What Was Smooth Jazz, Anyway?
Getting into a definitional discussion about jazz is always a tricky matter. But to mourn the “smooth” variety, we have to ask—what the heck is Smooth Jazz? And, then, what made Smooth Jazz not really jazz at all? Goodness, it contained saxophones, right? Smooth Jazz is probably best understood as a kind of easy-listening contemporary R&B without vocals. Technically, you can say this: it rarely used swing rhythms, instead favoring a lite funk groove; the music was usually made by electric instruments or even sequenced synths in the rhythm section, while the leader (usually sax players or guitarists) played basic pentatonic melodies and improvised solos somewhat in the manner of jazz musicians, but highly conventional—using blues elements in the most basic way; and there would often be background vocals—as if the Raylettes made a gig without Brother Ray. But aside from these semi-musicological guidelines, there was an overriding aesthetic of cheesiness that even the most soulful Smooth
