Smoooooth jazz

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Well the ol' Classic Blues thread is gettin' so much love, let's do the same thing with smmmoooooooth jazzzzzzz
Startin' off the New Year in a m-e-l-l-o-w m-o-o-d

Saw John Klemmer a lot at Jazz clubs in L.A. in the 70s



Used to have Yusef Lateef's album Gentle Giant on vinyl in the 70s



Sa-weeeeet

[Highlander]

Obvious, but...

[Pilgrim]

To me, one of the absolute definitions of smooth jazz is Dave Brubeck's Take Five....and this version really is jazz - very different sax work by Paul Desmond than in the cut on the famous LP.

[chromium]

I like my jazz with lumps in its gravy.  I don't really care too much for a lot of what gets classified as "smooth jazz" (Brubeck transcends, however).  Mostly its just the stuff they play on the radio that bugs me - too safe, clinical, boring.  Guess that can be said for a lot of radio, though.

Here's some mellower stuff I like...

Ben Allison:


Keith Jarrett:


The Bad Plus:  (an Aphex Twin cover   - these guys cover other unexpected stuff like Pixies, Sabbath, etc..)


Select era of George Duke:  (check the young Alphonso Johnson!  also young Scofield...)


Brad Mehldau, Ahmad Jamal, Joshua Redman, E.S.T. come to mind too.

[nofi]

take 5 as smooth jazz, i disagree. the tune may sound pleasant but an odd time sig lurks underneath like many brubeck tunes. take 5 was originally written as a drum solo for joe morello but evolved to what it is. most jazz at the time was 4/4 and brubeck was one off the first to use oddball time. that is until fusion raised it's ugly head.

to me smooth jazz is aural wallpaper for people who think they like jazz but really don't know what it is. backround wine bar muzak.

[chromium]

Totally agree.  They (radio, and whatnot) often seem to lump Brubeck into that genre, though.  I don't think a lot of what I posted is smooth jazz either, although I'm bad at genres.  Someone else here mentioned in another thread something to the effect of "music for people who have been told they should like music".  That's what jumps in my head with "smooth jazz" genre - jazz for people who've been told they should like jazz.

I'm assuming that Terr wasn't seeking "smooth jazz" the genre, though, but just some cool mellow jazz clips...  

[Pilgrim]

I think of smooth jazz as being something pleasant to listen to - not something that requires intense listening.  (Some jazz is like a homework assignment.) To me, different time signatures are very much a part of jazz.  In high school I played Unsquare Dance (7/4 time) and Take Five with a pianist (5/4) for small parties...pretty mainstream jazz stuff IMO.

Although I wouldn't call most of it "smooth jazz", I'm very much an admirer of Don Ellis' electric orchestra efforts, and I doubt anyone has used and recorded music in more extreme time signatures than Ellis did - although some of his stuff is too aggressive for me to think of it as "smooth".  A sampling of time signatures he used includes 5/4, 7/8, and 9/4, and more complex rhythmic cycles like 19/4 and 27/16. At the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival his orchestra got a standing ovation at the conclusion of their first tune, titled "33 222 1 222" because of its time subdivision of 19.

Ellis' Electric Bath LP has been a favorite of mine since the 70's. Here's the cut "Open Beauty" which some people consider fusion...but I find it pretty smooth and interesting:

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Well the ol' Classic Blues thread is gettin' so much love, let's do the same thing with smmmoooooooth jazzzzzzz
Startin' off the New Year in a m-e-l-l-o-w m-o-o-d

Saw John Klemmer a lot at Jazz clubs in L.A. in the 70s



Used to have Yusef Lateef's album Gentle Giant on vinyl in the 70s



Sa-weeeeet

Just listen to this stuff!! This is music for a sunny afternoon.
John Klemmer did a Coltrane cut on one album but mostly he was m-e-l-l-o-w
That's what Smmmooooth Jazz is to me---mellow, relaxing, WONDERFUL!
In L.A. we have the WAVE--a mellow Jazz station that makes gridlock bearable.

Diggin' that Red Baron!

[chromium]

Yeah I enjoyed that Yusef Lateef and the Don Ellis track.  FWIW too, this has always been one of my favorites of Brubeck's:




Let the mellow tracks commence...  (reminds me of a King of the Hill episode w/Chuck Mangione playing at the opening of the hardware store... "you guys ready to soft rock?!?!"  )

Jan Hammer Group.  Usually Fusion w/vocals scares me off, but I like this.  Anyone here who's heard the French group Air might detect an influence  . 


John Abercrombie:  (you might prowl around for other ECM-label artists too...)


Esbjoern Svensson Trio:

[Barklessdog]

I really like Jean Luc Ponty for mellower jazz.





Soft Machine was pretty cool.

[Pilgrim]

Yeah I enjoyed that Yusef Lateef and the Don Ellis track.  FWIW too, this has always been one of my favorites of Brubeck's:

That's also one of my Brubeck favorites - and the time sig in that one is 9/4 time, counted 1-2 / 1-2 / 1-2 / 1-2-3 (repeat), with parts of it being counted 1-2-3 / 1-2-3 / 1-2-3.

Not difficult once you've been through it a couple of times.