His Mother and sister died from it, and he has a sister and two daughters Nica and Jessica who have it, as well as six nieces and nephews.
Sadly, he has lost members of his close family to the disease, while others close to him still have it. He has just clocked up seven years since the transplant, given a clean bill of health with his last annual check up. His wife Mingquan gave him the greatest gift of all, life, when she was found to be a match, donating a kidney to Jeff. He was diagnosed with life threatening hereditary Polycystic kidney disease and was so ill, he had to find a donor to give him a kidney or he would have faced first dialysis and then death. The same year, he teamed up with RnB production duo Frank and Mic Murphy, aka “The System,†on massively successful “Step By Step.†In ’05 he got a Grammy nod for “Flipside†and another in 2007 for “He Had A Hat.â€īack home in Portland, Oregon when Jeff and his band were playing the hot spot clubs and building up a reputation, he deliberately highlighted the use of the word Fusion in the name of the band, to “scare away†those who did not like jazz and may expect yet another country, rock or pop band to get up on stage.Īlmost four decades later, Jeff will be back in his home city on stage at Jimmy Mak’s club, on 7th April this year, to celebrate the release of his 24th album, “Galaxy.†Globally respected by “A†list musicians and music fans, far wider than just jazz circles, Jeff will not have thought way back in the day, he’d ever be coming back to his home town as a music legend.īut it is even more of an achievement for 59-year-old Jeff to still be able to breathe fresh air, let alone play his music. In ’84, “In The Heat Of The Night†and “Lift Offâ€. His track “Rain Dance†from the 1979 album “Water Sign,†was sampled by Lil’ Kim on her hit single “Crush On You.†He released his debut solo album “It’s A Fact,†in 1982. complex harmonies, unconventional time signatures, groove laden rhythms and gorgeous melodies.Īt his commercial peak, Jeff stopped recording his own material and focused on production and sessions. His music is and always has been a mix of traditional jazz with elements of rock, R&B, funk, Latin and other electrified sounds. He has 17 solo albums too, and is featured as session player or producer on dozens of albums. He continued to explore innovative blending of other musical forms to jazz. He dropped the term “fusion†from his billing as the movement evolved into contemporary or “smooth†jazz. Jeff has always straddled piano, Rhodes, analogue synths, minimoog and sequential circuits Prophet 5.Ī talented musician, band leader, composer, arranger and producer, he made five albums under the “Jeff Lorber Fusion†banner to great acclaim, fuelling almost non stop touring and packed out shows. He has since recorded for other majors and independents, including Blue Note. That recording landed him a record deal at 25-years-old with Inner City, for his debut album, the 1977 “Jeff Lorber Fusion†album.Īfter a second album with that label, he was picked up by Arista in 1979 for seven mega-successful albums. In the 70s, he took up an offer by a friend to go to his studio to cut a demo tape. He went off to The Berklee School of Music. Originally meant to major in chemistry, that equation did not figure for Jeff.
Through school in the 1960s he played in R & B bands, and went on to form his own acclaimed jazz outfit.
As a tot, he fell asleep listening to his pianist mother playing in their home. Music has always been vitally important to Jeff Lorber.