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{{Short description|Commercially oriented crossover jazz}}
{{Short description|Commercially oriented crossover jazz}}
{{about||the radio network|Smooth Jazz (radio network)|the radio format|Smooth jazz radio}}
{{for multi|the radio network|Smooth Jazz (radio network)|the radio format|Smooth jazz radio}}
{{Infobox music genre
{{Infobox music genre
| name = Smooth jazz
| name = Smooth jazz
| bgcolor = pink
| image = Chuck Mangione DSC0042 2.jpg
| caption = Chuck Mangione in [[Brampton]] in 2009
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Jazz fusion]]|[[pop music|pop]]|[[rhythm and blues]]|[[soul music|soul]]}}
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Jazz fusion]]|[[pop music|pop]]|[[rhythm and blues]]|[[soul music|soul]]}}
| cultural_origins = 1970s, United States
| cultural_origins = 1970s, United States
| derivatives =
| derivatives =
| subgenrelist =
| subgenrelist =
| subgenres =
| subgenres =
| fusiongenres =
| fusiongenres = [[Crossover jazz]]
| regional_scenes =
| regional_scenes =
| local_scenes =
| local_scenes =
| other_topics = [[List of smooth jazz musicians|List of musicians]]
| other_topics = [[List of smooth jazz musicians|List of musicians]]
}}
}}
'''Smooth jazz''' is a genre of commercially oriented [[crossover jazz]] and [[easy listening]] music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s.
'''Smooth jazz''' is a term used to describe commercially oriented [[crossover jazz]] music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, it is clear that smooth jazz became the successor to [[easy listening]] music on radio station programming in the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.


== History ==
== 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 [[jazz improvisation|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 [[rhythm and blues|R&B]]".<ref name="fushion">{{cite web |url=http://allmusic.com/explore/metastyle/fusion-d4479 |access-date=October 7, 2019 |title=Fusion |publisher=AllMusic }}</ref><ref name="explore_amg">{{cite web|title=Jazz » Fusion » Smooth Jazz|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/smooth-jazz-ma0000002860|work=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref>
Smooth jazz may be thought of as commercially-oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 1980s, displacing the more venturesome [[jazz fusion]] from which it emerged. It avoids the [[jazz improvisation|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 [[rhythm and blues|R&B]]."<ref name="fushion">{{cite web |url=http://allmusic.com/explore/metastyle/fusion-d4479 |access-date=October 7, 2019 |title=Fusion |publisher=AllMusic }}</ref><ref name="explore_amg">{{cite web|title=Jazz » Fusion » Smooth Jazz|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/smooth-jazz-ma0000002860|work=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref>


During the mid-1970s in the United States it was known as "smooth radio", and was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s.<ref name=Gioia2011>{{cite book |last=Gioia |first=Ted |author-link=Ted Gioia |title=The History of Jazz |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjazz00gioia/page/337 337] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=May 9, 2011 |isbn=9780195399707 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjazz00gioia/page/337 }}</ref>
During the mid-1970s in the United States, it was known as "smooth radio"; the genre was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s.<ref name=Gioia2011>{{cite book |last=Gioia |first=Ted |author-link=Ted Gioia |title=The History of Jazz |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofjazz00gioia/page/337 337] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=May 9, 2011 |isbn=9780195399707 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjazz00gioia/page/337 }}</ref>

The term itself seems to have been birthed directly out of radio marketing efforts. In an industry focus group in the late 1980s, one participant coined the phrase "smooth jazz" - and it stuck.<ref> {{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-rise-and-fall-of-smooth-jazz|title=The Rise and Fall of Smooth Jazz|first=Colin|last=Marshall|date=July 6, 2023|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref>

The popularity of smooth jazz as a radio format gradually declined in the early 2000s.<ref>[https://www.popmatters.com/184400-jazz-of-the-00s-jumping-past-the-great-divide-2495632353.html Jazz of the 00s - Jumping The Great Divide - Popmatters] "the market for jazz was starting to get less rigid too. “Smooth jazz” was by far the dominant market force in jazz at the end of the century, and it sidetracked the artistic lives of some musicians who might have made more interesting music but for the draw of big paydays. But the radio stations playing sax-and-synth dominated lite funk faded in the first decade of the 21st century. 2008 marked the death of the smooth jazz stations in both New York and Washington, DC"</ref>


