When I lived in the 'burbs of Cleveland, an upscale lifestyle center near my house would regularly have outdoor concerts through the late spring, summer and early fall. The majority of bands that appeared played smooth jazz.
When I lived in Denver, for a little while I lived in an apartment complex with pretensions of “upscaleness”. Smooth jazz played in the leasing office. Smooth jazz was piped into the laundry room, community rooms, and the poolside. It was everywhere. It also served as background music in many high-end restaurants in town.
I know this seems like a small sample size but I’ve noticed the phenomenon elsewhere; there’s just a corollary between smooth jazz and the presence of upper-middle class folks. Why do well-off Americans seem to like bland smooth jazz?
I disagree with your premise. Bland music is often piped into restaurants as background, without regard to economic status. Jazz of the “unsoft” variety commands you to listen to it and can be distracting or even annoying to people who don’t like the genre. Some restaurants (and most grocery stores) use soft rock in the same way. It’s a matter of not offending people rather than pandering to an economic class, IMO.
Much legitimate jazz also is perceived as sounding self-consciously Black, which is something most upper middleclass folk (even Black ones) aren’t too hot on. Finally, there’s the image of jazz fans, who tend to be obsessive, tacky and boring. (I know because I used to be one.)
It’s what happens when some boffin at head office reads some crap about demographics and decides to play music to attract customers instead of playing music because someone in the store actually enjoys listening to it. For fun, ask the people in the store to identify a piece sometime - see if they even can.
Other than specific types (such as New Orleans), Jazz to me has always been colorless. There are great musicians from all colors and ethnicities, and unless someone is familiar with the exact piece and artist he is listening to, I would defy anyone to put a color to a recording. I’m not sure I agree with your characteristics, either.
I’ve heard all the valid reasons to play Smooth Jazz for customers at La Galleria, or patrons at Griglia Toscana, conventioneers at the Doubletree, etc.: it’s calming, unchallenging, and reassuring.
But will somebody please reassure me that these same people: doctors, lawyers, other vital professionals, don’t go home and fuck to this stuff?
As background music, I like it. It’s soothing, relaxing, vaguely classy…What would you rather they play?
Reminds me of my mom, who has issues with the Irish and wonders why Celtic this and Celtic that is everywhere. Even in the Titanic movie. I asked her what she WANTED to hear everywhere - polka music?
As a musician (I hasten to add, a “feel” one rather than a trained one), it drives me mad.
One particular venue my outfit plays inevitably has the XM Smooth Jazz channel on the Muzak…when we arrive, and in between sets (we often have to remind them to turn it off when we resume playing), so I’ve been exposed to a fair sampling of it over the last few months.
I have toyed with starting a thread with this premise, but I might just as well pose the question here.
I would like someone who is a fan of Smooth Jazz to explain what its appeal is to him or her. I’m not trying to be a smart ass in asking this question…I genuinely would like to hear the explanation.
To my ears, it’s the same couple of rhythms, the same couple of chord patterns, the same intervals between notes, a lot of the same instrumentation (the Wes Montgomery octave guitar lines, the cheesy electric piano, the faux funk bass) over and over again. It really sets my teeth on edge.
Again, not trying to be a wise guy, but I’m searching for what a listener would get out of listening to it…and what a musician would get out of playing it. One comment I’ve made is that Smooth Jazz is music for people who don’t really like music – but maybe that’s a bit too radical.
In all seriousness, can anyone answer my question?
I want to be very upfront about my unfamiliarity with the nomenclature of jazz. That being said, I am not surprsingly unsure what exactly cool jazz is. I know what the two words mean independently. So of these three songs (two of which I quite like), are any cool jazz:
Girl from Ipanema - Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto version
Take Five - Dave Brubeck
Songbird - Kenny G
ahhh smooth! I knew there was a category I was forgetting. Ok, so if when you’re talking cool jazz Chefguy, your’re not talking Kenny G, you’re talking something close to Dave Brubeck, I am left to think you and DChord568 might not be applying the same definition. Dave Brubeck doesn’t have “cheesy electric piano [or] . . . faux funk bass.” Could it be he means smooth jazz and not cool jazz?
A generation or two ago they probably weren’t true. Jazz fanship retained a vestige of hipness, and more people (educated or sophisticated people, anyway) could see it as an art form.
That turned out to be generational more than anything else. The boomers could never fully embrace jazz (any kind of jazz). The music has lost much support and much prestige. What’s left? The obsessive, tacky bores who are the last to leave any party. The community is no longer worthy of the art. Believe me, as a musician and former fan, it hurts to see it.
Well. . .Miles Davis is probably more cool than Brubeck, I would think, although Paul Desmond always said the sound he was striving for was the equivalent of a dry martini. One huge difference (and there are many) between cool jazz (or any other traditional jazz genre) and smooth jazz is that “real” jazz relies heavily on improvisation. Listen to Paul Desmond, then Kenny G. The only similarities are that they are both male and both are playing reed instruments.
Then I just don’t understand the criticisms being lodged here against cool jazz. It’s great. Is it possible that folks have cool and smooth mixed up?
ETA: I am a well-educated, white, upper-middle class male
EATA: it appears I am the one who’s been confused. It appears I injected discussion of cool jazz. Yes, smooth jazz sucks. Carry-on.
It’s probably chosen by default as the “modern” alternative to classical music.
Instrumental, inoffensive and non controversial compared to most other genres .