Smooth jazz is a term used to describe commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, it is clear that smooth jazz became the successor to easy listening music on radio station programming in the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.
14-472: Fourplay (stylized as fOURPLAY ) is a contemporary American smooth jazz quartet. The original members of the group were Bob James (keyboards), Lee Ritenour (guitars), Nathan East (bass), and Harvey Mason (drums). In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement. In 2010, Larry Carlton left Fourplay and was replaced by Chuck Loeb , who died on July 31, 2017. During Loeb's illness, saxophonist Kirk Whalum joined
28-413: A Grammy Award nomination. In 1995, their third gold album, Elixir , also reached the number one position and remained on the chart for more than 90 weeks. In 2015 the band celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of the album Silver with former members Ritenour and Carlton. Smooth jazz Smooth jazz may be thought of as commercially-oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in
42-415: A buyer was found, theJazz and its sister station Planet Rock would close at the end of March 2008. To compensate for the closing, Classic FM broadcast a nightly jazz program between midnight and 2 am, but that ceased in late September 2008 without warning. TheJazz stopped broadcasting at midnight, 31 March 2008 on DAB. The last song to be broadcast was " Don't Worry, Be Happy " by Bobby McFerrin followed by
56-556: A variation of the Digital One license to replace the requirement of an easy listening station to a classic and contemporary jazz requirement. On 19 September 2006, GCap released a press statement announcing the start of a national radio station before 2007. TheJazz started test transmissions on all the platforms it would broadcast on in December 2006. The test transmissions consisted of Lindos Electronics test tones and an announcement of
70-407: The "bland" sound of top-selling saxophonist Kenny G, whose popularity peaked with his 1992 album Breathless . Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s". Digby Fairweather , before the start of UK jazz station theJazz , denounced
84-466: The 1980s, displacing the more venturesome jazz fusion from which it emerged. It avoids the improvisational "risk-taking" of jazz fusion, emphasizing melodic form, and much of the music was initially "a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B ." During the mid-1970s in the United States, it was known as "smooth radio"; the genre was not termed "smooth jazz" until
98-431: The 1980s. The term itself seems to have been birthed directly out of radio marketing efforts. In an industry focus group in the late 1980s, one participant coined the phrase "smooth jazz" - and it stuck. The popularity of smooth jazz as a radio format gradually declined in the early 2000s. The mid- to late-1970s included songs " Breezin' " as performed by another smooth jazz pioneer, guitarist George Benson in 1976,
112-451: The Two of Us ". Beginning with Taking Off by alto saxophonist David Sanborn , Warner Bros. Records became a viable and popular record label for smooth jazz. Smooth jazz grew in popularity in the 1980s as Anita Baker , Sade , Al Jarreau , Grover Washington Jr. and Kenny G released multiple hit songs. The smooth jazz genre experienced a backlash exemplified by critical complaints about
126-459: The beginning of "Tally Ho" by Don Byron . GCap Media also stated that the station would expand beyond radio in the services it offers, including podcasts, concerts, and downloads. GCap set up a MySpace profile for theJazz to promote the station in the same way that it did for sister stations such as Planet Rock, Chill, and Core. On 1 August 2007 the website was relaunched as part of this expansion. In April 2007, GCap announced that it had made
140-621: The change to a smooth jazz format on defunct radio station 102.2 Jazz FM ; he stated that the owners GMG Radio were responsible for the "attempted rape and (fortunately abortive) re-definition of the music — is one that no true jazz lover within the boundaries of the M25 will ever find it possible to forget or forgive." TheJazz theJazz was a British jazz digital radio station run by GCap Media that started on Christmas Day of 2006 on Digital One , DAB ensemble , Sky Digital , Virgin Media , and
154-667: The forthcoming broadcast. Beginning in December 2007, it broadcast on DAB at a bit rate of 96 kbit/s in mono. This was increased to 128 kbit/s in joint stereo. On 6 April 2007, the station started programming led by presenters. At 09:00, Darren Henley , managing director of Classic FM, opened theJazz. Helen Mayhew was the first voice heard on theJazz, introducing theJazz 500, a chart of jazz songs voted for by listeners. Presenters included Margherita Taylor , Jamie Cullum , David Jensen , Mike Chadwick, Anthony Davis , Digby Fairweather , Jacqui Dankworth , and Courtney Pine . On 11 February 2008, GCap Media announced that unless
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#1733086109957168-543: The group for performances. The group has enjoyed consistent artistic and commercial success by grafting elements of R&B and pop to jazz, appealing to a broad mainstream audience. Their debut album, Fourplay (1991), sold over a million copies and remained at the number one position on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart for 33 weeks. Their next album, Between the Sheets (1993), reached number one, went gold, and received
182-430: The instrumental composition " Feels So Good " by flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione , in 1978, " What You Won't Do for Love " by Bobby Caldwell along with his debut album was released the same year, jazz fusion group Spyro Gyra 's instrumental " Morning Dance ", released in 1979 and in 1981, a collaboration between Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers was released as one of the most popular smooth jazz songs " Just
196-440: The internet. The station played blues and traditional and modern jazz and stopped broadcasting on 31 March 2008 on DAB. The station was a generic automated two-hour loop on Sky, Virgin, and online without disc jockeys. This was closed down and removed from Sky and Virgin on 3 November. Chill started on Digital TV using theJazz's old channel numbers on both Sky and Virgin. After the closing of PrimeTime Radio , Ofcom allowed
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