It may surprise fans of contemporary jazz that Fourplay is still going strong after 20 years. However, Nathan East, the band’s bassist and occasional vocalist, might beg to differ, “given the fact that we all have such mutual admiration for [each other], playing together, hanging together.”

You can thank pianist Bob James’ long-standing custom of working with countless other musicians for the germination of the all-star band that plays the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild’s Jazz Hall on Saturday, touring behind its latest release, last year’s “Let’s Touch the Sky.”

From the start, Fourplay “was crafted to be a democratic situation [where] each guy could bring two or three songs per record and get recorded and we all become leaders and producers in the band, [and] it’s worked out really great,” Mr. East says. “That’s one of the things that James pushed for early on, and it really has made the band a lot of fun to participate in” — even for what remains a part-time project for each member.

Even after so long together, its basic sound — intricate, flowing lines over a base of laid-back funk — hasn’t changed.

“You have this basic quality of musicianship, and that’s like our fingerprint — that pretty much stays the same, but obviously you keep giving birth to these songs that we call our babies,” Mr. East says. “We have a hundred-some odd songs that we’ve written and produced [over 12 albums].”

The group came together after Mr. James recruited guitarist Lee Ritenour and drummer Harvey Mason, both A-list session musicians in Los Angeles and stars in their own right, for his “Grand Piano Canyon” album, which came out in 1990. To fill out the lineup, Mr. Ritenour and Mr. Mason recommended Mr. East, who was building quite a reputation of his own in the same settings.

During playback of the recording, Mr. James noticed the chemistry among the four musicians and suggested they form the band. The quartet released its eponymous debut the next year and became an instant massive commercial success, the album remaining at the top of the contemporary jazz charts for nearly eight months.

Fourplay has had only two personnel changes in its existence, both in the guitar chair. Mr. Ritenour left in 1998 in part to head his own record company, and his replacement, Larry Carlton, departed in 2009 to focus on his own solo career.

Last year the band welcomed Chuck Loeb, a former neighbor of Mr. James in New York who appeared at the Guild in 2008 and played in Mr. James’ band for a time. And like Mr. James, Mr. Loeb had done studio work in New York.

“All the guys have great traits, but we’ve noticed that Chuck is so well-rounded, he’s a huge team player and really a great contributor,” Mr. East says. As far as Mr. Loeb’s own work, “I’ve actually found sometimes where I was listening to the radio and I had to wait for them to announce [the tune] ’cause I liked it so much — and it turned out to be Chuck Loeb.” Mr. Loeb composed “3rd Degree,” the first single from “Let’s Touch the Sky” and the title a reference to being Fourplay’s third guitarist.

One of the band’s signature tunes is “101 Eastbound,” the second track on that first record which was written by Mr. East and younger brother Marcel, a guitarist, keyboardist and producer in LA.

While Fourplay was working on that first album, “It was my turn to bring in a tune, so that night I remember that we were in the studio downstairs until 4 in the morning writing it,” Nathan East says. When the rest of the band got a hold of the tune and put its own stamp on it, “That’s when I realized how magical Fourplay was.”

Mr. East has the distinction of being the only band member who has never released anything under his own name. However, he says that might eventually change.

“This has been the vehicle for me to kind of get out there — the next stop from there is doing my solo album,” Mr. East says. “They’ve been championing me, pushing me toward that as much as possible.”