:2004 Fourplay-Journey
To paraphrase the Eagles, you'll get a peaceful, easy feeling when you listen to Fourplay's Journey (Bluebird). The veteran smooth-jazz act has created a collection of easygoing tunes that demonstrate that laid-back is not synonymous with simple; there's plenty of singular soloing, adept group interplay and interesting compositional ideas going on here. On "From Day One," keyboardist Bob James states the charming main theme, and then guitarist Larry Carlton steps in to take it in a soulful, bluesy direction, while "Play Around It" finds bassist Nathan East whispering playful lyrics about his bandmates as the funky rhythm grooves along. James and Carlton gracefully trade off the melody on their delicate cover of Sting's "Fields of Gold," and then the band travels to Brazil for the bossa nova tune "Rozil." East's vocals have long been part of the Fourplay sound, and he's particularly expressive on the title track, a love ballad that would fit well on adult-contemporary radio.
Amazon.com:
Pianist Bob James and drummer Harvey Mason have gotten their bebop yearnings out of their systems through solo albums, and guitarist Larry Carton took care of his blues craving with an album of his own. Now, they reunite their smooth-jazz supergroup leaving bassist Nathan East with plenty to do. East dominates the first half of this album with vocal work on the first five tracks. While Carlton leads the Sting cover, "Fields of Gold," it is the opening riff, East's vocals on the bridge, and his signature bass runs at the end that make it attractive. East hip-hops the proceedings on his composition "Play Around It" and sings passionately enough on the title track to warrant kudos from his other employer, Eric Clapton. The other half of the record is a more adventurous group effort featuring longer lines and more intense soloing, particularly on James's "Avalabop" and Carlton's "Cool Train."
该专辑发布后，备受争议。
正方：
Fourplay组成13年，玩Smooth Jazz已经达到出神入化的地步，四个人事前不需彩排，入录音室便各就各位，一个月内录起这张《Journey》专辑。作为乐迷，要欣赏的不是结构分明、干净工净的Smooth Jazz，重点应该落在四人如何Improvise一首歌，Improvise即兴演奏也，当一首歌事前只有几个旋律时，其它队员自动为这首歌谱上悦耳又顺畅的伴奏，在不断重复的Build-up过程中，四人的音乐得到升华，进化成一首完美的乐曲。
在《Journey》中，第二首的《Play Around It》可算是代表作，难得加入DJ Scratching，Nathan East的Bass跳脱非常，整体也很Funky。也许Smooth Jazz过份以电子合成器为主导，加上这次用Digital录音的关系，气氛颇为冰冷。要温暖一点，《Avalabop》中四人放任地发挥所长，基本上达到Improvisation至高境界；鼓手Harvey Mason作曲的《Rozil》，也相当“亚热带”。
反方：
作为一个凡人，我真的希望这个世界上的美好事物能够持久，永不褪色。作为一个音乐爱好者，我也希望一些我喜欢的音乐家或者团体永远可以给我带来美好的音乐以及听觉上的盛宴。可是这个世界往往存在着对立的两种事物，希望的对面就是失望，美好的对面就是丑陋，全明星现代爵士组合Fourplay的这张最新专辑《Journey》给我的感觉虽然谈不上丑陋，但确实是一种失望，一种遗憾。
只所以会有失望，其原因就是先有期望。Fourplay这个团体对于我来说算的上是最为喜爱的现代爵士团体之一。10多年间，Fourplay经历的辉煌，也经历了人员上的变动，但他们所制造出来的音乐每每都能给我听觉上的享受。当然在这10年内所发行的7-8张专辑及精选里，他们也不断尝试音乐上的突破和创新，而Larry Carlton代替Lee Ritenour作为主音吉他之后，乐团的整体风格确实产生了一定的变化，不过Fourplay的一贯技巧性很强的轻柔爵士风格还是得以保存了下来。
在这张《Journey》发行之前，已经有很多乐迷评论到，Larry Larlton根本不适合Fourplay, 而且他的吉他也根本融入不到Fourplay的一贯风格当中去，有趣的是这些乐迷本身大多就是Larry的忠实的爱好者。对于我来说Larry Carlton所在的Fourplay确实不如Lee Ritenour那时赋有神韵，不过依旧还是可圈可点的，专辑《4》和《Yes, Please》更是难得的佳作。不过在听完这张《Journey》之后，我也毫不犹豫的加入反Larry的阵营当中去，Larry Carlton确实不适合Fourplay.
