This piece has a soundtrack of music that is going to spoil you! Kat Sarracco and the staff at MyRealMusic.com have let us take over the playlist for one of their feature shows this month so you can hear the music I'm talkin' about. The pre-smooth playlist that is going to run from 1-2pm and 11-midnight on their Heritage Contemporary Jazz Masters show will spoil you. So will the rest of their music programming which includes jazz of all types, old school, funk, and more. Listen live, listen free at www.myrealmusic.com!

In the early 90's I was the Music Director at a radio station that had a late night contemporary jazz show. I perfectly remember sitting in my office one night while the show was playing in the studio and listening with amazement to the incredible music coming out of the speakers.  We were riding high. Have you ever have one of those perfect moments when a nagging little voice sneaks in the back of your mind and whispers “this is not going to last?” It broke my little reverie that night and within a year it started to break down the music and put the people who played it on the radio in the unemployment line. The smooth movement took over so rapidly it left our heads spinning and in a very short time every element that made the music so compelling had been stripped away by the relaxation police. Electric guitar solos were forbidden, as were “blaring horn sections,” “screaming sax,” driving percussion, thumping funky bass lines, soloing that lasted over 30 seconds, songs that lasted over four minutes (later reduced to 3 ½ minutes), world or “new age” influences, anything deemed “too exciting” to pass for background music. Even certain instruments were verboten – goodbye harp and flute, you do not “test well.” Whew! I'm surprised musicians could come up with anything when they faced this list of do not's! Many of them did, and they got played on the radio although genre sales had declined conspicuously by 1998 – the third year of smooth as we now know it.  

Fast forward to now. I am programming the music for a brunch show. I feel obligated to play new music and showcase new artists but I find myself wading through piles of generic formula music and drawn to the stuff that came out when GRP and Warner's were riding high, Dulfer and Koz were crossing over, and a generation of fans were discovering a fresh new type of music that was created by and for grownups but was not nostalgia driven. A few weeks ago a friend posted a note on a message board that he had just listened to Boney's debut, Trust, and it not only still sounded amazing, it also made his recent work sound really watered down. I dug up my copy, listened all the way through and was stunned at how beautiful it was. Then I dug up T-Square's Megalith because it was my turn to write our Retrospectives review and wondered why there was not more of this.

One of the best ways to start the rebuilding process is to revisit the music as it sounded before its' spirit was crushed. This is what we had, what some of our more gutsy artists are bringing back, and it is the foundation for our future. Listen to the radio show, buy some of these CD’s. Some are out of print or on now defunct labels so you may have to do some digging but it will be worth it. After you hear the real thing you won't be as willing to settle for stuff that's so smooooooothed out that it has flatlined.

Boney James – Trust: Originally released on an indie label and produced by Paul Brown before   either of them became famous, this album went #1 because everyone who heard it fell inlove with it.

T-Square – Megalith: See this month's Retrospectives feature. Acoustic Alchemy – Against The Grain: It's hard to pick one AA album but this was a showcase that pulled elements from jazz, folk rock, electronica, flamenco, everything!

Dave Koz – Lucky Man: This one produced the crossover hit “You Make Me Smile.” The opener, “Shakin' the Shack,” featured some blues-rock licks from guitar hero Robben Ford. Ballads, blues, pop, rock, jazz, it's all inside this strong set of songs.

Special EFX – Play: World fusion at its best. Joyous, eclectic, and perfect summer listening. Founder Chieli Minucci's solo debut Jewels is another must-have.

Mark Johnson – Mark Johnson: One of my all time favorite sax albums. This one's got swagger! Lots of alto and tenor sax, lots of percussion from the late George Jinda. Most of the contributing musicians were members of Special EFX and Johnson would join the band briefly for the CatWalk album.

Mark Sloniker – Do What You Love: At some point anything that did not have R&B underpinnings was labeled “New Age” and zapped off radio playlists.  What a loss! This Denver-based pianist delivers beauty and complexity in a package that includes a tribute to Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.

Joe Sample – Ashes To Ashes: Now this is what a contemporary jazz keyboard album should sound like. No noodling or lite-sy flourishes, just masterful musicianship from a heritage artist.

Rippingtons – Moonlighting, Kilimanjaro, Welcome To The St. James Club, Curves Ahead,     Weekend in Monaco. These guys defined the rock based side of the genre. No way I could pick one album. Sample them all and grab your favorites.

Steve Reid's Bamboo Forest – Mysteries:  This was Steve Oliver's songwriting debut that featured Rippingtons percussionist Reid and other band members Dave Kochanski, Kim Stone, and Jeff Kashiwa as well as Oliver, the Earth Wind and Fire horn section, Marc Antoine, and Kashiwa sideman/session musician Allen Hinds. The Rippingtons did add a more urban/mellow flavor for a while and this album sounded like a continuation of that   band's original sound.

Spyro Gyra – another “anything by” group. Their flirtation with smooth was very brief, only the Got the Magic album had touches of the formula. Their early stuff is classic, their later stuff is major. Start anywhere. I like In Modern Times, Original Cinema, The Deep End, well, all of them.

Pat Metheny Group – Still Life(Talking) and Letters From Home. The hit “Last Train Home” that became recognizable thanks to a Publix commercial is on Still Life. Then get the cinematic Secret Story or groundbreaking The Way Up. He covers a lot of turf, sample and pick what you love.

Brian Hughes – Between Dusk and Dreaming. Although he sounds similar to Metheny at times his is purely original and transcendent. The CD that kept me sane in the weeks after 9/11.  
  
Rick Braun – Beat Street: Before he got reined in by radio oriented producer Paul Brown, Braun put out one of the most diverse and exciting albums ever. Deeply funky on “Cadillac Slim,” pure elegance on “Natalie,” jazzed up on “Papa Dee,” and smooth in a good way on “Groovis” and “Club Harlem” (two radio hits that were later dropped from the format when vocals and covers became the norm.

Nelson Rangell – Truest Heart:  A sax showcase with some flute on the side. Funk, jazz, ballads, this guy plays from the heart. One cover breaks the spell but 10 other songs that more than make up for it.

There are more. So many more. But this is a good sampling to get you started. After your ears are spoiled dig into some of the newer releases that are carrying the torch into the post-smooth era with links to our reviews:

Ken Navarro: Dreaming of Trains and The Grace of Summer Light
Chieli Minucci: Without You
Chris Standring: Blue Bolero
Patrick Bradley: Under The Sun
Lao Tizer – Tizer Live

Chris Geith – Island of A Thousand Dreams
The Rippingtons – Cote D'Azur