==Notable artists==
==Notable artists==
The mid to late 70s included songs “[[Breezin' (song)|Breezin']]" as performed by another smooth jazz pioneer, guitarist [[George Benson]] in 1976, the instrumental composition "[[Feels So Good (composition)|Feels So Good]]" by [[flugelhorn]] player [[Chuck Mangione]], in 1978, "[[What You Won't Do for Love (song)|What You Won't Do for Love]]" by [[Bobby Caldwell]] along with his debut album was released the same year, jazz fusion group [[Spyro Gyra]]'s instrumental "[[Morning Dance]]", released in 1979<ref name=Gioia2011/> and in 1981, a collaboration between [[Grover Washington Jr.]] and [[Bill Withers]] was released as one of the most popular smooth jazz songs "[[Just the Two of Us (Grover Washington, Jr. song)|Just the Two of Us]]".
The mid- to late-1970s included songs "[[Breezin' (song)|Breezin']]" as performed by another smooth jazz pioneer, guitarist [[George Benson]] in 1976, the instrumental composition "[[Feels So Good (composition)|Feels So Good]]" by [[flugelhorn]] player [[Chuck Mangione]], in 1978, "[[What You Won't Do for Love (song)|What You Won't Do for Love]]" by [[Bobby Caldwell]] along with his debut album was released the same year, jazz fusion group [[Spyro Gyra]]'s instrumental "[[Morning Dance]]", released in 1979<ref name=Gioia2011/> and in 1981, a collaboration between [[Grover Washington Jr.]] and [[Bill Withers]] was released as one of the most popular smooth jazz songs "[[Just the Two of Us (Grover Washington, Jr. song)|Just the Two of Us]]". Beginning with ''[[Taking Off (David Sanborn album)|Taking Off]]'' by alto saxophonist [[David Sanborn]], [[Warner Records|Warner Bros. Records]] became a viable and popular record label for smooth jazz.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}


Smooth jazz grew in popularity in the 1980s as [[Anita Baker]], [[Sade (singer)|Sade]], [[Al Jarreau]], [[Grover Washington Jr.]] and [[Kenny G]] released multiple hit songs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Larson |first=Thomas |title=History and Tradition of Jazz |page=188 |publisher=Kendall Hunt |date=2002 |isbn=9780787275747}}</ref>
Smooth jazz grew in popularity in the 1980s as [[Anita Baker]], [[Sade (singer)|Sade]], [[Al Jarreau]], Grover Washington Jr. and [[Kenny G]] released multiple hit songs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Larson |first=Thomas |title=History and Tradition of Jazz |page=188 |publisher=Kendall Hunt |date=2002 |isbn=9780787275747}}</ref>


==Critical and public reception==
==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 (Kenny G album)|Breathless]]''.<ref name=Gioia2011/>
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 (Kenny G album)|Breathless]]''.<ref name=Gioia2011/>


Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBDWomgRgWU How smooth jazz took over the '90s-Vox on YouTube]</ref> that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s".<ref>Graham, George, [https://archive.today/20121209204621/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5Z0ukGXTz54J:georgegraham.com/reviews/methgrp.html review].</ref>
Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBDWomgRgWU How smooth jazz took over the '90s-Vox on YouTube]</ref> that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s".<ref>Graham, George, [https://archive.today/20121209204621/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5Z0ukGXTz54J:georgegraham.com/reviews/methgrp.html review].</ref>


[[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 motorway|M25]] will ever find it possible to forget or forgive."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_features/new_jazz_station_goodbye_to_th.html |title=New Jazz Station - Goodbye to the Smooth, Hello to the Classics |access-date=2008-02-16 |last=Fairweather |first=Digby |date=2006-11-18 |publisher=Fly Global Music Culture |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304122322/http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_features/new_jazz_station_goodbye_to_th.html |archive-date=2008-03-04 }}</ref>
[[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]]; he stated 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 motorway|M25]] will ever find it possible to forget or forgive."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_features/new_jazz_station_goodbye_to_th.html |title=New Jazz Station - Goodbye to the Smooth, Hello to the Classics |access-date=2008-02-16 |last=Fairweather |first=Digby |date=2006-11-18 |publisher=Fly Global Music Culture |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304122322/http://www.flyglobalmusic.com/fly/archives/europe_features/new_jazz_station_goodbye_to_th.html |archive-date=2008-03-04 }}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Lofi hip hop]]
*[[Lofi hip hop]]
*[[Slacker rock]]
*[[Mallsoft]]
*[[Quiet storm]]
*[[Quiet storm]]
*[[Sophisti-pop]]
*[[Sophisti-pop]]
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==References==
==References==
⚫
{{Wikiquote}}
⚫
{{Commons|Jazz}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

