PHILLY SMOOTH

Jeff Lorber was born on November 4, 1952 in Philadelphia, Pa. Lorber 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.

His first group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, released their self-titled debut album in 1977. Supported by a revolving cast of musicians including longtime drummer Dennis Bradford, Lorber recorded five studio albums under this moniker. These early releases showcased a funky sound influenced by other jazz fusion practitioners like Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Return to Forever, the latter's Chick Corea appearing on several noteworthy Fusion cuts. 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.

"Rain Dance," found on the 1979 album Water Sign, was sampled for the 1996 Lil' Kim single "Crush On You." The Jeff Lorber Fusion's 1980 LP Wizard Island introduced a young saxophonist named Kenny Gorelick, better known as Kenny G; this began a long association between Lorber and Gorelick that would continue after the Fusion disbanded in 1981. 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 album featured a new backing band as well as contributions from former Fusion bandmate Kenny G and legendary percussionist Paulinho Da Costa. It's A Fact also contained several songs with vocalists, a stark contrast to the instrumental recordings of the Fusion.

1984 was a prolific year for Lorber, who followed up his solo debut with In the Heat of the Night and Lift Off. Later that same year, Lorber teamed up with influential R&B production duo David Frank and Mic Murphy, otherwise known as The System, to produce his most successful effort to date, Step By Step. The synth-driven title track rose to number 31 on the R&B charts.His subsequent albums continued to evolve in a smooth jazz direction. Two greatest hits compilations, The Definitive Collection and The Very Best of Jeff Lorber, were released in 2000 and 2002 respectively. To date, he has recorded a dozen solo albums, his most recent being 2005's Flipside which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category.

Lorber has done extensive production and session work for other artists including Dave Koz, Eric Benet, Herb Alpert and Laura Branigan, as well as working on a track for the critically acclaimed 1997 PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. In addition to his recording and performing, Lorber also hosts his own show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Jeff Lorber is married to Mingquan Tungwarapotwitan. When Lorber was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, he received a successful kidney transplant from his wife.



Keith Van Washington, known to many as Versatyle, was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa. Keith is a multi-talented, multi-faceted young artist that brings to the stage a style that reflects his lyrical skill, his depth, and his spiritual upbringing.

Audiences in the Philadelphia area and beyond have experienced Versatyle’s soul-stirring performances. Versatyle was summoned by Ebony Magazine to write and perform an original piece for their 2003 Launch Party. He was later referred to in both Ebony and Jet magazines as “spoken word star Versatyle”. In 2006 he was nominated Poetic Ambassador of the year by Prysmatic Dreams and the New Word Order both of which have international spheres of influence. Also that year he was a finalist in the McDonald’s Gospelfest in New York City. Fusing the worlds of poetry and theatre Versatyle played a lead role in the play Murder What’s Next? which garnered an attendance of 20,000 in just one month. Versatyle has been featured on many compilation albums including: the 380 soundtrack produced by a MTV affiliate, Emancipation by international soul connoisseur DJ Come of Age, and the What Happened Hip Hop mix by Whispered Words where he was featured between Gill Scott Heron and KRS-one.

What is the relationship between jazz and poetry and what is the importance of each to our culture?

In my humble opinion Jazz is a genre that accentuates poetry like no other. It’s pure instrumentation, that can marry with the word. Once this union takes place the bond is phenomenal and can be felt. The importance of both, as with any art forms, is that of self expression. Human beings have an innate need to express and the arts allows humanity, to be humanity, tell the stories that need to be told without limitation or censorship…I do it with a pen, Coltrane did it with a sax.

Charitable work:

Salvation Army After School Program – Periodically Versatyle Spends time with children who can’t go straight home after school, helping them with homework, feeding them and providing supervision during leisure activities.

Murder What’s Next? – An annual production developed to address violence in the community. Murder What’s Next? is free to the public and centers around restoring “respect for life” to the community through spiritual uplifting. Versatyle plays one of the lead roles in the production.