Smooth Jazz

Smooth Jazz - The Music:
Usually, a smooth jazz music track is considered to be down tempo side and consists of layering a lead and an instrument playing melody, the most popular instruments that are used to play melody are saxophones, specifically the tenor and the soprano and the guitar follows in as the second instrument most commonly used to play melody. All of these things are placed over a backdrop that has a tendency to consist of various samples or pads and programmed rhythms. Even though most of what is being played under the smooth jazz banner radio format contains some vocals, this isn’t normally the case for the music that was recorded with the actual intent of being categorized as smooth jazz.

Instead, the stations that are in question are known to pull all of their vocal tracks from artists like Luther Vandross or Simply Red’s work, which are normally considered to be a part of “R&B” or “Soul”. Even though there are a lot of people and record companies that group contemporary jazz and smooth jazz together, both of the music genres are a little different in the way that they actually serve the listener. Generally smooth jazz is considered to be background music, whereas on the other hand, serious jazz can be viewed as demanding the undivided attention of the listener.

Origins of Smooth Jazz:
The smooth jazz music genre can be traced all the way back to the latter part of the sixties. Creed Taylor, a producer worked along side of Wes Montgomery, a guitarist on three different popular records that consisted of familiar pop songs instrumental versions like “Scarborough Fair”, “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Eleanor Rigby”. From all of this, Taylor was able to be the founder of CTI Records. There were many established jazz performers that recorded for CTI which included Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine and George Benson.

The records that were recorded under the guidance of Taylor were generally aimed at jazz fans as well as pop audiences, with ornate the arrangements of string sections and place an emphasis on the melody that is much stronger than it was in typical jazz. There are some fans and critics of jazz that express certain distaste for the releases from CTI; however the output of the label is normally well-regarded.