Because there had been a criticism of smooth jazz on another thread rather than hijack the thread I will create another.

While this smooth jazz may not appeal to jazz purists it is a favorite of mine. Bobby Caldwell is such a talented artist.

I really like the first song. During the 80s I had friends who lived just under 2 hours drive away and I would regularly make the drive on weekends late at night. After sunset this is the kind of thing I would listen to.

Whilst I did not have any Bobby Caldwell, these were in my cassette collection:

I don't think I've ever put together a set list that 'What you won't do for love' wasn't on. One of my alltime favorites and always a surefire crowd pleaser. I still remember how shocked I was when I found out Bobby Caldwell wasn't uh, a 'Brother'. But then again, he came from an era where 'Blue-eyed soul singers' were fairly common (Tom Jones, David Clayton Thomas, and even in Rock, Joe Cocker (my all-time favorite genuine article, soul singer)).

chas

I love this stuff. Great groove. Sinatra thing is great too but I wouldn't call it "smooth jazz" in the modern context, classy pop maybe. Used to be radio station here in the NJ/NYC area that played all Sinatra on Sat. evenings. Used to enjoy listening in the car on the way to a gig or on the way home if it was an early party. also used to be a late Sat. night show called "Groove Boutique" Loved that on the late night drives home. Radio has gotten soooooo bad I almost hate to put it on.

Thanks

You're not the ONLY one, my friend ...

Everyone notice how important the bass lines are in the above songs? ...

I think I've given the wrong impression about smooth jazz... Just like just about ANY musical form, there are exceptional examples, and people that take the form beyond its' limitations.

The thing for me is how universal and pervasive the style has become, and how pretty unimpressive much of the 'me too' players are. I mean, the Weather Channel! Ouch!! (Color me guilty of the same crime, though!)

It is turning into the worst form of muzak, a vanilla pudding of predictability, used for its ability to offend the FEWEST people in any randomly gathered group of consumers stuck waiting for whatever service the 'Corporate Person' decides isn't worth their while to do in a timely fashion.

It isn't that there isn't any GOOD smooth jazz... it's just how much BAD (or bland, tasteless and predictable) there is. I guess, I just tend to prefer music that you either love or HATE... I don't have much time for music that just makes you go 'meh'!

I do understand what you are saying. But I just wanted to point out that there is some awesome music out there that is tagged with this label and shouldn't be ignored because of that. But sure, like any genre it is being exploited for commercial purposes.

And as Tonewheeldude points out George Benson is another fantastic musician that falls under this tag. In fact George has been playing great music long before the "smooth jazz" tag was even created. smooth ... yes ... jazz ... yes ... awesome ... yes !!!!

One of the things about the greats playing smooth jazz that always kind of gets me is watching them underplay massively.

You KNOW these guys are able to play circles around what is on the record (and often, smooth jazz artists can amaze live, given the opportunity to stretch out a bit past the CD release) and can harmonically move WAY beyond the safe choices the genre makes them pick. But the record company or their management force them to play it safe, and knock off all the sharp edges, in case the consumer cuts themselves!

I have to confess... I prefer Benson's work from before the move to this 'smooth' phase. I'll even take the disco years over this!

I don't post often but I do enjoy the discussions on this forum. On this specific subject I do have a strong opinion. While I too enjoy this style of music (Caldwell'S Song)very much I have never considered it "Jazz" and I think the controversy comes from applying that word to this style. Granted the musicians on this video are more than capable of playing jazz but this is not jazz.
IMHO it's funk/pop blended with R&B. Very nice style and I really like it. To me Jazz is improvising and creating live. That's not what's going on here for the most part.

joesax

Well, if I'm being honest, I have to agree with joesax.....100%. Although we play 'What you won't do for love' almost every gig, we play it very straight with heavy jazz/funk/blues-type solos played over that great horn riff which whoever is not soloing is playing softly in the background. Very cool. Very effective. But yeah, I've always thought of it as R&B quite frankly. Good R&B, but still R&B. Still it just goes to show how much overlap there is in different genre's of music, but it also shows the potential negative effect of putting too much emphasis on labels.

chas