I'm one of the lucky ones. I was around to experience this music when it first surfaced as a legitimate and exciting genre. This was back in the late 80s and early 90s when GRP was in its heyday and Warner Brothers has a roster of adventurous vocalists and instrumentalists who were making fresh music for grownups. When stations like The Wave and WNUA became successful playing instrumental music other stations began to take note and either add specialty shows or flip to a full time format. They played Spyro Gyra, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, The Rippingtons, Acoustic Alchemy, David Sanborn, Larry Carlton, and, yes, Kenny G, who had not watered down his music at the time.  Fans who were moving into adulthood but did not want to get stuck  listening to the “songs they grew up with” for the rest of their lives were thrilled to have music they could call their own. Some called it Contemporary Jazz, others called it Adult Alternative – whatever it was called we felt like we were on the brink of something big, that this music would become more popular and more exciting as time moved forward.

Here is what we have now: The Wave plays 20 year old songs from Sade, Anita and Luther, 30 year old songs from, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder, 40 year old songs from Dobie Gray and Al Green and an occasional blast from1990 and beyond by Vanessa Williams, Seal, or (!) Timbaland with one or two instrumentals an hour that are mostly covers of older songs. The other stations that have hung onto the word “smooth” have followed suit and prefer to call their format Smooth A/C (adult contemporary). A few survivors remain, most notably WLOQ (Orlando) and KIFM (San Diego) but they dilute their music mix with a serious amount of the above mentioned oldies and covers too, What is scary is that the listeners don't seem to mind. If they do they are not speaking up.  That is the issue we have to do something about!

What happened?

Basically one company created a version of the format that had a degree of success in some large markets so everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Those who didn't play follow the leader were accused of being negative, being naysayers, and actually blocking the success that was  going to come to “smooth jazz” and the people who played it.  Get with the program or get out of the way, we were told. The first thing that happened was the music dramatically softened up. “Wailing saxes,” “thumping bass” and “harsh guitar solos” were forbidden. The stations created an identity around the word “relaxing” so up-tempo music and anything too “foreground” or “exciting” had to be eliminated. It was decided that the only way to bring in listeners was to play vocal songs they had heard repeatedly on other stations so the interesting vocals were replaced with Lite favorites from Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and other Adult Contemporary “hit makers.”

A few people questioned this evolution, especially the effect it would have over the long haul. As early as a year into this reinvention of the format some key programmers were voicing concern that if it kept getting deeper into background music and covers it would turn into “old peoples music” and follow the Beautiful Music format (aka Elevator music) into oblivion. I was one of those people and we were told that we were being negative, did not know what we were talking about, and were putting down a format that was best thing that had happened to this music.

We were right, though, and it doesn't feel that good to be right.

Listeners didn't notice it as rapidly as exiled broadcasters did, but by the turn of the century they were wondering where all the good instrumentals were and why everything was starting to sound just alike. They were also wondering why they had to sit through so many old pop songs to get to a Boney, Koz, or Peter White song. We love authority figures though, and we are all too willing to give in to their idea of what is good for us. “They” said that their research showed that this is what the audience wanted so listeners took it to heart and settled for “better than nothing” even as it became more nothing and less better.
The “smooth and relaxing” version of the format surfaced in 1995. That means that younger musicians didn't hear what it was like before then since they were barely in their teens when it changed. Same with younger listeners but what happened there is they just tuned out and labeled it “old peoples music” unless they stumbled across it at a concert. Then they couldn't find that sound on any of the recorded music so they lost interest again. How do we encourage the musicians to fire it up and make it exciting when they have had “smooth and relaxing” drilled into their heads during their formative years? How do we convince new generations that this is not just background music for an AARP sponsored wine tasting?

In the process of the current reinvention we have to question everything even when  it may mean being a lone voice in the wilderness. Why can we not have guitar solos, blaring horn sections,, powerful sax and funky in-your-face bass? Why does everything sound the same? Why so many imitators? Why can't we get the same energy, excitement, and vibe on CD's that we do at concerts. Why so many CD's where every song sounds just alike? Why does the “single' still have to be the slowest song on the CD or a cover song? Why can't we hear some new vocals that are written and performed by people who are over 30? Why do keyboardists have to play one note, no chords, and do it with such a light touch? Why should we have to sit through old, tired songs to hear one or two instrumentals and why don't we hear more of our favorite artists? Why don't we hear more new artists? Why do the new artists still seem to be following an outdated formula?

Those are just some of my questions and I'm asking them. If you are a fan I'm sure you have asked some questions too, but you may have given up just because some so-called authority figure made you feel like you were wrong or in a very small minority. What if you are not? What if others have the same questions and think they are also the only one? If you are a media person why are you keeping your mouth shut? Are you approval seeking? Afraid of not being “liked?” (Oprah calls that “the disease to please.”)  There is some wonderful music waiting in the wings. Some of it has been recorded and is not getting the exposure it should, some of it is still in the creation process in some musician's head. The way to get it out there is to support what you love and ask the questions they need to be asked. We barely survived the result of silence and blind following. Let's not allow that to happen again. Ask the questions!