I'm almost afraid to ask why.Originally Posted by Reach
I'm almost afraid to ask why.
Was just listening to Special EFX heavily yesterday!
I think the biggest example I've heard of jazz encroaching on progressive rock recently was David Sancious, "Just as I Thought" from 1979. Yeah, it's an older album, but I'd only recently (January) heard it. Produced by Sancious and Eddie Offord. Great stuff.
If you want a real progressive smooth jazz I would recommend Jan Garbarek (check this clip...stunning!!!)
Lol-- Your music is little like this! (I was just waiting for the jazz cats/aficionados to chime in).I'm almost afraid to ask why.
Lee Ritenour has always done it for me.
Check out Lee's first four: 1st Course, Captain fingers, The Captains Journey & Feel The Night. All fantastic.
There was actually a crap-ton of interesting light fusion-y stuff happening in the mid 80s to mid 90s, before Clear Channel came along and neutered anything that was even slightly left-field via their stranglehold on the radio market. ECM was still cranking out releases, then there was the early Windham Hill stuff, the Narada label, plus there was that Cinema label from the 80s.
I remember hearing some stuff on the radio back in the early 90s off a project album called Gaia that was a collaboration between Icelandic pop star Valgeir Gudjonsson and jazz keyboardist Eythor Gunnarsson. It's an album I have listened to more than probably some of my Genesis records, but I always enjoy it. It was a one off that is hard to find these days, but is an example of just how much stuff was out there back then.
Thanks gents for this informative thread so far. A few artists new to me, and it's sounding good...
Say it isn't so! Well, I'll admit, The Yellowjackets were an influence. Maybe not as much as Bruford or Tribal Tech or even Genesis, but it's there and some people have noticed it.
I'm not a big fan of his guitar playing, but I do like his writing a lot. I used to have "First Course" and wore the grooves off of it; funky album! And I do like his acoustic guitar playing a lot, just didn't like his string bending and finger vibrato on electric. Don't mind me, I'm a guitar player myself and (obviously) a fussy, opinionated one.
Sorry if I wasn't clear, E. I don't think your music is much like smooth jazz. That said, I'm surprised at the amount of cool stuff people are pulling up...
Catalyst raminds me a little bit of a slightly harder core and straight ahead "Crusaders" with maybe a little bit of Brecker Brothers thrown in. I like it, but I don't think I would label it as smooth jazz.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A gentleman is defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't.
No problem, Reach; I'm not the least bit offended. I know my stuff has a bit of that "happy" vibe; moreso than I really wanted it to, but heck, I just wrote what my muse was dictating to me.
Not only that, but the 1/3rd of the music that I didn't write was written by keyboardist Rick Snyder, who hadn't listened to much prog or fusion before I brought him on board; he was more into the kind of music we're discussing here. His tune "Romance" is definitely smooth jazz for the first couple of minutes, before it goes somewhere else.
Last edited by No Pride; 10-24-2013 at 04:34 PM.
I agree.I did wonder if I was making an error putting this in this thread, but decided..what the hell.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
But listen to Steve Gadd play his arse off on Journey and Night. Sooo good!
Please note: The bassist is Francisco Centeno, NOT Ron Carter!
I think this fits nicely into the thread title....Steve Khan "TightRope" with a lineup that includes: Steve Gadd, Will Lee, Brecker bros, Bob James, David Spinozza, David Sanborn Just a great sounding record!
Lee Ritenour for sure. Also, early Spyro Gyra. Maybe Steve Khan. Not all smooth jazz was crap. I think the crappy stuff was mostly Kenny G's fault. A lot of the stuff in the seventies and eighties was actually pretty good. Has anyone mentioned Steely Dan yet?I think the Aja album is a good example of this.
I'd guess it was more likely due to the soprano sax that McCandless often uses (though he's primarily an oboe player).
One of my favorite bands. If only they'd reissue Violin.
Steely Dan- The Royal Scam, was magnificent.Lee Ritenour for sure. Also, early Spyro Gyra. Maybe Steve Khan. Not all smooth jazz was crap. I think the crappy stuff was mostly Kenny G's fault. A lot of the stuff in the seventies and eighties was actually pretty good. Has anyone mentioned Steely Dan yet?
Also
Tom Scott & the LA Express-Tomcat
George Benson-Breezin'
Narada Michael Walden-Garden of Love Light
Listened to a lot of the groups listed like the Rippintons, special exf, Yellowjackets, David Gruisin and especially Spyro Gyra. I haven't given any of them aspin except for SG in a long time. I am going to have to check some of them out and see if I still enjoy them.
Yea, the Yellowjackets are in there, their first s/t titled especially, when Robben Ford was still a fusion player, the second followed with some equally good material, after Samurai Samba, they seemed to become much more of a Sax forward band with Marc Russo joining them.
Here is another artist, not so well known, but pretty darn good guitarist/bandleader, smooth with prog, his name is Anthony Papamichael:
Last edited by MJBrady; 10-24-2013 at 10:25 PM.
Fourplay with Ritenour and East...
Harvey Mason & the aforementioned Mr. James were no slouches either.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Anyone heard of the band Hiroshima? My dad used to listen to them as well as the Yellow Jackets, Dave Grusin, Larry Carlton, Spyro Gyra, Crusaders and others.
I always dug Larry Carlton's first solo album Room 335.
It has a very dated sound ( think Barney Miller), but Larry plays very agressively , especially on the track Point It Up.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
His follow up was also great "Strikes Twice".
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks