Bear with me folks; this might be a looong one! I just came back from youtube where iI listened to an old track that I haven't heard by contemporary jazz keyboardist Alex Bugnon which was "This Time Around". I always read what the posters have to say, and a lot of them say that while they love the tune, they can't listen to it anymore, because the "smooth jazz" radio stations have died away in their individual states across America! I've been coming to this forum for many years now, and a lot of you all call "smooth jazz",$mooth jazz", when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth!
Smooth jazz, contemporary jazz, whatever you want to call it was never really a big moneymaker, a lot of these type of musicians were on small, independent labels, but when a little bit more of the public started listening to this type of music, the big label/conglomerates bought out not only the musicians' contracts, but the label itself! A good example: GRP, and Blue Thumb;which were independent labels were both bought out by Universal Music Group as well as Verve, and (you got it) A&M, as well as others. The smooth jazz radio stations suffered as well, most of them were bought out by Clear Channel, and their playlist reflected what was demanded by the corporations, rather than what the public really wanted which was good,creative music. these stations were playing Michael and Janet Jackson, and Billy Joel, and The Temptations for God's sakes!
We had a smooth jazz radio station here in NY called CD101.9, and when they first started out, they were very good, but in later years, there was this increasing slide towards commercialism, that was heartbreaking. The aforementioned artists were played as well as other pop and R&B oriented artists, instead of good creative, contemporary jazz musicians/singers. We also have another station here in NY called 106.7 Lite FM, which plays light rock and pop/R&B music, but also is the no.1 station here in NY. The artists that I mentioned above are played on this station as well, so when the so called smooth jazz station started playing these acts, in the public's mind, it was like, why should I listen to the jazz station with all this weird music, when I could be listening to Lite FM? So that's what they did, and the ratings for CD 101.9 started to slip(no surprise there!)
CD 101.9 tried another format which was the "chill" music venue, meaning jazz mixed with electronic/ambient sounds which was the rage in Europe in the mid 2000s, but never really caught on here in the States.However,it was heavily promoted by trumpeter Chris Botti, who himself had a show on the station, playing the latest cuts from these cutting edge musicians, mostly from Europe. Eventually, the station went back to the smooth jazz formula, because chill music left people feeling pretty cold. Then in 2008, one evening coming home from work, I found out that CD 101.9 was no more. It became a rock station, and then, with eventual research, I found out that smooth jazz stations all over the country were dying out. I then started to get worried: if the "smoothies" are dying out, what about the rest of jazz?
Whether we like it or not, smooth jazz is what the public liked at one point, and brought them into the folds of jazz.So called "smooth jazz"opens the doors to the public liking and appreciating other, more creative forms of jazz, and the older artists as well. In my case, which I've said many times before here on this forum, it was Herb Alpert's "Magic Man" that got me into jazz.I told Herb that myself when I met him in 2005, and he seemed please that his music inspired someone to check out jazz in all of its formats. Now, these days, I don't know how "Magic Man" would be characterized these days;"smooth jazz","contemporary jazz";whatever. All I know is that it was jazz that was played with a more contemporary sound than I was stereotypically accustomed to what I was hearing with what I considered "jazz". Later, it was Pat Metheny's "Are You Going With Me?" that sealed the deal on me loving jazz, then I listened to Grover Washington, David Sanborn,Angela Bofill,Lee Ritenour,Dave Grusin,McCoy Tyner, Joe Sample,Al Jarreau,Earl Klugh,Bob James,etc. At this time period, I was in my teens, and this was the early 80s. the only one whose music that I never really warmed up to was well...Kenny G. And this was BEFORE he became the hitmaker he eventually turned out to be in the late 80s/early 90s! But even his music has some merits: my friend Rick was a Kenny G fan when he first started out listening to jazz, but as he got more into jazz, he discarded Gorelick, and moved on to more "serious" jazz music. But for him,Kenny G was the spark. See what I mean?
