Smooth jazz
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"In the 1970s, a strain of jazz musicians who were more focused on commercial success than experiment drew from pop music influences to develop jazz fusion and the first seeds of what later became called smooth jazz. One of the founders of this camp was producer Creed Taylor, who turned obscure jazz musicians such as George Benson and Grover Washington, Jr. into popular stars by incorporating pop music influences into jazz melodies and improvisation."--Sholem Stein |
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Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that came to prominence in the mid 1970s. Creed Taylor's 1967 CTI Records was especially important in the form's development. Wes Montgomery made a number of instrumental recordings of familiar pop songs aimed as much at pop audiences as at jazz fans; these records are often cited as important early smooth jazz.
Some jazz fans regard smooth jazz as a lesser form, or not as jazz at all. However, others reject these claims, noting such respected musicians as Pat Metheny, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller and others are often classified as "smooth jazz," and that many musicians are capable of perfoming well in multiple styles.
The word smooth would imply that there is also hard jazz. Then there is Steely Dan.
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History
Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 1980s, displacing the more venturesome jazz fusion from which it emerged. It avoids the improvisational "risk-taking" of jazz fusion, emphasizing melodic form and much of the music was initially "a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B".
During the mid-1970s in the United States it was known as "smooth radio", and was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s.
Notable compositions
Songs that are exemplary of the genre include “Breezin'" (1976) by George Benson, "Feels So Good" (1978) by Chuck Mangione, "What You Won't Do for Love" (1978) by Bobby Caldwell, "Morning Dance" (1979) by Spyro Gyra and "Just the Two of Us" (1981) by Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers.
Smooth jazz grew in popularity in the 1980s as Anita Baker, Sade, Al Jarreau, Grover Washington Jr. and Kenny G released multiple hit songs.
Critical and public reception
The smooth jazz genre experienced a backlash exemplified by critical complaints about the "bland" sound of top-selling saxophonist Kenny G, whose popularity peaked with his 1992 album Breathless.
Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s".
Digby Fairweather, before the start of UK jazz station theJazz, denounced the change to a smooth jazz format on defunct radio station 102.2 Jazz FM, stating that the owners GMG Radio were responsible for the "attempted rape and (fortunately abortive) re-definition of the music — is one that no true jazz lover within the boundaries of the M25 will ever find it possible to forget or forgive."
See also
