# Smooth Jazz **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850 "2015-02-16T20:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/21 "2015-02-17T03:25:43Z")
I listened to ‘Watercolors’ on Sirius radio from Thanksgiving on, and it went a long, LONG way in helping me though the f’ing holidays. It was very soothing, though I couldn’t tell you the names of musicians. Seriously. It was extremely helpful in getting me through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the week after New Years. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/22 "2015-02-17T04:18:30Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > An approximate top 10 would be: > > David Sanborn > Stanley Turrentine > Grover Washington Jr. > Pat Metheny > Lee Ritenour > David Benoit > Bob James > Herb Alpert > Chuck Mangione > Spyro Gyra > > I generally prefer their earlier albums. > > I rank smooth jazz below popular, classical, folk, trad jazz, fusion, and prog music, and rank it above metal, hip-hop, industrial, dance, disco, polka, march, kenny g and country. > > I wouldn’t classify the Marsalis clan or Astrud Gilberto as smooth jazz though bossa nova can be considered a precursor. Stanley Turrentine cannot ever be considered a smooth jazz artist; GW Jr and Metheny occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/23 "2015-02-17T06:57:44Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Stanley Turrentine cannot ever be considered a smooth jazz artist; GW Jr and Metheny occasionally. Not even Pieces of Dreams? I’d at least consider him a precursor, and he’s one of my favorites on the provided wiki list, so whatever. It’s my top 10 according to OP’s given parameters. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/24 "2015-02-17T08:11:18Z")
I love smooth jazz. Overall it’s probably my favorite type of music, although I don’t listen to it exclusively and wouldn’t want to. I like the work of virtually every musician mentioned in this thread plus many others, but my favorite by far is [Paul Hardcastle](https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/paul-hardcastle/id18608277), who writes, produces and records his music under both the _Jazzmasters_ moniker and his own name. Since I doubt most, if anyone here, is familiar with him I’ll post a link to the [_Jazzmasters 1_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldAKreYtvOQ&spfreload=10) album which first brought him to my attention. The first tune, _The Sound of Summer_, was and remains an all time favorite, as does the album itself. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/25 "2015-02-17T12:54:50Z")
Thanks a bunch for all the input! I thought I’d make a first pass at trying to narrow the list down to a Top Ten, but it’s not an easy task. These are folks I have in my music collection or who I’ve listened to enough to have an opinion about, that I’d want to be in consideration. I may try to locate some others not on Wiki’s list that I’d like to see before going for that Top Ten: =========================================== \*\*List of smooth jazz musicians From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The following artists and bands have performed smooth jazz.\*\* Saxophonists Gato Barbieri Candy Dulfer Boney James Najee David Sanborn Tom Scott Grover Washington, Jr. Kirk Whalum Guitarists George Benson Larry Carlton Joyce Cooling Russ Freeman Stanley Jordan Earl Klugh Pat Metheny Lee Ritenour Pianists/Keyboardists David Benoit Dave Grusin Bob James Ramsey Lewis Joe Sample Lonnie Liston Smith Drummers and other percussionists Steve Gadd Omar Hakim Bassists Stanley Clarke Marcus Miller John Patitucci Victor Wooten Trumpeters / Flugelhornists Herb Alpert Chet Baker Chris Botti Flautists Hubert Laws Najee Dave Valentin Bands/Groups Acoustic Alchemy Fattburger Fourplay Four80East The Rippingtons Yellowjackets Vocalists Michael Bublé Eliane Elias Norah Jones Diana Krall Other Instruments Eddie Daniels (Clarinet) Bela Fleck (Banjo) Andy Narell (Pan Drum) Lee Oskar (Harmonica) Jean-Luc Ponty (Violin) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/26 "2015-02-17T15:28:35Z")
I definitely recommend Bela Fleck, at least, from that list. (And Victor Wooten, who is the bassists in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.) I’m not sure I’d call their music “smooth jazz,” though. I also quite enjoy Herb Alpert and Chet Baker but, once again, I don’t really think of them as smooth jazz. Chet Baker is more cool jazz and Herb Alpert, I’m not sure how I’d classify him. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/27 "2015-02-17T15:45:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I definitely recommend Bela Fleck, at least, from that list. (And Victor Wooten, who is the bassists in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.) I’m not sure I’d call their music “smooth jazz,” though. I also quite enjoy Herb Alpert and Chet Baker but, once again, I don’t really think of them as smooth jazz. Chet Baker is more cool jazz and Herb Alpert, I’m not sure how I’d classify him. I know what you mean in each case! The boundaries between Smooth Jazz and other niches of Jazz that are some steps away from the other _Hard Jazz_ (if I may coin a phrase) sub-genres are fuzzy at best unless somebody can apply some meaningful adjectives to distinguish them. I’m also unclear on just where and when those earliest distinctions became evident. I do know that (as I mentioned upthread) George Shearing was in my ear before I started grade school and he has remained there. The blurring of the line between Smooth Jazz and [Space Age Pop](http://spaceagepop.com/) is another distinction I find difficult to understand. I do know that some of that music was available in the 1950’s, if not earlier. Just as a note in passing, The Wooten Brothers (Victor’s brothers) played at my daughter’s wedding reception! Bodacious musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/28 "2015-02-17T16:00:36Z")
