Over a span of jazz, R&B, and crossover work, the husband-and-wife team Tuck & Patti generated an unusually large catalog while limiting themselves to the interplay of guitar and voice alone. Oklahoma-born Tuck Andress trained in classical guitar at Stanford University and journeyed to Las Vegas in 1980 for an audition with a show band, where he encountered San Francisco native Patti Cathcart, who had received classical vocal instruction in the Bay Area. The pair connected at once and launched duo performances across California in 1981. They wed in 1983 yet deliberately avoided label deals until their distinctive approach was firmly established. In 1987 they joined Windham Hill Jazz and delivered Tears of Joy in 1988, Love Warriors in 1989, and Dream in 1991. Tuck Andress also issued multiple solo recordings on the same imprint before the duo moved to Epic in 1995. Their debut Epic release, Learning How to Fly, mixed original songs by Cathcart with interpretations of recent standards. Paradise Found appeared in 1998, followed by Taking the Long Way Home two years later. Chocolate Moment, their second set of original material and the first issued on their own label, surfaced in 2002; the next year they offered A Gift of Love, a set of romantic covers initially prepared only for Asian audiences, whose regional success later led to releases in Europe and the United States. Pure Tuck & Patti, the third Windham Hill compilation, arrived in 2006.
