And this, is not smooth jazz, but I think it still fits in here.
That’s, Bob James, who wrote the theme to the show, Taxi, and that’s, Nathan Watts on bass.
Nathan East.
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Smooth Jazz is Jazz
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Nathan East.
This stereotype of jazz needs to die the same death as stereotypes about smooth jazz. Most jazz musicians are conscious of their audience, and interested in making music that their audiences will enjoy.
With that said, we can't all play the same stuff. The market for music that's absolutely guaranteed to satisfy everybody is utterly saturated, but is still only a fraction of the total addressable market for music. What it means is that some of us will play music that's Wrong in some way, ranging from experimental to offensive. We accept that we will have a smaller audience, but that the overall audience for music is bigger if there's more variety.
I like music I like. The genre is secondary.
I never knew that and I have been listening to Sanborn most of my life.
Does Fourplay qualify?
Nathan East always plays some cool stuff and inspires me.
Nathan East always plays some cool stuff and inspires me.
i'm gonna disagree: i doubt it!
If someone a little less famous had done something similar, I really don't think he would have even cared.
Yeah, even as a smooth jazz guy, I still play and listen to other stuff, despite probably 2/3 of my listening within the genre. It's like David Rose said in Schitt's Creek: "I'm more into the wine, not so much the label."
In my head I refer to him as "Nathan Beast" because to me he's just so good. And a lot of others seek him out. I was even surprised to see him play on a Joe Satriani album from the 90s - remember that one album that everybody hated (before the electronic one) because it had too much slow jam bluesy stuff in it? That was Nathan East, iirc.
Funny story related to listening to someone your whole life and not knowing it, and it relates to smooth jazz.
I was born in early 70s, so the "music bug" was kicking in for me in the late 70s, early 80s. One of my favorite songs growing up was (what I thought was a Bill Withers track), "Just the Two of Us," by Grover Washington Jr. I loved the intro especially because it had this dreamy quality, and what I was digging was the bass way up on the neck.
Fast forward to '88, and I start playing bass, and did the usual rock thing. Then played in a grunge band in college in the 90s. Discovered smooth jazz in '95, basically left rock/grunge almost for good, and that became my schtick.
Finally got around to buying Grover Washington Jr.'s "Winelight" on CD when the price for CDs began to nosedive as streaming took off, and Amazon was offloading CDs for like $5 USD, with free shipping. As an audiophile, I like having all the CDs, and rip them to FLAC on a Synology home server, and listen to them a lot like that. So I snagged Winelight; my old cassette copy was long gone by then, and I wanted the album. By this time, I've been playing bass for about 20 years, and knew all the bassists that bassists talk about. As I'm ripping it, I open the liner notes, and had to rub my eyes because there it was "Bass: Marcus Miller." I was like "WHAT? No wonder it's so good!"
I was a fan of Marcus for 30 years and didn't even know it. Ha ha
One of my very favorite jazz pieces...played it on trombone in a big band in the 70's...the harmonies in the arrangement were amazing. I can still sing my parts when I hear the tune, 45ish years later.
Suffice to say the good stuff is really, really, good. And my experience is...women love it.
Wow, did not know that (obviously), thank you for sharing that information.
It's mildly ironic/coincidental that the sax player in the video I posted played for Ian Dury, who also had polio as a child.
Similar story here. Marcus played on David Sandborn's Run For Cover, which I heard on the radio in the 80s. But I never knew anything about who played bass on that song. Over 30 years later, I decided to look up that song on YouTube. I only recognized it was Marcus because of his bass face (he does this thing with his lips) that I'd seen in other MM videos.
Duke Ellington said it is good if it sounds good.
An entire genre can’t be bad, or good.
There is extremely moving classical music and then there’s the sad repetitive opuses they play on rainy weekday afternoons on local classical stations. Some pieces done by the greats were commissioned for garden parties that week. Low on passion yet complete with all proper parts.
We all like different things. Only we know how moved we feel. Or not.
Yes some smooth jazz has earned the genre it’s reputation. There are horrific and trite applications of all the styles. I’ve seen a lot of mundane acts with all the best gear and lights. I’ve seen them eclipsed by four teens in a garage actually being a garage band. I’ve heard that garage band mean every note making the music for music’s sake.
Since we are the musicians can we commit to not calling it in but bringing it with big meaning?
An entire genre can’t be bad, or good.
There is extremely moving classical music and then there’s the sad repetitive opuses they play on rainy weekday afternoons on local classical stations. Some pieces done by the greats were commissioned for garden parties that week. Low on passion yet complete with all proper parts.
We all like different things. Only we know how moved we feel. Or not.
Yes some smooth jazz has earned the genre it’s reputation. There are horrific and trite applications of all the styles. I’ve seen a lot of mundane acts with all the best gear and lights. I’ve seen them eclipsed by four teens in a garage actually being a garage band. I’ve heard that garage band mean every note making the music for music’s sake.
Since we are the musicians can we commit to not calling it in but bringing it with big meaning?
As some have already said, I don't think there's a definitive line between "smooth" jazz and "real" jazz. Here's one that is pretty definitely "real" jazz (I mean, it's Joe Pass, ffs 
). But if I heard it on a smooth jazz station I think it would fit right in. Personally, I think this is sublime - it's not Joe's most complex playing, but so tasteful and toneful and melodic ... the "Intercontinental" album is my favorite Joe Pass, in fact.
). But if I heard it on a smooth jazz station I think it would fit right in. Personally, I think this is sublime - it's not Joe's most complex playing, but so tasteful and toneful and melodic ... the "Intercontinental" album is my favorite Joe Pass, in fact.
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When I’m driving i usually split my XM listening: Real Jazz, Watercolors, Bluesville, Outlaw Country, about 40, 30, 20, 10.
G man is a deal breaker.
G man is a deal breaker.
