“In that era, you became a fan the same way you do today. There were no singles. You had a friend, were in somebody's room, you heard something and became intoxicated. The whole business was predicated on this fandom. This rabidity. It's this rabidity which is returning. As people reject the major label paradigm. Glossy evanescent hits that slide right off of you. People want more. They want their souls touched, they want meaning.”
Bob Lefsetz, The Lefsetz Letter   www.rhino.com/www.lefsetz.com

“Ain’t there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?”
David Bowie “Young Americans”

Bob Lefsetz is my new favorite music writer. He reminds me of the writers I grew up with, people like Lester Bangs and the original “Creem” magazine staff who were not afraid to put emotion on the page, rattle gilded cages, and prod sacred cows. These days you shout when you are parroting the status quo and whisper when passion, originality, and independent thinking leave you in danger of stepping on important toes. He does just the opposite, single-handedly delivering a wake up call to the musically complacent. If you care, then act like you care. If you used to care and no longer think there’s anything to care about, look past the repetitive and overly familiar radio playlists, dig in and find the songs that will take you there. And when you find them, be a fan and flaunt the emotional, irrational baggage that comes with that gig. This talk about lagging sales, lack of ways to get the music heard, and label closures and purges comes down as much to a lack of emotional resonance as a lack of exposure. The emotional connection motivates people to listen, buy, share, and create a buzz.

Over the past decade the imaging strategy the smooth jazz industry has chosen has built barriers that are going to be hard to overcome. The segment of this music that is based on the glossy evanescent surface mentioned above now defines the genre. It has completely obscured the elements of the music that grab ears and touch souls, the live performances and deeper CD tracks that don’t get airplay.  “Sophisticated,” our predominant buzzword carries with it a sense of blasé detachment. “Smooth,” the name we are stuck with whether we like it or not, carries these implications too. In the dictionary context it means calm, tranquil, bland, and ingratiatingly polite. But even that script can be flipped to the “Smooth” of the Sade and Santana songs - sly, tricky, confident, and charismatic.

So how do we counter this lack of interest? By abandoning detachment and sophistication and becoming rabid fans; by finding the songs and artists that light you up and not being afraid to shout about them and spread the word; and, by being enthusiastic at concerts even when everyone else seems to be afraid to do more than sip wine and clap politely. This is not safe territory. “Go public” as a smooth jazz fan and you take hits from all sides. To one camp there is no hipness factor, to another it isn’t cerebral enough. If it becomes obvious that you have a few favorite artists when you rave about their music, some will try to invalidate what you say by questioning whether it is based on fandom rather than the quality of the music. But what made you a fan in the first place? The quality of the music and the fact that it touched you!  

Word of mouth buzz is becoming the most important way to get music heard. Nobody trusts advertising and marketing. They want to hear it for themselves or hear about it from people who aren’t getting paid to say it.  That’s why they go to websites, blogs, internet forums, and sites where they can listen to the music. A few years ago an unknown pianist named Yanni was on Oprah on Thanksgiving Day playing some songs that sounded like nothing most viewers had ever heard. By the end of the big shopping weekend that followed almost every music retailer was sold out of all his CDs. Eva Cassidy, a singer whose clear voice, heartfelt interpretations and simple instrumental settings were as far from the industry criteria of a “hit” as you can get, sold hundreds of thousands of CDs without airplay or national distribution. Someone heard the music, it touched them, and they passed it on. Even Chris Botti’s recent mass appeal ascent has been based more on word-of-mouth generated by TV appearances than traditional marketing. People heard him do that romantic set on Oprah, it touched them, and they shared it. That’s the way it works, and there have never been as many ways to get the word out as there are now. Lefsetz summed it up in another piece he wrote:  “A guy can dream. But until his dreams come true, he'll get through the night by listening, and so will you. So I suggest you keep your ears way open and grab every thrilling new sound that comes your way. The corporate watchdogs haven't taken your bell away from you yet. So for Christ's sake let it ring.” 

A girl can dream too. And so can you. The fact that you have come to a website like this means you care. So when you hear the music that lights you up don’t let anyone tell you that nobody else will like it or it will never make the charts. We are one year deeper into the 21st century and the rules have changed. So grab that bell and ring it loud!

- Shannon West