Phenomenon of Smooth Jazz

[yodedude2]

eschew genres. 'free your mind, and your ass will follow'

[obtw: "ass: Any of several hoofed mammals of the genus Equus, resembling and closely related to the horses but having a smaller build and longer ears, and including the domesticated donkey."]

 

[fhm555]

Radio? Like terrestrial radio? What is that?

I jest. If you can’t find good terrestrial radio, you need to try harder, or consider moving. Seriously, there is so much good listener-supported public terrestrial radio still happening.

Welcome to KRVM.org Public Radio in Eugene, Oregon (no jazz but almost everything else)

KLCC | NPR for Oregonians (yes some after-hours jazz)

Presumably smooth jazz is part of their programming. “I could be wrong”

Listen to JazzSet on KMHD on TuneIn

This was one heck of a jazz station when i lived where i could get it on my car radio.
WJAB-FM 90.9 - Alabama A&M University

 

[MVE]

Jazz is dead...oh, wait. I mean Rock is dead...yeah, that's it...or do I mean Blues? Right! It's Blues that is dead.

The music journalism industry IS actually dead, so declaring what genres of music are dead is no longer occurring in an organized fashion.

 

[Michedelic]

I have to respectfully disagree with the critics. Some just don't have an ear for melodic music.

Some people would rather hear Pat Boone instead of Little Richard. Some people would rather eat at McDonalds instead of a joint down on the boulevard with a name like “Lil’ G’s House of Ribs, Chicken, and Waffles” or the like. Coltrane tackled Rogers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things”(and what could be more melodic than R&H?), but the journey of exploration he took that on was the important part, what made it truly “jazz”.

 

[Michedelic]

In the early 90's I had Jazz FM ( the main Jazz station in the UK) set as my alarm in the morning.
I would wake up to Weather Report and Miles Davis.
It pretty much changed overnight to Kenny G and the rest.
Shame.
I'm not averse to a bit of lounge music but not all the time.

Lounge music is not Smooth Jazz. What is loosely termed “lounge” comes from a different time and different place. Most of the lounges got torn down to make way for strip malls, and that’s how I interpret “Smooth Jazz”…it’s the suburban shopping mall of music, or at least of the jazz genre.

 

[devnulljp]

I blame Kenny G.

 

[devnulljp]

One explanation is that smooth jazz isn't jazz, it's instrumental pop

I'd go with pablum over pop

 

[svlilioukalani]

View attachment 4310605

Miles don't look pleased about this photo.

 

[jerry]

Smooth jazz began in the 80’s IMO. Before that it was jazz-funk or soul-jazz or r&b mixed with jazz. Think Tom Scott or the crusaders or George benson. Good stuff I listen to daily and love and wouldn’t classify as smooth jazz.

For me it went downhill when in the 80’s they added the corny and cheesy digital synths and still today that dominates the timbres. That was the start of smooth jazz. That stacked piano with strings patch, the crappy digital emulate of percussion elements (chimes especially), the midi keyboard horns, the synth pads layered behind everything, the terrible sampled drums which sound like the person has never programmed drums (or heard good sounding drum samples!) before, the digital synth orchestra patches, the oh so sugary sweet melodies, and lastly the endless and I mean endless covers of 60’s and 70’s soul and actual jazz songs but “smoothified” aka adding those crappy elements I mentioned before. It’s now a genre of its own and I despise most of it.

Yeah, I blame MIDI! Plus too many albums with 'programed rhythm sections' in the 80's......plus the dreaded super sheen DDD [all digital, all the time] on the CD cover. The thing is, if you ever saw a lot of these smooth jazz artist live, they kicked ass, nothing like the CDs.

 

[fdeck]

google the concert schedules of the cats who play it:
- george benson
- dave koz
- david sanborn
- boney james
- gerald albright
- richard elliot
- candy dulfer
- chuck mangione
- mindi abair
- norah jones
- sade
- yada yada

and in their time: grover washington, george duke, chuck loeb, al jarreau, joe sample, yada yada

All good points. I admit to being out of touch with that scene for the most part. And I am not anti-smooth by any means, but tend to partake in other styles of jazz.

