ProStudioMasters.com

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 different 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 difficulty 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, Jeff 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.