The demise of this music we call "smooth jazz" is not nearly as close as the harbingers of gloom and doom would have you believe.  The radio format as we've known it for the last 15 years is fading fast and the moniker "smooth" may be following close behind, but the music is very much alive.  If you've been to a concert lately or checked out this marvelous glut of new CDs that are being released it's pretty obvious that the music itself is strong and getting stronger.  The erosion of the corporate radio format and its shift to vocal-oldies heavy "Smooth A/C" is really a blessing in disguise.  Instrumentalists are starting to look out at those crowds of fans at concerts and think "why not play for them instead of for a radio format that isn't going to play my music anyway" They are freeing themselves from the cookie cutter and starting to get more creative with their music.  That's a very healthy move and a trend that could take us through these growing pains and right up out of the ashes into a new configuration that does the music justice instead of watering it down.

We have had a run of outdoor concerts in very accessible places here.  The Jacksonville Jazz festival moved from a closed amphitheater to the streets of downtown and the buzz about the free beachside concerts has gotten so strong that there are wall-to-wall lawn chairs and blankets long before the opening act takes the stage.  People will check something out if it is accessible and, well, free.  That's happening a lot here and they are loving what they are seeing.  I've spent more time over the last few months taking pictures of people in the crowd than the musicians onstage because it has been so much fun to watch people discover this music on their own terms.  They come in all ages, but as this is a younger market, they skew much younger than the radio format's profile.  A lot of twenty and thirtysomethings, often with kids.  A good smattering of students, surfers, and beach bums as well as the boomers who mostly grew up in a thriving progressive rock market.  A lot of them are newbies.  They hear the music in the distance, walk up to check it out, and are so captivated by the sounds, charisma, and energy they see coming from the stage that they want to get closer.  I saw a really young group crowded in front of the stage just mesmerized by Hiromi, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White.  People backed up several blocks in all directions for Braun, Elliot, and Butler's Jazz Attack.  You should have seen the crowd that ran up to the stage and started dancing when Paul Taylor walked on to deliver the first notes of "Ladies Choice."  Jam Band aficionados leaning against the wall at FreeBird Live, our prog-alt music venue here, were seriously blown away by Ken Navarro and his band.  They line danced to Four80East and went nuts when Eric Darius went all out.  A packed crowd that looked like they were there for a Skynyrd revival went frenetic when Golub played blues-rock and Euge Groove went over the top during an outdoor Guitars and Saxes show.

So here is  the big disconnect. After an experience like that, a person who is new to the music gets in their car and seeks out the radio station that had banners flying at the event. They hear a slow,  string synth-laden  instrumental version of a song that is older than they are. What a buzz kill! Or they stick around and hear five or six easy listening songs that their parents are even tired of. They are gone and not coming back! Everything that fires up a future fan has become verboten in the radio world and that is the world that has defined us. People love wailing saxes, powerful horn sections, rock guitar solos, funky jams, heavy percussion, and songs that have a strong melody. When the smooth aesthetic took over in the mid 90s "too exciting" became the kiss of death as far as getting airplay. In the long run, that lack of excitement became the kiss of death as far as building and holding an audience. You don't want every song to be a blast in the face but a constant diet of sound-alike moodscapes, slow grooves and oldies can get real tired real fast. That's when the audience erosion and image problems began. Thing is, that's only the face of the genre - the image projected by the “singles” that have to be tailored to fit an easy listening radio format. Dig deeper into the albums, check out a live show, or find a strong Internet radio station and you'll see that this is far from all there is to this music. We need to melt down the tip of the iceberg so the undersea part can come to the surface because our future is definitely in the undercurrents.

It's time to shake off the past and reevaluated outdated rules and concepts. If it's boring, the boomers and scaring off the newbies it might be time to shift the focus to representing the music as it really is and recultivating all the elements that got smoothed out to flatline over the last decade. There is a place for "Breezin'" and "Feels So Good" but a person who is in their late 30s wasn't even in kindergarten when these songs came out. My cousin was born the year after the format staple "100 Ways" charted, and he has an MBA, a job, a house, and is starting a family. Some influences from the past will always be relevant but it's not what you want to anchor your identity on. Eric Darius, whose live shows define the face of our future, asked his Facebook friends what they would like to hear from him on his next album. People started evoking history, asking for tributes to artists who peaked in the mid-20th century. My shoutout was only affirmed by one person - you are the future, you've been blessed with the vision to feel it and play it so follow it and others will follow you.  Don't follow others down a backward path! It's not about creating a youth movement at all, though. Jeff Golub and Ken Navarro, both in their 50s, are breaking through and breaking boundaries just as much as the twentysomethings. Maybe even more because their experience and credibility make it easier for them to stand up for what they believe and start to sound like who they are.

There are a lot of people who became integral players in the radio format who have taken that same paradigm into their new media adventures. Sometimes it's hard to shake off a learned behavior, shift perception, or realize that your traditional role models are traveling an outdated path. I hear Internet radio stations still chained to imitating KKSF and WNUA. Why? If your hands are not tied by someone else, why tie them up yourself. Go to a live performance. Watch the audience. Look at their faces. Watch what moves them and what makes them clap and yell for more. That's the sound we need to nurture, cultivate and bring into the foreground. Bring back the sound that was creating so much excitement before the music got sidetracked on the easy listening path. Those of us who got into it before the "great smoothing out"  felt the loss more with each passing year. A lot of us still remember that spirit, and new generations have entered adulthood and seek the same thing. It's time to recall it and rekindle the flame. This can be the new adult alternative music. After all, even the boomers who are approaching their 60s don't want to turn into their parents who greyed-out listening to the Living (?) Strings. They grew up with “progressive” and still want that feeling.   We've just got to shake off the cobwebs of "smooth and relaxing" and let the real essence of this music shine through. Do that and it old and new fans will find irresistible.