⚫
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
⚫
* {{Commons-inline|Jazz}}


{{Jazz}}
{{Jazz}}
{{Pop music}}
{{Rhythm and blues}}
{{Rhythm and blues}}
{{Portal bar|Jazz}}
{{Portal bar|Jazz}}
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[[Category:Jazz fusion]]
[[Category:Jazz fusion]]
[[Category:Jazz genres]]
[[Category:Jazz genres]]
[[Category:Pop music genres]]
[[Category:Rhythm and blues music genres]]
[[Category:1970s in music]]
[[Category:1970s in music]]
[[Category:1980s in music]]
[[Category:1980s in music]]

Latest revision as of 18:57, 2 November 2024

For the radio network, see Smooth Jazz (radio network). For the radio format, see Smooth jazz radio.
Smooth jazz
Chuck Mangione in Brampton in 2009
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins1970s, United States
Fusion genres
Crossover jazz
Other topics
List of musicians

Smooth jazz is a term used to describe commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, it is clear that smooth jazz became the successor to easy listening music on radio station programming in the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.

History

[edit]

Smooth jazz may be thought of as 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."[1][2]

During the mid-1970s in the United States, it was known as "smooth radio"; the genre was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s.[3]

The term itself seems to have been birthed directly out of radio marketing efforts. In an industry focus group in the late 1980s, one participant coined the phrase "smooth jazz" - and it stuck.[4]

The popularity of smooth jazz as a radio format gradually declined in the early 2000s.[5]

Notable artists

[edit]

The mid- to late-1970s included songs "Breezin'" as performed by another smooth jazz pioneer, guitarist George Benson in 1976, the instrumental composition "Feels So Good" by flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, in 1978, "What You Won't Do for Love" by Bobby Caldwell along with his debut album was released the same year, jazz fusion group Spyro Gyra's instrumental "Morning Dance", released in 1979[3] and in 1981, a collaboration between Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers was released as one of the most popular smooth jazz songs "Just the Two of Us". Beginning with Taking Off by alto saxophonist David Sanborn, Warner Bros. Records became a viable and popular record label for smooth jazz.[citation needed]

Smooth jazz grew in popularity in the 1980s as Anita Baker, Sade, Al Jarreau, Grover Washington Jr. and Kenny G released multiple hit songs.[6]

Critical and public reception

[edit]

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.[3]

Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity[7] that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s".[8]

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; he stated 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."[9]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Fusion". AllMusic. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  2. ^ "Jazz » Fusion » Smooth Jazz". AllMusic. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Gioia, Ted (May 9, 2011). The History of Jazz. Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN 9780195399707.
  4. ^ Marshall, Colin (July 6, 2023). "The Rise and Fall of Smooth Jazz". The New Yorker.
  5. ^ Jazz of the 00s - Jumping The Great Divide - Popmatters "the market for jazz was starting to get less rigid too. “Smooth jazz” was by far the dominant market force in jazz at the end of the century, and it sidetracked the artistic lives of some musicians who might have made more interesting music but for the draw of big paydays. But the radio stations playing sax-and-synth dominated lite funk faded in the first decade of the 21st century. 2008 marked the death of the smooth jazz stations in both New York and Washington, DC"
  6. ^ Larson, Thomas (2002). History and Tradition of Jazz. Kendall Hunt. p. 188. ISBN 9780787275747.
  7. ^ How smooth jazz took over the '90s-Vox on YouTube
  8. ^ Graham, George, review.
  9. ^ Fairweather, Digby (2006-11-18). "New Jazz Station - Goodbye to the Smooth, Hello to the Classics". Fly Global Music Culture. Archived from the original on 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
  • Quotations related to Smooth jazz at Wikiquote
  • Media related to Jazz at Wikimedia Commons
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