Bob James Tickets

Multi-Platinum-Selling, 2x-GRAMMY® Award Winner & 17x-GRAMMY® Nominated Piano Legend BOB JAMES' career is long, varied and continues to evolve at every turn. From his first days in Marshall, Missouri, the music of Bob James has captivated audiences throughout the world.

Discovered by Quincy Jones at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1963, James recorded his first solo album, 'Bold Conceptions', that year for Mercury Records. 58 albums and innumerable awards would follow through five decades. He honed his skills working with Creed Taylor, working on albums for artists like Hank Crawford, Grover Washington, Jr, among others. While with CTI, James found great popular success overseeing significant hits for Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Maynard Ferguson, and Kenny Loggins.

In 1974, James finally recorded his own album, 'One', which launched a lifelong career of recording and performing live. After three more albums, James began his own label, Tappan Zee Records. This allowed James to spend more time in the studio, focusing on his own creative works. It was during this time that he recorded his own gold seller, 'Touchdown', which included his composition, “Angela”, the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, and possibly James' best known work. Bob composed all the original music used in that television series for its entire run. 'One On One', the first in three collaborations with Earl Klugh, won a GRAMMY® Award in 1980 for "Best Pop Instrumental Performance", and has sold over a million copies. During this time, James set the standard for the smooth jazz sound in the late 1970s.

In 1985, James moved to Warner Bros Records, and kicked things off with 'Double Vision', a collaboration with David Sanborn. 'Double Vision' was another GRAMMY® Award-Winner, selling over a million albums.

While recording his album, 'Grand Piano Canyon' in 1990, James reunited with longtime friend, drummer Harvey Mason, Jr. It would also be the first time James would work with guitarist Lee Ritenour, and bassist Nathan East. This would be the start of something beautiful, as these early sessions ignited a spark which would engulf the Jazz world as Fourplay. Fourplay's first album was recorded and released in 1991. The Group would collaborate on a total of three albums, until 1998 when Ritenour left the group, and Larry Carlton took over. This version of Fourplay continued the group's huge success for seven more albums. After 12 years, Carlton decided to delve further into his solo career, and the band brought in guitarist Chuck Loeb in 2010.

A personal and professional highlight was the collaboration with his daughter, Hilary, on their 'Flesh & Blood' album, which toured 15 U.S. cities. James continued collaborating on separate projects with Earl Klugh, ('Cool') and Kirk Whalum ('Joined At the Hip'). Both albums were nominated for GRAMMY® Awards. His solo career continued throughout the 90's, culminating with 'Joy Ride' in 1999, and another GRAMMY® Award Nomination.

In 2001, 'Dancing On the Water', was released, once again showcasing James' creative versatility. The album includes performances with Keiko Matsui, Joe Sample, Dave Holland, and Chuck Loeb. Fourplay released 'Heartfelt' in 2002, and spent much of the year touring across the globe. That same year, James released 'Morning, Noon, & Night', whose title track went to #1 in Contemporary Jazz Radio.

James stayed busy in 2006, releasing 'Urban Flamingo' in February, and on April 7, was awarded the "George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. Summer saw the release of Fourplay's tenth record, appropriately called 'X'. This tour literally took James around the world again with stops in Spain, London, California, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuala Lumpur, and Indonesia.

In 2008, James released a Christmas album with Hilary James, and another Fourplay album 'Energy'. 'Energy' featured GRAMMY® Award-Winner Esperanza Spalding, and another GRAMMY® Award Nomination with the first single, “Fortune Teller”.

2010 saw the twelfth Fourplay album released,' Let's Touch the Sky', which led to another world tour, culminating with an unforgettable collaboration with the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo in December. This premiered new orchestral pieces arranged specifically for this concert, and was Fourplay's first performance with a symphony orchestra. Fourplay was voted "Best Group of the Year" at the American Smooth Jazz Awards to wrap up a busy 2010.

Then, in September 2011, 'Altair & Vega', the Four-Hand piano duet collaboration with Keiko Matsui, was released. Their unique collaboration which took nearly 10 years, resulted in several memorable live tour performances, before being completed as a recorded album, along with a live performance DVD recorded at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild. Later that same year, James released a collaboration with Savannah guitarist Howard Paul with 'Just Friends: The Hamilton Hall Sessions'. All this, while still touring with Fourplay, including headlining the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, and receiving the Oasis Contemporary jazz award for "Group of the Year"..

Fourplay joined forces again the following year with the release of 'Esprit de Four'. The album hit the charts, producing several successful tracks, including the powerful “Put Our Hearts Together”, which featured vocals by Seiko Matsuda. The song was a tribute to the regions of Japan devastated by the natural disasters just months earlier, and spawned several benefit concerts, such as the Iwate Jazz Festival, and a full length documentary of James' visit to the region.

In 2013, 'Quartette Humaine' was released, this was the first creative collaboration between keyboardist-composer Bob James and alto saxophonist David Sanborn since their million-selling, GRAMMY® Award-Winning album, 'Double Vision', twenty-five years ago.

2015 brought the release of James' first live album, 'Live at the Milliken Auditorium', which was captured on a magical night in his home town of Traverse City, Michigan. This same year also brought the first release from James and long time collaborator Nathan East, 'The New Cool', a masterful work of art which truly redefines the essence of cool. Still not finished, James and Fourplay came together for the release of the group's 25th anniversary, with 'Silver', which was recorded old school at Sunset Sound Studios, where the group recorded their first album 25 years earlier.