With a smooth sound bringing together elements of funk, R&B, rock and electric jazz, keyboardist, composer and producer Jeff Lorber helped pioneer a genre of fusion. Born in Philadelphia, he began playing the piano at the age of four, and as a teen performed with a variety of local R&B bands. Lorber’s infatuation with jazz began during his stay at the Berklee College of Music, and after forming the Jeff Lorber Fusion he issued the group’s self-titled debut in 1977. During the first half of the following decade, the band became one of the most popular jazz acts of the period, touring nonstop and even scoring a Best R&B Instrumental Grammy nomination for the radio hit ‚Pacific Coast Highway‘. Another Grammy nomination followed for Lorber’s CD ‚Now is the time‘. Jeff keeps returning to his musical roots and, together with the Grammy-nominated bassist, composer and producer Jimmy Haslip and ‚Jeff Lorber Fusion‘, gives himself over to the sound that he once had helped to define: fusion or ‚contemporary jazz‘. Jeff has also been part of the ‚Jazz Funk Soul‘ trio with Everette Harp and Paul Jackson Jr.