Larry Carlton Leaves Fourplay, Chuck Loeb Steps In
February 18, 2010 – The Smooth Jazz super-group Fourplay is evolving to their 3rd stage. Legendary guitarist Larry Carlton is leaving the band and his replacement will be Chuck Loeb. It’s sad to see Larry go but lets’s remember Chuck Loeb is one of the most underrated guitarists on the planet.

Stage one of the band featured original guitarist Lee Ritenour. Here is the official statement from the band;

Fourplay has had the distinct privilege of enjoying the past 12 years of its 20 year history with legendary guitarist Larry Carlton.
As Larry takes his leave to delve further into his solo career, the band extends their heartfelt gratitude for his contributions and wishes him continued success in all his pursuits.
Larry Carlton will remain an integral part of our musical family & legacy.

Fourplay now welcomes its newest member, multi-faceted virtuoso guitarist, Chuck Loeb.
His musical contributions will undoubtedly enhance the creativity and pursuit of excellence Fourplay has enjoyed in the studio and on the stage.

Fourplay thanks its many loyal fans and promises that this latest incarnation will inspire the band to explore new avenues of creativity while maintaining its core musical values. - by John Beaudin

Chuck Loeb: A Great Musical "Presence"
February 21, 2008 - Guitar virtuoso Chuck Loeb has imposed himself as one of the best contemporary jazz guitar players since almost 30 years. He has played with jazz giants such as Hubert Laws, Stan Getz, Larry Coryell, Gary Burton and so many others. Read our Interview

Chuck Loeb: "MySpace" was not really his own space!
November 14, 2007 - MySpace is a social networking web site, that has become a powerful communication and marketing tool for most Smooth Jazz musicians for several years. It often complements the artists' official web site. Normally, MySpace is supposed to be an interactive and user-friendly space for artists, to share news and communicate with fans and friends. However, it happens that MySpace pages are not run by the artist himself, but by some passionate fans, who post news and pictures of their favourite artist.

The problem is that they do not necessarily reflect the artist's own views and are often run without any official permission. Famous Smooth Jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb has experienced it, as one of his fans has been running an unofficial MySpace page since March 2006 ( www.myspace.com/chuckloeb). Loeb recognised that "imitation is a form of flattery", but has eventually decided to react, by creating his own official MySpace page in September 2007 ( www.myspace.com/chuckloebofficial). So far, the artist has included four songs, a slide show, a photo gallery and will post videos soon.

The talented guitarist – whose hit "Good to Go" (drawn from his latest CD "Presence") reached #5 and stayed on the charts for over 40 weeks – has a very busy agenda till the end of this year.

In addition to a number of upcoming shows ("To Grover With Love" concerts and a gig with famous sax player Eric Marienthal) , the musician will appear on the latest band Metro'a album, "Express", due to be released (November 19th 2007) on the keyboard player's Mitchell Forman's label, Marsis Jazz ( www.mitchelforman.com/Store2.htm) For more information: www.chuckloeb.com. - By Akbar Nour, Smoothjazznow's Contributing Editor

Little Smooth Jazz Extras
June 6, 2005 - Hidden extras appear to be one of the ways many Smooth Jazz artists are rewarding their loyal fans, according to smoothvibes.com. Some of the hidden gems found on the latest Smooth Jazz offerings are guitarist Chuck Loeb's untitled jazz/funk track after the last official song on the album "When I'm With You." Chieli Minucci's four hidden interludes which can be heard on his latest only if the album is played in order without skipping any tracks, and Mindy Abair's tribute to Cannonball Adderly from her album "Come As You Are", titled "26 Hemenway" (a reference to her address during her time at Boston's Berkelee College of Music). - By Cheryl Philips

Chuck Loeb Appreciates Spiritual Comrade Kirk Whalum
March 18, 2004 - "I am a spiritual person," says Chuck Loeb. The popular Smooth Jazz artist and producer says he never fools himself into thinking that he's solely responsible for any of his hits. "I am walking down the road and all of a sudden this melody is going around inside my head and I have to write it down," says Loeb. He told Smooth Jazz Now he feels like "a secretary writing it down for someone else." While recording his 2002 album "All There Is" Loeb said he got another reminder of the big picture from Saxophonist Kirk Whalum. "We were just about to record and I asked Kirk if everything was okay in his headphones and if he was ready to go. Kirk said he was all ready to go but there was one more thing that he would like to do, he said that he would like to pray." Loeb says that simple comment put things in perspective, "I thought okay so I went outside and my daughter and her boyfriend were in the room with us and Kirk said that he wanted to thank God for letting him make a contribution that wasn't really even his to a song that wasn't even really mine and that they were all from God." Check out our updated Interview with Chuck Loeb.

Chuck Loeb's at Peace with New Studio Technology
November 20, 2003 - Chuck Loeb loves new technology in fact the guitarist say's he got in on the ground floor of recording with computers in the early eighties while doing jingles and other music for film and TV. Loeb says his software of choice is Pro Tools, "I remember at one point thinking that I'd become a virtuoso of Pro Tools," says Loeb laughing. "It's kind of a weird talent to develop." The guitarist says he's been working with computers for so long, "It's become second nature." Loeb told Smooth Jazz Now that as much as technology makes his life easier the guitar will always be his focus, "My knowledge of music just grew for me because I'm a guitarist. It came from the guitar! My knowledge of harmony came from the guitar." Read our part two of our interview with Chuck Loeb.