I'm going to quote myself. That's pretty tacky, but when I was writing the review for the new Jessy J CD a thought crossed my mind: you can push the envelope without shredding it to pieces. That summed up my feelings about a CD that I had approached tentatively because of its smooth credentials but ended up thoroughly enjoying. Whenever a movement becomes as forceful and all pervasive as the smooth jazz movement has been, the backlash is inevitable. I've been on the frontlines of that backlash because I was never too thrilled with the smoothing out of this genre in the first place. Most of us who were into it before the mid 90s feel that way because we heard fresh and exciting morph into “smooooooooth” and relaxing - easy listening instrumental oldies - and artists had to change their style to fit in or risk losing airplay. Compare Richard Elliot's pre-smooth On The Town with 1997's Paul Brown production, Jumpin' Off, Peter White's Promenade with Perfect Moment – released in 1998. Special EFX went from the thrillingly eclectic Play to Body Language's relaxation driven soundscape. Even the Rippingtons veered away from their percussion and rock guitar driven signature sound to a mellow, more urban lean on Sahara and Black Diamond.   I could go on. Just go to your favorite music stream and check out some tracks that came out before 1994 then check out the same artist's later work.

If some of us got cranky there was good reason. The rainbow got stripped down to one color and that color was a shade of bluish gray. But, during the transition, there was some pretty good stuff. The focus on melody gave us some catchy, hooky, memorable songs and the purists may kill me for this but if you had a radio show that was targeting real people eight minute songs with a lot of soloing didn't fly as well as a 4½ minute track. It imposed a little bit if discipline and pushed instrumentalists into working their songwriting skills. Obviously, too many limitations came into play after that and the music de-evolved into too many chilled out riffs that sounded like intros with no song attached but there was still Richard Elliot's “Crush,” Peter White's “Caravan of Dreams,” Euge Groove's “Romeo and Juliet” and some other smoothed out but enjoyable fare.

I have a file box of tear sheets from radio trade publications that date from the late 80's to early 2000's. Lots of charts, articles on programming, and playlists. Even before the smooth mandate there was a significant amount of mellow, urban flavored music in the mix. Najee's debut CD was almost as much of a defining moment for the pop leaning side of  the genre as Kenny G's “Songbird.” There were cover songs and a smattering of pop vocals too. The difference was that these were elements of the music mix, not the entire focus. Artists recorded an  urban ballad, cover, or vocal because the loved the song and wanted to interpret it. Not because they were getting pressure from a record company or radio consultant.

Here is the bottom line: is the artist recording it because he or she feels it and loves playing it, or because their arm is being twisted. Euge Groove, Jessy J., and Richard Elliot have albums out that could be niched as “smooth” but they sound fabulous and Dave Koz is such a strong songwriter that he can straddle both sides of the fence and deliver. Check out “Shakin the Shack” from his pre-smooth Lucky Man CD or “Honey Dipped” and “Life In the Fast Lane,” both uptempo radio hits when radio did not play uptempo songs! These artists, and others like them, are reviving the depth, dynamics, and soulful playing that got stripped out when the music was forced in the background. On the other side of the fence Jeff Lorber's February release is going to blow away any fan who wants something that stretches out the way fusion/contemporary bands did ibefore smooth took over. Acoustic Alchemy has done that too. So have Chieli Minucci and Ken Navarro, who was ahead of the curve by almost four years. The difference between then and now is, that at one point, all this music would have received high profile exposure (airplay.) Then someone said “smooth and relaxing” and the diversity disappeared.

The bottom line is that the artist should work without outside pressure to be someone they are not or do something they are not into. If smooth is the sound that Just Feels Right (to riff a Euge Groove title) to the person playing it then that's where they should be. As a listener you can tell the difference between  playing with fire and playing by rote. The new smooth has a lot more depth, power and nuance than radio smooth did and some artists have been doing it on their deeper tracks for years.

Visual artists need light as much as shadows, primaries to supplement the pastels, and acrylics as well as watercolors. For a genre of music to be exciting it needs to have a lot of sonic colors and textures. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, but I still hear a lot of independent and internet radio stations that are afraid to take even a step beyond the sound that dominated the last 15 years. A lot of younger musicians grew up hearing only smooth and aren't quite sure how to step out of that safety zone or fear lack of commercial success if they do. There's no reason to be afraid, there is strong music coming from inside and out of bounds. Listeners aren't afraid, radio restrictions are gone, so why not spice up the soup and put all the flavors back in.