Biography
A versatile guitarist who could navigate virtually any musical idiom, Chuck Loeb established himself as a skilled and widely popular crossover jazz artist. He picked up the guitar at age 11, encountered jazz five years later, studied privately with Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, and Joe Puma, and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music. After working as a New York freelancer alongside Hubert Laws, Chico Hamilton, Joe Farrell, and numerous others, he spent two years beginning in 1979 as a member of Stan Getz’s band. During his New York period Loeb also composed and performed for jingles and film soundtracks. From 1985 to 1987 he performed with Steps Ahead and subsequently produced sessions for Donald Harrison, Nelson Rangell, Larry Coryell, George Garzone, Warren Bernhardt, and additional artists. As a sideman he appeared in Petite Blonde, the saxophonist Bill Evans’s project, as well as in Metro and the Fantasy Band, and he recorded with Gary Burton, Dave Samuels, and many more musicians; several pop/jazz performers also interpreted his original compositions.
Loeb issued his debut solo album in 1988, recorded extensively for DMP, and moved to Shanachie in 1996. Over the ensuing seven years the label released six of his projects, starting with The Moon, the Stars and the Setting Sun in 1998 and Listen the following year. He maintained a steady pace into the new century, delivering In a Heartbeat in early 2001, All There Is in 2002, and eBop a year later. His final Shanachie outing, When I’m with You, appeared in 2005, after which he joined the roster of Heads Up International, a Telarc imprint. Presence, his initial release for the company, came out in 2007.
In 2010 Loeb took Larry Carlton’s chair in Fourplay while continuing his independent work as producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist; he also launched his own label, Heads Up, and on Plain ’n’ Simple in 2011 he explored the idiom of 1960s jazz bebop organ trios. The 2012 duet album It’s Love, recorded with saxophonist Eric Marienthal, followed. Returning to Shanachie in 2013, he issued the wide-ranging Silhouette, supported by four different ensembles that included a quartet with drummer Peter Erskine and an organ trio featuring Pat Bianchi. Two years afterward he reunited with Marienthal for Bridges, which also included bassist John Patitucci. Loeb’s twenty-second studio album, Unspoken, arrived in 2016 and showcased an array of guests that included Jeff Lorber, Nathan East, Andy Snitzer, Till Brönner, and others.
Loeb succumbed to cancer on July 31, 2017, at the age of 61.
Loeb issued his debut solo album in 1988, recorded extensively for DMP, and moved to Shanachie in 1996. Over the ensuing seven years the label released six of his projects, starting with The Moon, the Stars and the Setting Sun in 1998 and Listen the following year. He maintained a steady pace into the new century, delivering In a Heartbeat in early 2001, All There Is in 2002, and eBop a year later. His final Shanachie outing, When I’m with You, appeared in 2005, after which he joined the roster of Heads Up International, a Telarc imprint. Presence, his initial release for the company, came out in 2007.
In 2010 Loeb took Larry Carlton’s chair in Fourplay while continuing his independent work as producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist; he also launched his own label, Heads Up, and on Plain ’n’ Simple in 2011 he explored the idiom of 1960s jazz bebop organ trios. The 2012 duet album It’s Love, recorded with saxophonist Eric Marienthal, followed. Returning to Shanachie in 2013, he issued the wide-ranging Silhouette, supported by four different ensembles that included a quartet with drummer Peter Erskine and an organ trio featuring Pat Bianchi. Two years afterward he reunited with Marienthal for Bridges, which also included bassist John Patitucci. Loeb’s twenty-second studio album, Unspoken, arrived in 2016 and showcased an array of guests that included Jeff Lorber, Nathan East, Andy Snitzer, Till Brönner, and others.
Loeb succumbed to cancer on July 31, 2017, at the age of 61.
Albums
