Lorber has done extensive production and session work for other artists including Dave Koz, Eric Benét, Herb Alpert and Laura Branigan. His track "What's the deal", from the same album, is featured in the film, London Fields.
In 2018, Lorber received a Grammy for his album Prototype, in the "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album" catagory. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, his 2013 album Hacienda was nominated Best Pop Instrumental Album. To date, he has recorded a dozen solo albums, including 2005's Flipside which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category. Two greatest hits compilation albums, The Definitive Collection and The Very Best of Jeff Lorber, were released in 20 respectively. His subsequent albums continued to evolve in a smooth jazz direction. His input can be heard during the game's closing theme song "I Am the Wind" (which also featured the saxophonist Gerald Albright). Lorber's keyboard work was featured in the PlayStation video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. After Step by Step, he quoted Clive Davis as telling him, "We really want you to put more vocals on your records," which Lorber thought as a mistake. However, Lorber was not satisfied that he was being overtaken by a more vocal and R & B feel on his own albums so he took a seven-year-long hiatus. Several singles from this period also appeared on the Billboard Dance charts. The song "Facts Of Love" (featuring Karyn White) from the 1986 album Private Passion was his biggest chart hit, reaching #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #17 on the R&B chart. The title track, written with Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters, rose to number 31 on the U.S. Later that year, Lorber teamed up with the production duo David Frank and Mic Murphy, otherwise known as The System, to produce his most successful effort to date, Step By Step. It's A Fact also contained several songs with vocalists, a stark contrast to the instrumental recordings of the Fusion.ġ984 was a prolific year for Lorber, who followed up his solo debut with In the Heat of the Night and Lift Off. The album featured a new backing band as well as contributions from former Fusion bandmate Kenny G and Paulinho Da Costa. In 1982, Lorber recorded his first solo album It's a Fact, which explored Lorber's R&B roots with a smoother, more synth-heavy sound. The Jeff Lorber Fusion's 1980 album, Wizard Island, introduced a young saxophonist, Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, better known as Kenny G.
It was also sampled for the track "Love Like This" (featuring Lil' Cease) on SWV's 1997 album, Release Some Tension. "Rain Dance", found on the 1979 album Water Sign, was sampled for the 1996 Lil' Kim single "Crush On You". Like his contemporaries, Lorber performed on multiple keyboard instruments including piano, Rhodes piano, and various analog synthesizers, often favoring the Minimoog and Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. These early releases showcased a funky sound influenced by other jazz fusion practitioners such as Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Return to Forever, the latter's Chick Corea appearing on several Fusion cuts. Supported by a revolving cast of musicians including longtime drummer Dennis Bradford, Lorber recorded five studio albums under this moniker. His first group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, released their self-titled debut album in 1977 on Inner City Records. He also studied chemistry at Boston University for several years. He moved to Vancouver, Washington in 1972. He started to play the piano when he was four years old and after playing in a number of R&B bands as a teen, went on to attend Berklee College of Music, where he developed his love for jazz and he met and played alongside guitarist John Scofield. Lorber was born to a Jewish family in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, the same suburb as fellow musicians Michael and Randy Brecker, with whom he would later play. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his 2007 Blue Note Records release He Had a Hat. Many of his songs have been featured on The Weather Channel's Local on the 8s segments, including appearances on the channel's compilation albums, The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz and The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II. 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for "Prototype" by his band Jeff Lorber Fusion. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on Jan. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer.