If you ever listen to the "Smooth Jazz" stations that are all over the air these days, you'll find that many popular songs are finding their way into this psuedo-morphed genre by simply re-recording the songs with a fresher, more modern beat.

Try taking some standard or classic songs that people respond to from your repertoire and adding a newer drum beat .... like a hip hop (for example)Don't make it nuts ... just add a more movin', happenin' beat and play the song with THAT style ... it'll freshen up your playlist, keep you from getting bored and maybe even spark some new ideas.

Especially at Christmas time - this can be a great tool for expanding your repertoire. Try The "Christmas Song" with a funky 16 beat or easy hip hop pattern .... it lays SO nice in that style. I even do the "Christmas Waltz" in a swing 4/4 sometimes ...... it's weird singing "....in 3 quarter time ...." when I'm in 4, buy hey ! I have poetic liscence !
Merry Christmas everyone !

Dave ,

Were you using the drum remix on the XD9 ?

Or are you talking about just using a different style/pattern ?

do

Good one UD. My wife is always saying that the accompaniment I am playing does not go with the song I am playing, but many times I do a 3\4 song in 4\4 or vice-versa. Bossa to a Swing number or Samba to a waltz tune. I know I go over the top sometimes.....But hey....doing this has greatly helped towards my timing.

Graham UK

Interesting concept. And related to an observation I made a long time ago... a good song is a good song is a good song! Case in point is the song "Misty". Several years ago someone made a very upbeat jazz organ version... sounded great. Then I heard a medium tempo C & W version! At first I thought is was downright sacrelig, but after listening more I really liked it (I'm sure others will disagree).

Another example is one of my favorite standards "Dream a Little Dream Of Me". 2 excellent versions, 1 by Mamma Cass and another by Chicago (Night & Day Big Band CD) are totally different. It was also done upbeat in a movie titled with the same name.

A good song is a good etc!

Glenn

Ray Stephens did the Country version of Misty. Evidently he and the band were fooling around before a recording session, and it "worked" so they cut it that way.
DonM

I was in the dentist chair one day and heard " do you hear what i hear " .

It had a nice 16beat type style . I went back to my keyboard and it worked perfectly .

dano

Now that you guys have me thinking, I don't do any of the Christmas songs in the original style. I do all of them to more modern beats.
There is a song that goes over well in the South called "Christmas In Dixie". It was done by Alabama. I use the Country Men Harmonizer setting on the chorus and change a word or two to localize it.
DonM

I agree with UD's smooth jazz notion. Those easy-listening funky styles go-down well for background music at dinner parties, etc... Some may think of it as elevator music, or music played on the weather channel, but I like it. Those I play for seem to like it as well. In changing styles around for well-known tunes, I've never had anyone complain with---"Hey, that's not the way that song goes". I wish all arranger keyboards in general had a much greater selection of styles that fit the concept of smooth jazz. I can't define it, but I know it when I hear it.

DanO,
The XD9 is not in use at present. I want to keep it fresh for sale. I was talking about using different styles. For example:
Try Silet Night with a 4/4 and then try it with a 12/8.
The Christmas Song lays well in a 12/8 ballad, but really swings a bit with a 16 beat. Christina Agulera does it with a modern house/disco beat and that works too. (really does, for a club date or a dance)
She also so adds a hiphop flavor to Angels we have heard on high too m- that's catchy.

Don,
I like that Ray Stevens arrangement of Misty. The banjo is kickin' ! I have a bluegrass midi file of the "Phantom of the oPRY" THAT HAS THE SAME FEEL. iT'S A GAS WHEN i WANT TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD A LITTLE.
(DAMN CAPS LOK !!)
Sometimes I use it after the "Love theme" from Deliverance. ( )

We play the kids Christmas party at the Country Club every Christmas Eve. I've played "We Three Kings" using a funk pattern and it works out very well.

I use many different patterns to well known songs. Don Mason my mentor, told me once that you just tell the audiance that it is your version of the tune. If U2 did a Beatles song they wouldn't be expected to sound just like the Beatles. Why do I have to sound like Elvis just because I do a song that he did? Here are some examples of familier tunes done to different styles: "Ticket to Ride" as a medium blues, "Mellow Yellow" as an easy funk, "After The Lovin" as an eight beat ballad instead of a slow swing, "Spooky" as a hard funk, "Ruby Baby" as a boogie, "Ob La Dee Ob La Da" as a polka. You wouldn't think that some of these work but they do.

Look at what Jummy Buffet did to Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl". He did it sort of Caribbian style and it worked out beautifully. It is fun to experiment and since I will never sound like the Beatles anyway, why not?

Tom

I've found that changing the 'style' I use for songs is an absolute necessity, if only for my OWN sanity .... How many times can you play the same tune the same way? After a while you might as well be on auto-pilot .. or MIDI ...
I often switch from a latin beat to a swing, 3/4 to 4/4, rock to latin, replace the usual beat with raggae, etc. .... Even if people are dancing, the switch from a ballad to a jazz swing or rock can spark the party ...
And to think that Buffet has copied ME in going from rock to carribean on "Brown Eyed Girl" .... I KNEW I should have had a copywrite on that ....
I've got a kn6000... Anyone out there have "smooth jazz" styles they can share ... or a website where I can find some? ...
thnx,
t.

PS to UD .... UNfortunately, here in RI we don't have a good Jazz or smooth jazz station to listen to anymore ... BUT, I get down to the NYC area fairly often , and I don't think 'CD 101.9' had bought a new CD in 15 years .....
Back in '92 I worked most of the year in the Mt. Laurel area and used to love to listen to the jazz station out of Temple.....
t.

"Smooth Jazz" stations have made their way nearly everywhere I go. It's a nice step-up from Muzak without getting into the Pop format, so it's aimed at offices at lot. This wide-spread public exposure to "familiar songs done in unfamiliar ways" is a great opportunity for us.

Essentially, I take the "contemporary" approach with everything I do, or everything I can get away with! That includes as much Christmas music as possible but also includes older favs such as Summer Breeze (Upbeat Modern), Fly Like An Eagle (Hip-Hop) and Killing Me Softly (Bossa Nova). This is one way to really set yourself apart from your non-arranger competition, and my experience has been that the audiences enjoy hearing tunes they already know performed in new and creative ways.

Having discussed this in the past, I was looking for your response Pro .... I believe in the other thread I also mentioned that I do a number of Beatle tunes as instrumentals in bossa or other more modern styles ... Works for me
t.

Tony: yes, this subject has come up before. I do The Beatles "And I Love Her" in bossa-nova style, which is a natural for that song anyway. What other Beatles songs do you do ?

Yet 2 more examples. Just listen to Andrea's (Dreamer) arrangements of Moonlight Serenade in a Latin... and Can't Help Falling in a Reggae. Both work really well.

Are they any smooth jazz players here?

Does anyone of you know band like Fourplay, Spyro Gyra, Special EFX and etc.???? Just curious!!!!!!!!!

Micco

Pro .... "Michelle", and "Yesterday" both work well ... on "Yesteray" I use a pan flute for a lead... gives a nice effect.. also try "Fool on the Hill" ...and I've played around with "Something" using a slow rhumba style (just drums and bass back-up) but I haven't got it where I want it yet ...

Micco .. Fourplay and Spyro are two of my favorite listening groups ... I really like Bob James, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, etc .... Do you have any 'smooth jazz styles that can be used on a technics kn6000? ....
t.

