[Dixielandjazz] What is Smooth Jazz

[Hal Vickery]

>From what you're saying here, I'd say that fans of Kenny G and other "smooth
jazz" players want the air of sophistication that goes with liking jazz (at
least anything post bebop)without any of the challenge of actually listening
to the musical ideas that you have to do if you're going to listen to "real
jazz."

You have to admit, OKOM isn't considered very sophisticated anymore (if it
ever was).  That air of sophistication came when people stopped actually
dancing to the music.  You really did have to listen to the music then, and
a lot of people stopped buying jazz records.

Still, jazz aficionados (at least if it's post 1945 jazz) are considered to
be musical sophisticates.  They belong to this really cool secret club.
It's cool to be "hip," but it's also intellectually challenging.

So what better to do to make your audience feel hip and sophisticated but to
market the dreck you're selling as this really hip new kind of "smooth
jazz."  Then you can close your eyes and knowingly nod as musicians of
dubious improvisational talent play scales and noodle on their horns.  And
if they hold a note for two minutes or play their scales really fast, you
can let out a whoop because you're so moved by it.

I've had people who listen to this stuff tell me, "I love jazz, too."  

"Oh, who do you like."

"Kenny G."

And they really say it like I'm supposed to be impressed at their
sophistication.  That's what it's all about:  to feel hip without having to
actually think about the music.

Hal Vickery

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Steve Barbone
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2006 11:04 AM
To: DJML
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] What is Smooth Jazz

Phil O'Rourke philor at webone.com.au

>I may have said this before but I think it is ignorance on the part of the
>sellers/promoters/whatever.

Perhaps not ignorance, but simply a label. If one checks out the music
classification these days, one finds about 60 or so categories. Whether
accurate or not, who knows? I sure as hell can't tell the difference between
many of them

>It ain't rock, it ain't folk, it ain't classical, it ain't country. What's
>left? It must be jazz because we don't really understand it.

All sorts of stuff is left. Contemporary Classical, Adult Contemporary, New
Age, World Music, Rock, Christian Rock, Hard Rock, 70's Rock, Rap, Hip Hop,
New Age, Trad Jazz, Big Band Swing, Small Band Swing, Bop, Hard Bop, Avante
Garde, Free Jazz, Ragtime, Blues, INSTRUMENTAL POP, etc., etc., ad infinitum

>Elevator music is elevator music. They can call it smooze jazz or white
>noise or background music. It is there in the background not to be noticed.

Exactly. It is there to relax you. But, it also seems to piss off a small
group of old people for some reason. Like us on the DJML. :-) VBG.

>Jazz is a music you listen to, especially with your feet. The public don't
>give a rat's axx about chord progressions or key changes etc.

Well, maybe, maybe not. They love it when Kenny G circular breathes and
holds that note for 2 minutes, or when we play ultra high notes, or flutter
tongue. They listen with their eyes and ears as well as their feet. An old
trombone player told me 10 years ago; "They (the audience) love that
vaudeville shit." We would do lots, and smile all the way to the bank.
Really no different from what the ODJB, or Tom Brown, or NORK, or Louis, or
Dizzy, or Duke, or James Moody did/does.

I find that when I play for myself and execute difficult passages and off
beat chord changes, standing stock still like a classical player nobody but
other musicians "get" it. So, to make love to the audience, I make clarinet
player faces, squeeze out some body language, play high notes and do all
that other vaudeville stuff. And the audience relates, whether they are
"jazz sophisticated" or "jazz challenged".

>I think they are told something is jazz so they buy it on impulse, find
they
>don't like it and come to the conclusion they don't like jazz. What they
>mean is they don't like elevator music or whatever has been miss-named as
>jazz

I'm not so sure that is the case. Else Joe Lovano, Coltrane, and the rest of
the Jazz Musicians would be selling a lot more records. There are MILLIONS
of people buying Kenny G and/or Jeff Lorber, David Sanborn, Chris Botti
etc., who LOVE that music. If anything, by calling it jazz I should think it
might help those who play jazz as we define it. Perhaps we would sell more
Dixieland CDs if we simply called it "Jazz"?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone





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