> [@Grey\_area](#): > > To sort of add to the pile-on… > > You might wanna try cool jazz instead. It’s what smooth jazz wishes/tries/pretends to be. > > Here are two classic (and very accessible) cool jazz tracks to get you started > > [Miles Davis - Blue in Green](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz_eGZ8U5kY) > > [Bill Evans Trio - Nardis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxzeDpBvxv4) I’d rather say “in addition to” than “instead.” Do you have some relevant adjectives to use in setting a dividing line between “cool” and “smooth”? Instruments, themes, distinctive sounds, rhythms, harmonies, intent, whatever? If it matters, I have been a big fan of _Cool Jazz_ since even before _Kind of Blue_ (1959?) became the de facto standard of that school. I’m at a loss for what would have been the first recording in that style. _Modal Jazz_ is another label applied to KOB, and I go for that as well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/29 "2015-02-17T16:19:51Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Do you have some relevant adjectives to use in setting a dividing line between “cool” and “smooth”? Instruments, themes, distinctive sounds, rhythms, harmonies, intent, whatever? My own personal impressions of “smooth jazz,” as exemplified by the type of music I’d hear on WNUA (a popular smooth jazz station in Chicago back in the 90s), is an easy-listening, pop form of jazz fusion that typically involved strong and easy to follow melody lines on a lead instrument such as saxophone or guitar, typically with an atmospheric synthesized backdrop (lots of “pads,” soft electric piano sounds, etc.), often with synthesized drums. Kind of a new-age-music-meets-jazz sort of thing or, perhaps a bit more dismissively, jazz elevator music. Then again, there’s stuff like [Charlie Hunter and Pound for Pound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeZ4Df04QOg) that fits the smooth jazz WNUA vibe, but is another artist that I wouldn’t classify as “smooth jazz.” (And he himself says it’s not a genre he strives to be associated with.) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/30 "2015-02-17T17:04:15Z")
Yeah! Background music that doesn’t tax your brain. The aural equivalent of a Sentsy Candle. Not quite elevator music or Easy Listening, but easy enough to listen to while engaging in conversation or other pleasurable activities. But, it must be also engaging enough to satisfy us while listening to it for its own sake. YMMV of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/31 "2015-02-17T17:50:22Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > … If it matters, I have been a big fan of _Cool Jazz_ since even before _Kind of Blue_ (1959?) became the de facto standard of that school. I’m at a loss for what would have been the first recording in that style … It has occurred to me that [Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool full jazz album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8kjOpfMBbM) predates _Kind of Blue_ (at least the recording dates do) by a decade even though they were released closer to each other in the late 50’s ( see [Birth of the Cool - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_the_Cool) for details) but the sounds of BOTC were being employed in other cool groups. So we can push the advent of Cool/Smooth a bit further back, if history matters. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/32 "2015-02-17T21:05:32Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Yeah! Background music that doesn’t tax your brain. The aural equivalent of a Sentsy Candle. > > Not quite elevator music or Easy Listening, but easy enough to listen to while engaging in conversation or other pleasurable activities. > > But, it must be also engaging enough to satisfy us while listening to it for its own sake. > > YMMV of course. This is an excellent description of what I get out of it. I wish I’d thought of it myself when asked in the past why I liked about smooth jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/33 "2015-02-17T21:37:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I definitely recommend Bela Fleck, at least, from that list. (And Victor Wooten, who is the bassists in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.) I’m not sure I’d call their music “smooth jazz,” though. I also quite enjoy Herb Alpert and Chet Baker but, once again, I don’t really think of them as smooth jazz. Chet Baker is more cool jazz and Herb Alpert, I’m not sure how I’d classify him. I agree completely. Alpert went from his hugely successful Hispanic-influenced pop music to relative obscurity, but has reemerged with his wife Lani Hall as a bossa nova and jazz duo act. It’s kind of the reverse of what many jazz artists have done (going from jazz to pop in order to make a living), and Alpert almost seems to be surprised that he’s now playing jazz licks. We saw Alpert and Hall a couple of years ago here in Portland. His wind isn’t what it used to be, but they sounded great. Lani Hall hasn’t lost any of the vocal chops she showed with Sergio Mendes. I would never classify Brazilian music as smooth jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850/34 "2015-02-18T01:07:23Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Also, how do you rank Smooth Jazz among your favorite types of music.? Pretty much at the bottom of the list. I’m not a big fan of Jazz anyway. The older stuff seems a bit masturbatory, though in certain contexts and if I can discern that the musician isn’t just playing random notes, I like it well enough. Modern Smooth Jazz doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to me. The thing is, people are going to disagree with me and ask, ‘What about [insert title]?’ Even with the Wiki link in the OP, the definition of Smooth Jazz is a bit nebulous to me. ‘I knows it when I hears it.’ There are what I call ‘classic Jazz’ songs that probably most people would call Smooth Jazz; but they’re different to me. I think **pulykamell** did a fair job of describing what I mean. Seattle seems to be some kind of a Jazz hub. I listen to KPLU for NPR, but their daytime programming is Jazz. When the Jazz starts playing, I change the channel. I would much rather listen to Blues or Swing/Big Band. Not to defecate in the punchbowl, but to me Smooth Jazz is like Muzak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooth-jazz/712850.md?page=1)