I guess I'm a "smooth jazz" player. I do "Morning Dance" by Spyro Gyro and also some Bob James, Ivan Lins, Grover Washington Jr, David Foster, Lee Ritenour, Al Jarreau, Jobim, to name a few off hand. I listen to The Rippingtons and old Weather Report stuff but I try to stay borderline mainstream with my live music. There's a new superstar tribute album to Ivan Lins out featuring "She Walks This Earth" with vocals by Sting that's on the smooth jazz stations. This song has been nominated for a Grammy reportedly, which is great because I love playing it.

BTW .... I think slow Latin rhythms (rhumba, samba, bossa, etc.) played with understated back-up ... guitar, bass drums, generally work with with most ballads ... The rhythm itself is quite sensual, and just adds to the mood of the tune ....
One that comes to mind immediately is "All The Things You Are".. On the kn6 I play it with grand piano on R1, Vibes/Guitar on R2 and use the block chord setting on 'technichord' .... all of a sudden I'm the Geaorge Shearing Quartet!!!

PS: ... wasn't it UB 40 who did Neil Diamond's 'Red Red Wine' and Elvis' 'Falling in Love' in raggae? .....
t.

[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 12-03-2002).]

Tony: Wow! - I just started knocking around "Fool On the Hill" rhumba-style in my head and you're right - that has great potential! Mmmm, a tasty new new tune to snack on... I already do "Yesterday" but in a more traditional manner - I'll try giving that a slow bossa nova treatment and chew on it, but I always found that song depressing. Never was crazy about "Michelle" either, but "Fool" has wood to it... I feel a "stuck in my head all day" thing coming on... thanks!

I am sorry, I don´t have any smooth jazz styles for Technics KN6000. I have only a few for Yamaha PSR9000.

Does anyone of you like Kenny G, Candy Dulfer, Najee, Dave Koz, Boney James or George Howard?

What about David Benoit?

Not a fan of Kenny, Candy ok, the rest are in my collection in one form or another (dedicated cd, compilation CDs, promos, etc.)

Who is the luckiest sax player alive???
Ans: Kenny G!!!

And who remembers a group called "Stuff"? How about Richard Tee? Earl Klugh? And the Crusaders with Larry Carlton? I don't have the chops/skills to develop professional-sounding styles. However, I wish the programmers would give us a larger selection of groove-type styles that represent much of what is reflected on this thread.

If you explore the house, jip-hop, funky etc styles .... you'll find that lots of these are the basis for the smooth jazz style.
Around Philly we have a terrific "real" jazz station from my Alma Mater ( Temple U )and many people don't buy into the "smooth" concept as jazz at all. Still...it's pleasing to the ear and there are lots of pretty, melodic interpretations to sample.

Is "Smooth" jazz really jazz? Who knows. That's a topic for another day, but the basic rhythms are pretty modern in concept. It's just the sounds that keep it smooth I think. Lots of electric pianos, thick pads, and solo wind instruments. Not too many irritating guitar leads or harsh sax honking. It's eazy on the ears.

UD ... as I said in an earlier post above, I really enjoyed that jazz station out of Temple when I worked in that area in '92 ...
As far as 'smooth jazz' being 'real jazz', not in my mind, but that doesn't lessen my taste for the good smooth stuff ..... I just get pi**ed when I'm listening to something like CD 101.9 and their "SMOOTH - JAZZ" promo comes on and leads into the intro of some Celine (AAARRRRGGHHHH) Dion song.....
t.

Tony,
They even play Rod Stewart in our "Smooth jazz" station........right - he's a jazzer.

UD .. Your station must subscribe to the same package as 101.9 .... I like what they play (most of the time), but just DON'T call it JAZZ ... smooth or otherwise .....
t.

EXACTLY ! Most of the time, I DO enjoy the material, but it AIN'T jazz, my friend!
Maybe it's a jazz "primer" or something .... gets people into the spirit of a more instumental approach. Who knows?
It wears thin on me after a while, but the real jazz station could play all day and I'd never tire of it.............unless of course, they get into an Ornett Coleman tribute ... then I'd have trouble.
(there's ALWAYS something ....)