听过Larry Carlton他个人最新的一些专辑的朋友一定体会到他现在的风格已经完全的转向Blues和R&B, 在他现在个人的专辑中很少能体会到轻柔的风格，而Larry居然也把他个人的音乐倾向带入的Fourplay, 带入了这张《Journey》。专辑中除了一首“Departure”之外, 很难再让我找到Fourplay以前的影子。专辑的第一首“Fields of Gold”是一首耳熟能详的流行曲，原本我以为Fourplay能够用其在专辑《Snowbound》中独特的编曲和演奏方式演奏那些经典圣诞歌曲一样来演奏这首流行歌曲，但他们居然完全保留了原曲的旋律和节奏，显得毫无创新，老曲老调，不过就算这样还是保留了Fourplay的一丝风格，尤其是Bob James的键盘老尔弥坚。专辑第二首“Play Around It”是噩梦的真正开始，这首单曲居然还是作为Radio Hit出现在各大Smooth Jazz电台中，其根本原因就是这首曲子是Fourplay在这张专辑中尝试的最大可能的突破。这四个老头沉醉在这从头到尾的Hip-hop节奏当中，梦想着有一天能够返老还童，可老头就是老头，老头玩Hip-hop好听一点就是“第二春”，而其实就是闷骚，不过Bob James的一段即兴Solo依旧还是非常出彩，而在这只为新潮可自降水准的年代，这首单曲也算过的去。再往下听，或者是往下看，Larry Carlton的show time开始了，大段大段生硬的Blues的拨弦充斥在原本已经不再动听的旋律中，简直是在折磨我的听觉系统，这也许就是专辑发行之前，Fourplay一再强调的“Larry将在专辑中表演出色的solo”吧。不过Mr. 335，你玩你的Blues，咱们不反对，但不能坏了Fourplay的规矩呀，也许我们是保守的，我们是念旧的，但《Journey》所表现出来的吉他在其中的不协调已经是得到大半Fouplay乐迷的认同了，而且如果不是这四个大名鼎鼎的人物，这张专辑也根本不会进入JazzTrax上半年10佳专辑的行列，但是不是能够进入年度十佳，已经要打一个问号了。
专辑曲目：
1. Fields Of Gold
2. Play Around It
3. From Day One
4. Journey
5. Rozil
6. Cool Train
7. Avalabop
8. The Firehouse Chill
9. Departure
10. 147 4th St
CD10:2006 Fourplay-X
Smooth-jazz journeymen Fourplay reunite for X and deliver more solid, lite-instrumental sounds. Centered around the talents of keyboardist Bob James, guitarist Larry Carlton, bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason, Fourplay also feature here blue-eyed-soul icon Michael Mcdonald who takes an inspired vocal turn on the Steve Winwood tune "My Love's Leavin'. It's a great track that nicely exploits the aesthetic connection and '70s heritage of both smooth jazz and soft-rock. Similarly appealing are James's noirish "Screenplay showcasing Carlton's bluesy chops and James's urbane keyboard style; as well as East's slow R&B ballad "Sunday Morning". This is a softly-funky, superbly crafted and unapologetically low key album. Frankly, that's what longtime fans have come to expect from these masters of smooth and in that sense X succeeds.
Fourplay的音乐历来都会遵循一种雅、柔、软、艳的体系，《X》专辑同样也不例外，Bop乐迷也许会因为它节奏的软弱无力而嗤之以鼻，Avant-Garde Jazz或Free Jazz的信徒更会对它的守旧与具象而不屑一顾。但Fourplay却还是用十五年的亲身历练告诉所有的乐迷，并非只有突出苦和辣才算是爵士乐的宗旨，Smooth Jazz最大的作用就是用来表现爵士乐里的酸甜可口的成份。
《X》唱片一共9首单曲，总长不到50分钟，应该是10张专辑中最短的一张。“Turnabout”作为开场曲并似乎没有让人们有太多的惊喜，他们惯有的节奏搭配4个人卖力的演奏，还不错。不过耐下心来再听一遍的时候可以发现一些新事物，Larry Carlton在大篇幅的即兴段中居然放弃了他早就习惯了的Blues，虽然这回是换成了较为funky的风格，但和弦的表现明显比以前柔滑了很多。 “Cinnamon Sugar”进一步证实了答案，Larry Carlton这回终于像他第一次加入Fourplay的时候那样，尽力靠拢Lee Ritenour的温柔曲风。而且还保留了同其他三人共同拥有的节奏，这一点要比早年的Fourplay时尚了很多。唱片放到过半以后，迎来了可以杀人的温柔“Twilight Touch”。“黎明”一直是Fourplay早年非常乐衷的一个主题，方面节奏的Larry Carlton明显也感染了Bob James,这位最近一直在亚洲频繁活动的钢琴家把东方人婉约带入西方音乐中，也许这时已经没有人还念叨着Lee大哥了。但精彩还没有完，“Be My Lover”应该成为专辑中的一个经典，无论是节奏、旋律还是技巧，此曲无可挑剔，其时尚程度更可以被看作“Someone To Love”和“Save Some Love For Me”这两首过去专辑经典的一个融会，并且这3首曲子和Lee Ritenour都不相关。
新唱片中同样收录了两首人声作品，并为此邀请了两位歌手客座。其中，《My Love's Leavin'》里的男声Michael McDonald除了在本色音的感性流露时，还不会让人感觉异样，但只要是一到去用胸腔音演绎高音时，一定会让人误以为是隐姓保名的Michael Bolton在献技。另一首《Be My Lover》同样也是一首属于美国上流社会的大众情歌，“福音”歌手Michele Pillar和乐团贝司手Nathan East哼哼叽叽的合唱虽然若有若无，但却因为肉嗓这种世间最柔嫩乐器而为能全曲的温馨、雅致氛围再添上一种懒洋洋、软绵绵。
毫无疑问，《X》和Fourplay所有的唱片一样，它并非是精神食粮，能给你带来凤凰涅磐般的灵魂冲击，乐手高超的技艺和娴熟的默契也无法突出自由主义患者最钟爱的天马行空的想像力，而它们对Blues、Funk等等曲风的运用也是雕琢远远大于开拓，或者更可以说根本没有过将它们实验、改革的野心。但他们却正是因为突出了音乐中最细腻的感官功能，而让爵士乐变得前所未有的松驰和芬芳，而这种每每总是能对人身心又唯美又浪漫的陶冶，也让Fourplay成为了“必柔”牌爵士最有信誉保证的商家。
专辑曲目：
1. Turnabout
2. Cinnamon Sugar
3. Eastern Sky
4. Kid Zero
5. My Love's Leavin'
6. Screenplay
7. Twilight Touch
8. Be My Lover
9. Sunday Morning
下载地址：
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2002 Fourplay-Heartfelt 1 2
2004 Fourplay-Journey 1 2
2006 Fourplay-X 1 2
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