2. music
  3. 1010961489

Why Doesn't Contemporary Jazz Get Any Respect?

I am a huge fan of Peter White,Kirk Whalum,Dave Koz,Warren Hill,etc.I have never understood why this flavor of music gets no respect.Not only is it musically appealing,but in most cases its very well recorded.Any comparisons to old jazz(Miles Davis etc.) are ludicrous.Its like comparing apples and oranges.Can anyone shed some light on this?Any contemporary(smooth)Jazz out there?I would love to hear from you. Thanks John
krelldog

Showing 2 responses by drubin

drubin
3,285 posts
 
I dislike most of the smooth jazz I have heard because it has zero emotional content. Great chops, perhaps, but no feeling. Thus, in my mind, it is indeed elevator music. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
drubin
3,285 posts
 
Thinking about this over the past couple of days, I believe one of the problems I have with the general SJ genre is the electric bass. I love electric bass in many contexts, but it's a distraction for me in SJ, particularly that slap-and-tickle style of playing that is so popular. Add to that the cheesy keyboard and synth sounds and, well, include me out.

That said, there are exceptions. Just can't think of any at the moment.
More to discover