When you are a garden geek spring is always the time to trim back. You have to pull out the weeds, cut back the dead wood, and in cases where a plant will only bloom on new growth, you have to cut back branches that are mangled, gnarled and worn even though there is nothing technically wrong with them. Crepe Myrtles are lovely trees. They catch the eye with big clusters of flowers during Florida summers when everything else that flowers has wilted in the heat, then give us a taste of fall color as they go red to gold, then drop their leaves and leave branches with ugly seed pods at the end. It feels extreme to pull out the pruners and whack them back to a trunk with a few stronger branches cut to the nub but they only bloom on new growth. If you don't cut them back in early spring there are less flowers and more moss and sticks with each turning year.

The reason for the horticulture lesson is that we in the smooth jazz universe have just undergone a major pruning. A lot of old branches that were gnarled, mossy and starting to rot were whacked at the trunk. It wasn't by choice and it hasn't been pretty but it is time - there has been no new growth for years and the flowers have all fallen to the ground and taken to the wind. The way things were done in 1987 when the WAVE went on the air no longer worked. Neither did the narrowing of focus that started when Broadcast Architecture took  control of all the influential stations and replaced original instrumental music with a narrowing selection of crossover pop vocals, oldies, and cover songs. It was obvious from the sidelines that people were losing interest and new fans were not coming. But since ratings were done by having people write down what they listen to, a person could write down the call letters out of loyalty even though they were listening less and less. Then came the People Meter - a device that actually picks up the signal of the radio station you are listening to and relays the information to the ratings service. You could no longer say you were listening when you were not and it was revealed that a lot of people were not listening. Why not? Because they had stopped at that place on the dial to hear contemporary instrumental music that was out of the ordinary. They were hearing less of that and more and more of the same songs that "Lite FM" and "Cool FM" played so they moved on.

The probable end of this road came on March 29th when Broadcast Architecture, the company that had defined and controlled the radio format for the last 15 years, launched an alternative to their smooth jazz programming service called "Chillout Radio."  "Chillout Radio" is basically the vocal pop songs that have been taking over the smooth jazz playlists without the instrumentals in between them. Stations like The Wave and WSJT in Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL that have not officially flipped their formats have been moving in this direction already.

There were a lot of rules within the Smooth Jazz format. Songs had to be under four minutes long, they had to have an R&B flavor, they had to work as background music and not become a distraction to the passive listener. They couldn't be too fast or have any instruments played powerfully or loudly. Electric guitar solos were a no-no as were horn sections and the kind of powerful sax solos that Richard Elliot and David Sanborn put all over their CD's up until the mid 90's when the genre mantras became "smoooooooth and relaxing" and "relax and unwind." Musicians who didn't color inside those lines found themselves without airplay which meant drops in sales, no gigs or tour support, and a pink slip from the record company. Now there are only a few corporate stations left and they are just playing a little bit of Koz or Kenny between Celine, Phil, and Mariah and even the most technology resistant boomers are getting comfortable with streaming music on the internet.

A fan now has a bounty of choices whether they like it smooth or contemporary, relaxing or upbeat, or all of the above. Jazz Brunch shows are popping up in markets where the full time station flips formats. Noncommercial stations all over the country are playing the music and streaming their signals. There is so much excellent programming on internet radio and in the podcast realm that you could listen 24/7 and still just be skimming the surface. Industry traditionalists are screaming that the sky is falling because 20th century blinders are restricting their vision. What is actually happening is that, as Jeff Golub said in our February interview, the handcuffs are off. Musicians can be themselves again. For years they watched crowds respond to a side of their performances that they could not risk showing in the studio because to be deemed "too exciting" was the kiss of death when it came to airplay. Now they have this smorgasbord of media outlets that are more than willing to play exciting music. They can record it again! It may take gun shy consumers a while to pick up on the fact that there are CD's out there that have not been pruned into a watered down version of who the artist really is but when they do they will open their ears and their wallets. This is how the revitalization begins. If you were around during the late 80s and early 90s it will be familiar territory because there was a lot of excitement about contemporary instrumental music in the pre-smooth era. It was getting exposed by innovative radio stations, rabid fans, and word of mouth. That buzz launched the first groups of full time stations but consolidation caused those stations to take a direction that would eventually lead to their demise. That is something we can learn from this time around. There were people who saw it coming from the beginning. They were labeled naysayers and branded as unprofessional. What would have happened if these voices had not been suppressed?

Pruning down to the trunk and branches is tough love in action. When the landscape is bare it is hard to visualize the green sprouts and blooms that will fill in those spaces but it's part of the natural cycle and we have learned well that stagnation begins when that cycle is stopped or pushed backward. Shaking off handcuffs that have been on for so long is going to be uncomfortable for our artists and radio programmers will second guess their best inclinations as the old rules come back to haunt them but staying in the comfort zone is an act of self destruction. There are musicians out there who are already moving into that space where they play from their heart and for their listener instead of for a format and the result is some of the most exciting music to come along in years. Coming into bloom is going to be challenging but it's time to shake off the fear because this music has the potential to be more exciting and gratifying than we can imagine as we stand on the brink of a new beginning.