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Spyro Gyra


Jazz Kat

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When was the term 'smooth jazz' coined?  Maybe Spyro Gyra was called something other than smooth jazz back in its time.  Adult contemporary?

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smooth jazz

Wikipedia

Smooth jazz is a sometimes controversial term, denoting a form of music.

Some jazz lovers do not consider "Smooth Jazz" a form of jazz, seeing it as a misleading marketing term that represents an attempt to hijack the prestige of the term "jazz" in order to sell what is really a form of muzak.

Others contend that "Smooth Jazz" can indeed be a viable subgenre, arguing that it is narrowminded to try to turn jazz into a kind of museum exhibit, and point out the continuing cross-pollination that has occurred between jazz and R&B over the course of a century. Furthermore, they point out that the music of such widely 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.

Smooth jazz developed in part from jazz fusion, and tends to deemphasize improvisation. Creed Taylor's CTI Records was especially important in the form's development in the mid-1970s. Earlier, Wes Montgomery made a number of instrumental recordings of familiar pop songs which were aimed as much at pop audiences as at jazz fans; these records are often cited as important early smooth jazz.

A popular recent development is urban jazz, which incorporates the aspects of hip-hop. This style is aimed at audiences who would normally listen to urban contemporary radio stations that play a mix of hip-hop and R&B. Among the musicians who frequently perform urban jazz are Dave Koz, Boney James, Paul Jackson Jr., and former NBA player-turned-bassist Wayman Tisdale.

The construction of Smooth jazz as a radio format has its roots in the Beautiful music format, generally played in 15-minute sets (instrumentals bookending one or two vocal songs per set). In essence, today's Smooth jazz stations are no different than the Beautiful music stations of the 1960s through the 1980s.

List of smooth jazz performers:

Saxophonists

Boney James

Candy Dulfer

Dave Koz

David Sanborn

Eric Marienthal

Euge Groove

Everette Harp

Gerald Albright

Grover Washington Jr.

Jeff Kashiwa

Kenny G

Kim Waters

Kirk Whalum

Marion Meadows

Mike Phillips

Mindi Abair

Najee

Nelson Rangell

Pamela Williams

Paul Taylor

Peter Brötzmann

Richard Elliot

Steve Cole

Walter Beasley

Warren Hill

Guitarists

Blake Aaron

Brian Hughes

Chieli Minucci

Chris Camozzi

Doc Powell

Earl Klugh

George Benson

Jeff Golub

Joyce Cooling

Ken Navarro

Larry Carlton

Lee Ritenour

Norman Brown

Paul Jackson Jr.

Pat Metheny

Patrick Yandall

Peter White

Russ Freeman

Steve Oliver

Bassists

Brian Bromberg

Gerald Veasley

Marcus Miller

Wayman Tisdale

Trumpeters / Flugelhornists

Chris Botti

Chuck Mangione

Greg Adams

Rick Braun

Keyboardists

Bob James

Brian Culbertson

David Benoit

Gregg Karukas

Jeff Lorber

Joe McBride

Joe Sample

Keiko Matsui

Paul Hardcastle

Ramsey Lewis

Groups

Acoustic Alchemy

Avenue Blue

BWB

Die Like A Dog

Down to the Bone

Fourplay

Fattburger

Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet

Pieces of a Dream

Sade

Special EFX

Spyro Gyra

Streetwize

The Braxton Brothers

The Jazzmasters

The Rippingtons

Urban Knights

:g

Edited by king ubu
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Trouble is that we come at the subject from radically different angles.  He always mentions Spyro Gyra, and often The Yellowjackets too, etc...  Both are bands I have little interest in at all.  They're nowhere near as evil as, say, Kenny G. - but neither band is anything I personally find very interesting.  But they both float my cousin's boat quite nicely.  As you can imagine, it's pretty hard to have a very lengthy jazz conversation with him.

This is analogous to myself and myself. If I met my high school era 16/17-year-old self right now, and we discussed jazz, we'd probably end up in a fist fight or something. My high school self thought that the only good jazz was fusion jazz and that of the slick kind, if it didn't come out of GRP then it ain't worth checking out! Yikes. In my former self's defense, it was mainly the influence of the educational environment, being in a marching band's drumline with high technical standards (think: breeding ground for the drum and bugle corps world) and tyrannical musical preferences that one dare not deviate from, lol. Smooth jazz was cool too only if the groove was tight and chops were decent.

I'm on a different planet now.

Edited by joeface
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Who cares if some jazz is fusion. Don't just put off something because it's a certain kind of music.

I like all kinds of jazz, except smooth jazz; and not just because of its bad rep. I tried to dig it lots of times. The drum programming just turned me away. I still tried to like it. But the last straw was finding out that some of the smooth jazz musicians' solos were exactly the same on the record as they were in concert. How pitiful!

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My problem with the term "smooth jazz" is that is just seems like a misnomer. Though my funnybone favors the word "fuzak," a less pejorative and more accurate term might be "instrumental pop." After all, most of it sounds like mediocre R&B or contemporary pop with a sax or trumpet substituted for the hyperactively melismatic vocals.

Elevator Blues?

R&Zzzzzzzzzzzzz? (or Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?)

The Snooze?

Dentist's Office Funk?

Bland Music?

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My problem with the term "smooth jazz" is that is just seems like a misnomer. Though my funnybone favors the word "fuzak," a less pejorative and more accurate term might be "instrumental pop." After all, most of it sounds like mediocre R&B or contemporary pop with a sax or trumpet substituted for the hyperactively melismatic vocals.

Elevator Blues?

R&Zzzzzzzzzzzzz? (or Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?)

The Snooze?

Dentist's Office Funk?

Bland Music?

Exactly. The public think just because there's no vocals, and the melody is being played by a sax or flute, or piano, that it's jazz. Some of the musicians seem allright, but they just belittle themselves playing that bull shit.

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