 

[dalkowski]

I blame Kenny G.

 

[fdeck]

Lounge music is not Smooth Jazz. What is loosely termed “lounge” comes from a different time and different place.

Indeed, I've played my share of lounge music. Some of it can be quite in-your-face obnoxious.

 

[bass12]

View attachment 4310605

That photo is fantastic.

 

[dalkowski]

I have to respectfully disagree with the critics. Some just don't have an ear for melodic music.

Huh. I've re-read posts #3-7 repeatedly and seen no one asserting that smooth jazz isn't melodic.

 

[BazzaBass]

I'm just going with Wynton Marsalis on this one; I don't have his pedigree, education and talent to defend that opinion as thoroughly as he could. Suffice it to say, while it draws on elements of the distinctly Black American mid 20th century art form called jazz, "smooth jazz" lacks most of the defining elements of what I (and Wynton) consider jazz.

At the end of the day, for people who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like, so no judgement from me. It's hard to argue with enduring commercial success.

It's not my bag, but i imagine some of the Latin jazz i like and make could get pigeon-holed as smooth jazz or easy listening. I still try to keep an edge on it, but I'm definitely not blazing trails by any stretch, so I probably misuse the term jazz myself by Wynton's definitions.

Christian McBride has a beef with Wynton. He has said that Wynton treats jazz like classical music ie it is all about the greats of the past, it is those who we should pay homage to. Christian disagrees and argues that great jazz musicians also exist today.
In 2021 every one of us has access to more music then we can possibly listen to. I think music is like the news. We need to seek out the best and not just accept what is dished up to the masses.

As for Latin jazz! I’m always blown away with the complexity of the music and the amazing musicianship of people who never become “famous”. (I have an obsession with timbales and guiro).

 

[Michedelic]

View attachment 4310605

Miles don't look pleased about this photo.

That photo is fantastic.

If there had been a thought bubble over Miles’ head, I would imagine that there would be two words, starting with “m” and “f”, and they wouldn’t be “musician’s friend”.

 

[Altitude]

It must be the #1 most consumed genre of music that the most people also claim they don't like. There's a huge market for it. No, it's not really jazz. Who cares.

Gerald Albright lives in my neighborhood and we are both members of the same club here. I've seen him in there twice in eight years because he's always touring.

If you want to dip your foot in, or maybe if you have people over or something, I recommend Yellowjackets who are a totally badass band that sort of decided to flirt with a smooth jazz identity. If you're willing to go a little further down the path, Rippingtons. Past that it gets a little too smooth for me, but I get that people like it as background.

Also, follow Vail Johnson on Facebook - dude is hilarious. And I would absolutely have taken a 25 year gig with Kenny G.

 

[Thumpin6string]

It hasn’t changed because it is essentially muzak with a very thin veneer of would-be hipness for people who don’t want to be challenged, and don’t want what they’re listening to(if they’re actually listening to it)to change.

Making a statement like this about all "smooth jazz" is like saying all cuts of beef are the same. If this is Muzak with a very thin veneer of would-be hipness for people who don't want to be challenged, then I'm all in.

 

[dkelley]

I grew up listening to all kinds of music, but one of my brother's favorite artists was Chuck Mangione, who is apparently "smooth jazz". The genre I don't limit to a confined box of artists or exact music, but I get it.

I played it, I guess, in some songs, when I was the guitarist in an instrumental jazz fusion band in the 80s and early 90s. I didn't know that I was playing "smooth jazz".... and we definitely played other styles too, but yea some tunes were decidedly like that.


I love it - if done well, it's a fantastic genre.

 

[bass12]

Lounge music is not Smooth Jazz. What is loosely termed “lounge” comes from a different time and different place. Most of the lounges got torn down to make way for strip malls, and that’s how I interpret “Smooth Jazz”…it’s the suburban shopping mall of music, or at least of the jazz genre.

I used to DJ a lot of what I would consider "lounge music". The closest thing I would have played to what I think of as "smooth jazz" would probably be Ronny Jordan (who was branded as "acid jazz" at the time). It could be that I have a very narrow concept of what constitutes "smooth jazz" though. When I think of that style what generally first comes to mind is Special EFX on GRP records.