As I have grown up and seen things more clearly, I have to come to the conclusion that even though jazz was born here in America, America doesn't really like jazz.I'd actually go as far as to say that the majority of America hates jazz! Why? Because it's too sophisticated and complex for American ears, with a country like ours that's always on the go, and fast moving and fast forward as our society is, we simply don't have the time to listen to music that's examporaneous and extrapolated and detailed as jazz is, whereas in Europe and Japan, where life is a bit more slower paced than ours, they have the time to listen to jazz, and that's why it's more appreciated overseas, rather than our own shores. And I know that this might make the Captain grrr a bit, but even the Najees, the Boney James', the Dave Kozes, the George Howards, and yes even the Kenny Gs nowadays are considered a bit too sophisticated and complex for today's musical audience which would rather hear Rihanna, Beyonce,Lil Wayne,Lady Gaga, Coldplay, a lot of today's rap/crap music, as well as boring easy listening pop/rock music and boring easy listening country music.
The JVC Jazz festivals here in NY which a decade or more ago sparked a fire(okay, it was really probably a bonfire at best!) now sparks nothing but a firecracker. Meaning the media doesn't cover the festival like it used to, and the people don't come out in droves to support thefestival like we should(However, I would hope that the Montreal Jazz Festival is still going strong like it should!) In conclusion, what I am saying is that when the interest in smooth jazz, contemporary jazz,WHATEVER is lost, people will also lose interest in jazz itself, and jazz will be as Miles Davis said in the 70s the music of the museum,which I don't want to see happen.
What's the opinion of you all regarding this matter? I'd like to know!
Smooth jazz, contemporary jazz, whatever you want to call it was never really a big moneymaker, a lot of these type of musicians were on small, independent labels, but when a little bit more of the public started listening to this type of music, the big label/conglomerates bought out not only the musicians' contracts, but the label itself! A good example: GRP, and Blue Thumb;which were independent labels were both bought out by Universal Music Group as well as Verve, and (you got it) A&M, as well as others. The smooth jazz radio stations suffered as well, most of them were bought out by Clear Channel, and their playlist reflected what was demanded by the corporations, rather than what the public really wanted which was good,creative music. these stations were playing Michael and Janet Jackson, and Billy Joel, and The Temptations for God's sakes!
We had a smooth jazz radio station here in NY called CD101.9, and when they first started out, they were very good, but in later years, there was this increasing slide towards commercialism, that was heartbreaking. The aforementioned artists were played as well as other pop and R&B oriented artists, instead of good creative, contemporary jazz musicians/singers. We also have another station here in NY called 106.7 Lite FM, which plays light rock and pop/R&B music, but also is the no.1 station here in NY. The artists that I mentioned above are played on this station as well, so when the so called smooth jazz station started playing these acts, in the public's mind, it was like, why should I listen to the jazz station with all this weird music, when I could be listening to Lite FM? So that's what they did, and the ratings for CD 101.9 started to slip(no surprise there!)
CD 101.9 tried another format which was the "chill" music venue, meaning jazz mixed with electronic/ambient sounds which was the rage in Europe in the mid 2000s, but never really caught on here in the States.However,it was heavily promoted by trumpeter Chris Botti, who himself had a show on the station, playing the latest cuts from these cutting edge musicians, mostly from Europe. Eventually, the station went back to the smooth jazz formula, because chill music left people feeling pretty cold. Then in 2008, one evening coming home from work, I found out that CD 101.9 was no more. It became a rock station, and then, with eventual research, I found out that smooth jazz stations all over the country were dying out. I then started to get worried: if the "smoothies" are dying out, what about the rest of jazz?
