I don't know if these are really "smooth" jazz, as they are sax covers, but I remember seeing these in a record store.

...and I just realized that most of these tracks yr putting up probably wouldn't be out of place in a Miami Vice episode. Doh.

I will admit to having a soft spot for the Taxi theme and a lot of George Benson's stuff. Last time I checked, I didn't have any guitar shirts, but they may have been in hiding.

to be honest though, this stuff takes me back

my dad was all about this shit before he morphed into his bebop phase

Me too. Mom normally had WJZZ from Detroit on the dial.

Best thread in ages. Smooth Jazz, not only the progenitor of Chill (in all its variants) but also Slo-Core. Not all Smooth Jazz is the same, of course, Touch literally soothed my savage beast for several months in 1975... living at the beach in Venice, it was good "I can't believe I've been up for three days" soundtrack. Although Klemmer had respected chops, this live video shows how pretty simple the music was. I like his need to "direct" the band in the complicated arrangements... and the porn moutstache. Klemmer, the King of Smooth Jazz:



And there was Smooth Jazz that still holds up - the timbre on Barbieri's sax alone is intense enough to blow all you youngsters back to you Starbucks anyway:



And Smooth Jazz isn't actually the whitest music every (I mean Jesus, Taylor Swift? Supertramp? the possibilities are endless) it actually was at a nexus of "colored music".... Sade bitches:



You mom says hello. Be careful on the drive home next week. Love, dad

europa is totally a tear jerker

i'll give it that

and sade is complete and total liquid sex chocolate...she gets a pass too

Thread rules toots.

I like Sade. And George Benson's Broadway kicks ass. I never went further than that but I remember growing up and one of my brothers listening to Spyra Gyra, Mangione, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Andy Narrell and others. I don't cringe so much on that stuff for nostalgia reasons, but most of it is cringe worthy.

Pretty unbelievable the large crowds that show up in those vids.

Also, the music reminds a lot of the San Fran areas "Fair" Season come spring and summer when each district has an art fair, and Sausalito and Tiburon etc.

I wanted to get in on the fun and post some Spyro Gyra stuff, but nothing I could find was as hilariously bad as the first few things toots posted.

my dad had this cassette tape



it actually grew on me because it had some pretty wicked shredding guitar in some parts

yeah i mean i can keep one of these cds in my car for like a week and it takes me back to the danny devito zeitgest and when macguyver hair was cool

Saving at Mega-Lo-Mart feels so good...

doing a quickie freelance story on a smooth jazz artist (shaddup, I need the scratch) and for my research I'm listening to an interview with him on "Talking Smooth Jazz" show on BlogTalk Radio.

Thus far I've learned of the existence of...



and the Dubai International Smooth Jazz Festival


it's like I bushwhacked my way into a rain forest to discover some terrible netherworld.

HOLY SHIT!



The American Smooth Jazz Awards were in Michigan City, Indiana (Toots' state of residence) less than three weeks prior to his starting this thread.

I don't know what this means. But it means something.

And really, there's no greater commentary on the state or relevance of smooth jazz than the fact that it had its awards ceremony in an off-ramp city on Lake Michigan with a population of 32,000 people.

the smooth jazz awards!

now taking entries for the following categories:

*MOST EMOTIVE SOPRANO SAX SOLO
*BEST COMPRESSED DRUM SOUND
*BEST USE OF ONSTAGE LEATHER SANDAL
*MOST PLEATED PANTS
*BEST BRASS SECTION ORCHESTRATION FOR YAMAHA SYNTHESIZER
*HIGHEST-WORN BASS GUITAR
*LUSHEST, MOST NIGHTBUS USE OF AIRY SYNTH PADS IN A SONG NAMED AFTER A WOMAN
*MOST DIVERSITY CRAMMED INTO SINGLE PROMO PHOTO
*BEST MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT TO A COLD FRONT COMING IN FROM THE NORTHWEST

[quote="toots"]the smooth jazz awards!

*MOST DIVERSITY CRAMMED INTO SINGLE PROMO PHOTO/quote]

the favorite in Vegas...

shit man, high five

After opening this thread, I would feel much better about myself and the world if it had revealed two pages of raw, uncensored, hip-cracking and sticky child pornography.