I won't try to define art, but will tell that when I watched and listened to Joe Henderson, George Mraz, and Al Foster on stage, interacting and creating, they were making art and I and many others were very entertained. For one.
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Phenomenon of Smooth Jazz
- Thread starter ElectroVibe
- Start date
I won't try to define art, but will tell that when I watched and listened to Joe Henderson, George Mraz, and Al Foster on stage, interacting and creating, they were making art and I and many others were very entertained. For one.
Well I would say you where being entertained by performers. Maybe they were creating art, maybe not but it is PRIMARILY entertainment.
Art is many things, don't embarrass yourself trying to define it and certainly not that narrowly.
So they weren't performers entertaining you?
Maybe art is many things but that is not a particularly useful definition to do anything with.
From a practical perspective too many musicians in particular conflate being an entertainer with being an artist. They most definitely aren't the same thing in a musical context.
Latin rhythms, extended chords and horns will always create some pull in that direction.
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I didn't try to define it. Entertainment can be art and vice versa. Essentially you are saying that people can not be entertained by art. Obviously, that is incorrect.
Art is anything that was created with an intention of its creator to express or convey emotion or a meaning.
The commercial focus of smooth jazz is hardly something new:
I own records of Gene Ammons playing things like "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", "Ben" (the Michael Jackson song), "Plaqy Me" (Neil Diamond) and "Theme from the movie Fuzz"
Yes, that was Ron Carter on bass...
Ella Fitzgerald recorded "Sunshine Of Your Love"
Dave Brubeck recorded "Dave Digs Disney".
Jimmy Giuffre recorded an unusual album of songs from the musical "The Music Man" (i.e. "76 Trombones", etc.).
Louis Armstrong had a huge hit with "Hello Dolly".
Blues singer Junior Parker recorded both "Taxman" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"
The 1960s had lots of jazz performers playing tunes from the Beatles, Motown, etc. All of the American Songbook standards we worship today were just pop tunes from movies and Broadway shows. During the Swing Era for every Count Basie and Duke Ellington, there were dozens of non-jazz big bands like Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, etc.
Nothing's really changed the way I see it.
I own records of Gene Ammons playing things like "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", "Ben" (the Michael Jackson song), "Plaqy Me" (Neil Diamond) and "Theme from the movie Fuzz"
Yes, that was Ron Carter on bass...
Ella Fitzgerald recorded "Sunshine Of Your Love"
Dave Brubeck recorded "Dave Digs Disney".
Jimmy Giuffre recorded an unusual album of songs from the musical "The Music Man" (i.e. "76 Trombones", etc.).
Louis Armstrong had a huge hit with "Hello Dolly".
Blues singer Junior Parker recorded both "Taxman" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"
The 1960s had lots of jazz performers playing tunes from the Beatles, Motown, etc. All of the American Songbook standards we worship today were just pop tunes from movies and Broadway shows. During the Swing Era for every Count Basie and Duke Ellington, there were dozens of non-jazz big bands like Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, etc.
Nothing's really changed the way I see it.
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The commercial focus of smooth jazz is hardly something new:
I own records of Gene Ammons playing things like "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", "Ben" (the Michael Jackson song), "Plaqy Me" (Neil Diamond) and "Theme from the movie Fuzz"
Yes, that was Ron Carter on bass...
Ella Fitzgerald recorded "Sunshine Of Your Love"
Dave Brubeck recorded "Dave Digs Disney".
Jimmy Giuffre recorded an unusual album of songs from the musical "The Music Man" (i.e. "76 Trombones", etc.).
Louis Armstrong had a huge hit with "Hello Dolly".
Blues singer Junior Parker recorded both "Taxman" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"
The 1960s had lots of jazz performers playing tunes from the Beatles, Motown, etc. All of the American Songbook standards we worship today were just pop tunes from movies and Broadway shows. During the Swing Era for every Count Basie and Duke Ellington, there were dozens of non-jazz big bands like Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, etc.
Nothing's really changed the way I see it.
I would suspect that what turns a lot of people off smooth jazz is the production aesthetics more so than the music/playing itself.
The production just changes with the times, following pop music trends.
The funky-fusiony stuff from the 1970s that was around before smooth jazz became a radio format had a sound like rock/funk/soul records of the period...wah-wah guitars, Fender Rhodes, string synthesizers, monosynth soloing, etc.
I grew up in the 70's (1970's for the kids), and a lot of people my age at one point or another stopped listening to new music. They're frozen in time, and only want to listen to music from "when music was good". I happen to disagree - a lot of good music is still being made, in my opinion.
Smooth Jazz is music made for another group of people frozen in time - it just happens to be different music and a different time. If you want to appeal to them, well, they don't want to be shaken out of their bubble; you need to make pretty much the same music or it ain't (in their minds) smooth jazz. It's a phenomenon that will last as long as there are enough smooth jazzers around to support it, after that it will almost certainly die. That'll probably be a while.
Smooth Jazz is music made for another group of people frozen in time - it just happens to be different music and a different time. If you want to appeal to them, well, they don't want to be shaken out of their bubble; you need to make pretty much the same music or it ain't (in their minds) smooth jazz. It's a phenomenon that will last as long as there are enough smooth jazzers around to support it, after that it will almost certainly die. That'll probably be a while.
I agree, a lot of people equate their favorite music with their favorite period in life, before mortgages, ex spouses, jobs they hate etc.
