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A kind word for Smooth Jazz

#21
RichSnyder said:
I listened to Kenny G Live more than I care to admit.
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tb-player said:
Kenny G 'Live' has a sweet Vail Johnson bass solo.
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The thing I -- eventually -- had to admit to myself was that you need ridiculously good chops to play "Smooth Jazz" (aka "Fuzak") well. Watch/listen to any Fourplay concert to make that stupidly overt.

Or, as I like to remind myself, Ric Fierabracci got his start playing with Yanni. :::facepalm:::
 
#22
I now think I understand by "Kind Word" you mean you're giving props, kudos, etc. When I read the thread title, I thought you were asking for help coming up with a "non-disparaging" label for this kind of music. :)

Anyhoo, yes I also prefer Melodic Jazz over Improvisational Jazz. Glad they funked it up too and you enjoyed a good show! :thumbsup:
 
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#25
Casino Lights. Many of those guys played straight ahead too and there was another Kenny there too last name Garret and a Larry Carlton. Boney James and Rick Braun and Whalum -- yeah they were definitely smooth jazz but to me the good kind. Kenny Garret definitely brought the outness out of Boney, Braun and Whalum in those sessions.


I think it was all okay until Kenny G. -- the one with the long curly hair messed it up when he played on top of Louis Armstrong and that really got people riled up. Pat Metheny in particular, who probably was one of the "smooth" jazz proponents anyway.

The way to dig smooth jazz is live or live albums. Too much sugar on them studio albums. It may be the record companies' fault. It get's greasy and spicy live.

But please no toned down flamenco jazz or should I say nylon guitar jazz - Ottmar Liebert in particular. Just drags down the work by Paco, Al and John. All the gitanos (gypsies} that are within hearing distance will start to play country just to get away - it's that bad IMO.

And yeah the bass gotta be active with the GK or SWR contour EQ and slapping is the order of the day. No precisions with flats for sure :D

Thank the almighty for smooth jazz, keyboardist are now able to use all them patches that Japanese engineers crammed in them Roland, Yamahas and Korgs.

Because of the polished studio chops of Toto members, I even file Toto as smooth jazz. Luke tried to dress the part but he can't get away from how polished he is. I love Toto.

Having said all that, if you can hear fusion -- that's the smooth jazz, I like. Kenny G would not be as rich if he stayed there though.
 
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#27
logdrum said:
But please no toned down flamenco jazz or should I say nylon guitar jazz - Ottmar Liebert in particular.
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Thread Drift: I lived and worked in Boston in the 1980s, which was back before Ottmar Liebert had gravitated towards the flamenco-esque Smooth Jazz/New Age he seems entrenched in nowadays, and at that time he led a Boston pop/rock band called Red that at best could be described as Avant-Techno-Funk. Totally 180° opposite of what he became known for. I always laugh when I hear folks dissing his current pablum, because I think "wait, they're talking about the guy who played that gnarly abstract Talking-Heads-Meets-Art-Of-Noise stuff I used to hear at Spit on Lansdown Street?!?!"
 
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#28
Bob_Ross said:
Thread Drift: I lived and worked in Boston in the 1980s, which was back before Ottmar Liebert had gravitated towards the flamenco-esque Smooth Jazz/New Age he seems entrenched in nowadays, and at that time he led a Boston pop/rock band called Red that at best could be described as Avant-Techno-Funk. Totally 180° opposite of what he became known for. I always laugh when I hear folks dissing his current pablum, because I think "wait, they're talking about the guy who played that gnarly abstract Talking-Heads-Meets-Art-Of-Noise stuff I used to hear at Spit on Lansdown Street?!?!"
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Did not know that. He lives in Santa Fe NM. As long as I can remember he was always known for this style and that's when I lived in NYC and I may have seen one show and because I was in a Latin band whose senior members did not like what he did, I was probably influenced right then :)

New Mexico is sorta the center of Flamenco in the US and maybe a lot of this comes from the feeling that tradition that was diluted, along the line from what Kenny G did with that Louis Armstrong piece. Listening to traditional flamenco is an acquired taste, so making it into pop is what he did. I am far from a flamenco expert but I have attended some of the festival events since I've lived here so at the very least have exposure to it.
 
#35
roccobass said:
I loved smooth jazz. We had a good station here in town (KSSJ). Unfortunately, this town didn’t support it like it could have and it went away.
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We had a great station in Terre Haute Indiana but the owners thought there was more money in country so they switched over..
Now they’re like most others. They had a great thing going at one time IMO. But that was then and this is now…
 
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#38
Not a fan in particular; however, one afternoon years ago, I put on CD 101 (A NYC smooth jazz station) in my car.
I got out for a couple hours; by the time I returned, the same station was now playing metal:
It turned out that smooth jazz wasn’t bringing in enough ad revenue, so the owners switched formats.
That they did it mid-afternoon certainly gave me a chuckle!
 
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