Whether we like it or not, smooth jazz is what the public liked at one point, and brought them into the folds of jazz.So called "smooth jazz"opens the doors to the public liking and appreciating other, more creative forms of jazz, and the older artists as well. In my case, which I've said many times before here on this forum, it was Herb Alpert's "Magic Man" that got me into jazz.I told Herb that myself when I met him in 2005, and he seemed please that his music inspired someone to check out jazz in all of its formats. Now, these days, I don't know how "Magic Man" would be characterized these days;"smooth jazz","contemporary jazz";whatever. All I know is that it was jazz that was played with a more contemporary sound than I was stereotypically accustomed to what I was hearing with what I considered "jazz". Later, it was Pat Metheny's "Are You Going With Me?" that sealed the deal on me loving jazz, then I listened to Grover Washington, David Sanborn,Angela Bofill,Lee Ritenour,Dave Grusin,McCoy Tyner, Joe Sample,Al Jarreau,Earl Klugh,Bob James,etc. At this time period, I was in my teens, and this was the early 80s. the only one whose music that I never really warmed up to was well...Kenny G. And this was BEFORE he became the hitmaker he eventually turned out to be in the late 80s/early 90s! But even his music has some merits: my friend Rick was a Kenny G fan when he first started out listening to jazz, but as he got more into jazz, he discarded Gorelick, and moved on to more "serious" jazz music. But for him,Kenny G was the spark. See what I mean?
As I have grown up and seen things more clearly, I have to come to the conclusion that even though jazz was born here in America, America doesn't really like jazz.I'd actually go as far as to say that the majority of America hates jazz! Why? Because it's too sophisticated and complex for American ears, with a country like ours that's always on the go, and fast moving and fast forward as our society is, we simply don't have the time to listen to music that's examporaneous and extrapolated and detailed as jazz is, whereas in Europe and Japan, where life is a bit more slower paced than ours, they have the time to listen to jazz, and that's why it's more appreciated overseas, rather than our own shores. And I know that this might make the Captain grrr a bit, but even the Najees, the Boney James', the Dave Kozes, the George Howards, and yes even the Kenny Gs nowadays are considered a bit too sophisticated and complex for today's musical audience which would rather hear Rihanna, Beyonce,Lil Wayne,Lady Gaga, Coldplay, a lot of today's rap/crap music, as well as boring easy listening pop/rock music and boring easy listening country music.
The JVC Jazz festivals here in NY which a decade or more ago sparked a fire(okay, it was really probably a bonfire at best!) now sparks nothing but a firecracker. Meaning the media doesn't cover the festival like it used to, and the people don't come out in droves to support thefestival like we should(However, I would hope that the Montreal Jazz Festival is still going strong like it should!) In conclusion, what I am saying is that when the interest in smooth jazz, contemporary jazz,WHATEVER is lost, people will also lose interest in jazz itself, and jazz will be as Miles Davis said in the 70s the music of the museum,which I don't want to see happen.
What's the opinion of you all regarding this matter? I'd like to know!
). I don't have the largest collection of GRP, but I do have almost complete collections of several artists. Some of the GRP artists splintered out to other labels when Universal destroyed GRP/MCA Jazz, and they all still put out some quality music.
Heck, even a good Pat Metheny Group album is beyond what the programmers are targeting when they market this stuff. And despite what these artists think about being mis-labeled, you will hear the occasional David Benoit track nudged in between the rest of the pablum. Between this music and Top 40, I'm surprised today's younger generation even knows what a real acoustic instrument sounds like.
Many more are just indifferent. But that's OK--let them leave us alone to what we like, and we won't be dissin' their Michael Bolton rekkids. 
Since then, I've lent a few of my jazz CDs out, and he is big into the earlier Jean-Luc Ponty (we saw JLP twice in recent years).
GRP actually did get a lot worse once they were overtaken completely by Universal. That was the day all of the old classic albums were put into the cutout bins, most classic GRP artists were unceremoniously dropped (or left the label after their next album), and GRP started aligning more with the $mooth Jazz money machine. GRP never went after that bland "kenny g" noodling for the most part, except in later years.
