Talk:Smooth jazz/Draft

Smooth jazz
Stylistic origins	1960s/1970s in the United States
Cultural origins	Jazz R&B Funk Pop music Jazz fusion
Typical instruments	Guitar, saxophone, bass guitar, piano, trumpet, flute, drums, synthesizers.
Other topics
List of smooth jazz performers

Smooth jazz, also sometimes referred to as new adult contemporary music, is generally described as a genre of music that utilizes instruments (and, at times, improvisation) traditionally associated with jazz and stylistic influences drawn from mostly R&B, but also funk and pop. Since the late 1980s and into the 1990s, it has become successful as a radio format. There has been something of a backlash against the genre, mostly from jazz purists who consider its recordings bland, overly commercial and not jazz.

Smooth jazz guitarist Sergio Caputo performing with Lester Bowie

Many industry insiders have speculated that the smooth jazz format may die out, particularly with many of industry giant Clear Channel Communications' stations dropping the genre. However, smooth jazz concerts and record sales continue to show strong fan support for the genre.

Origins

Smooth jazz can be traced to at least the late 1960s. Producer Creed Taylor worked with guitarist Wes Montgomery on three popular records (1967's A Day in the Life and Down Here on the Ground and 1968's Road Song) consisting of instrumental versions of familiar pop songs such as "Eleanor Rigby", "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Scarborough Fair". From this, Taylor founded CTI Records. Many established jazz performers recorded for CTI (including Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, George Benson and Stanley Turrentine). The records recorded under Taylor's guidance were typically aimed as much at pop audiences as at jazz fans, with ornate string section arrangements, and a much stronger emphasis on melody than was typical in jazz. Some critics and jazz fans expressed a distaste for CTI releases, but the label's output is now generally well-regarded: critic Scott Yanow writes, "Taylor had great success in balancing the artistic with the commercial."

History

Definition

Smooth jazz can contain many elements of traditional jazz, including its instrumentation, improvisation and swing. Smooth jazz also borrows many elements from Pop music and Motown, including layered "wall of sound" recording techniques and rehearsed (rather than improvised) performance. It can therefore be difficult to distinguish between smooth jazz and fusion, as the designation of a performance as smooth is generally determined by the "observations of a listener" rather than objective criteria.

Radio

United States

The decline in popularity of the smooth jazz format has been blamed on a variety of factors, including lack of compelling new music, over-reliance on instrumental cover versions of pop songs similar to the mostly-defunct Beautiful Music format, and Arbitron's PPM reports showing lower ratings returns for smooth jazz stations than the traditional diary system had. Lack of revenue and the genre not being viable during the current economic crisis have also been cited as reasons. Many purists of the format also feel that the smooth jazz interpretation has strayed too far from its roots in contemporary jazz and new age music by over-relying on soft urban vocals, with R&B artists such as Beyonce Knowles and Aretha Franklin now staples of many smooth-jazz playlists. Others indicate that the repetition of the same tracks on stations and the reduction of artists recording tracks resulting in fewer tracks for airplay may have also contributed to the decline.

“ Time to stop complaining about it not being the way it used to be ... and start embracing the way it is and the way it’s going to be in the future ... whatever that may be! Hello, Tomorrow. ” — Dave Koz

American saxophonist Dave Koz responded back in November 2009 to the claims that the smooth jazz radio genre was in decline by stating that although the audience has aged and not enough young people were embracing the format, making it harder to gain advertising revenue, the genre is still seeing the support in record sales and audiences at shows. He also suggested that the format may move from a genre covered by big FM stations to one covered by smaller stations, in particular Internet radio stations which were showing an increase in popularity.

Europe

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the only radio station that regularly played smooth jazz was 102.2 Jazz FM in London and 100.4 Jazz FM in the North West. Upon takeover by the Guardian Media Group in 2003, the station started to create playlists predominantly consisting of easy listening soul and pop. Finally, in March 2004 in the North West and in June 2005 in London, the station changed its name to Smooth FM, and dropped smooth jazz from its playlists altogether. At the same time, GMG launched jazzfm.com in some parts of the UK which after closing in some areas. However, as part of its relaunch, smooth jazz and funk has also been played alongside more mainstream and traditional jazz output as played by former UK jazz station theJazz. On October 6, 2008 jazzfm.com was relaunched under a three year deal with The Local Radio Company to relaunch Jazz FM with smooth jazz output in the daytime and early hours of the morning.

Reception

The music of musicians as Pat Metheny, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, and Sting is often classified as smooth jazz. However, many of these artists perform in multiple musical styles as well, and Metheny has been one of the harshest critics of smooth jazz, namely in his denunciations of Kenny G. The Allmusic guide article on "fusion" states that "unfortunately, as it became a money-maker and as rock declined artistically from the mid-'70s on, much of what was labeled fusion was actually a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B".

Music critic Piero Scaruffi has called pop-fusion music "...mellow, bland, romantic music" made by "mediocre musicians" and "derivative bands." Scaruffi criticized some of the albums of Michael and Randy Brecker as "trivial dance music" and stated that alto saxophonist David Sanborn recorded "[t]rivial collections" of "...catchy and danceable pseudo-jazz". Kenny G in particular is often criticized by both fusion and jazz fans, and some musicians, while having become a huge commercial success. 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”.

In the United Kingdom, British jazz performer Digby Fairweather, before the launch 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."