A few weeks ago while I was trolling around the internet putting off doing the things I really needed to do like yard work, I stumbled across a link to a video on Al Jarreau's website. It was a preview of a song he had done with Deodato for Deodato's forthcoming release. These days I have taken a tentative approach to clicking "play." It comes from 15 years of hearing artists I love get away from sounding like themselves and trying to fit their artistry into a radio format or fast passing trend-wagon. So my mouse crawls toward that sideways triangle and straight into the zone of wow. It sounded like Eumir Deodato and Al Jarreau! Not Deodato and Jarreau trying to get airplay, not Deodato and Jarreau trying to find some back door that will sneak them into youth culture. This was two extremely individualistic artists doing what they do best - being themselves and having a grand time doing it. It doesn't sound like the 70's in a retro sense but it does have the spirit that those first breakthrough contemporary jazz songs had. It's pure originality and individuality - the kind that happens a lot at the beginning before the gatekeepers and researchers step in with their lists of specifications and the musicians start second guessing themselves.

A few days later the new Dave Koz CD arrives. I've been of two minds about Koz in recent years. He does a slammin' show and is one of the best songwriters in contemporary instrumental music. His second CD, Lucky Man, is still one of my all time favorites and was a defining moment for the genre, delivering a big crossover hit and a complete package that went from blues to rock to funk to ballad. But even when he was treading Off The Beaten Path he was a very polished L.A. insider and headed toward being a part of the inner circle that eventually sterilized this music right off the radio. So here comes Hello Tomorrow, kicking the door open with two of the very things the format forbids - a big fat horn section and an electric guitar solo - and continuing with a collection of songs that have just about every element the format architects filtered out. There's some "new agey" sounding piano (basically that just means it sounds pretty), acoustic guitar strumming, blues licks, "happy jazz" (a catchall term for songs that are not dark and moody or R&B oriented), a cover chosen out of love for the song rather than familiarity, and an inspiring power ballad by a fabulous woman with a big gritty voice. It's a welcome return to lots of the stuff that set him apart and grabbed everyone's attention when he was starting out as a solo artist.

I'm hoping this opens the floodgates. It's like reliving the discovery goosebumps so many artists gave me when contemporary jazz was beginning to spin into its own axis in the mid 70s. That was the sound and the spirit that turned so many of us into fans, and that is the spirit that got crushed during the last decade. I can't imagine the Koz CD not being tremendously successful and the Deodato/Jarreau track is going viral in the music biz corners of the social networking scene. That will trigger the exposure that sets off the buzz in the fan base. I'm hoping for a grassroots-up hit. Other artists have been stepping out of the boundaries and back into themselves, especially within the last year or so. Ken Navarro stuck his toes in the water on The Meeting Place, then jumped into the welcoming ears of music starved fans with The Grace of Summer Light and Dreaming of Trains. He also found new ways to get the music heard and these albums have been very successful. Steve Oliver has been in the top 10 for months with his rules-breaking Global Kiss, his sometimes partner-in-crime Will Donato's Funkability  took the previously forbidden "screaming sax" all the way to the top of the charts and Chris Standring's groundbreaking Blue Bolero has been in the top 10 since it was released. These are just a few of the new and not so new pioneers who are shaking off the cobwebs and bringing excitement and inventiveness back into the music. They are doing it by sounding like themselves instead of trying to replicate the formula that guaranteed a ride up the charts in a previous era.

When I started digging for more information on the Deodato-Jarreau track I found the producers' website and FaceBook Page. Nicolosi Productions is based in Italy, founded by members of the band Novecento which was labeled a smooth jazz band in the states but is really a contemporary jazz band with fusion inclinations. Very little of what they do would get on the air here because they don't engage in fear of music. It seems that a lot of American musicians have found creative refuge under their wings. They did a project with drummer Billy Cobham that features the strongest vocal Chaka Kahn has recorded in years (do you see a pattern here?), the new Deodato album is theirs, they work with Stanley Jordan, Frank Gambale, Mike Stern and a list of others who were not willing to take the "smooth and relaxing" route required by the industry here. The music clips on their website are like a quick faith restoration fix - here is contemporary instrumental music that will excite you again. We can hope that since the restrictions have been lifted, they will be able to do this here. On this side of the pond a lot of artists still seem unwilling to color outside the lines. Some are afraid to. After all these years of having to record to specifications and receiving blatant rejection if they didn't, it takes a big leap of faith to leave that behind. Some came along during the smooth era and don't even know what it feels like to unleash it in the studio and some have become creatures of habit. I talked to one artist whose new release has a series of very safe tracks then buried songs at the end that have the power and excitement of his live show. He was hesitant to put them upfront on the album because radio might reject it. Over the last month I got cover versions of some songs that have been overdone already to say the least - "Sara Smile," "Love TKO," "Just My Imagination," and "Lovely Day." Can a musician complain about people buying songs instead of the whole album when they are putting songs on there that people already own multiple versions of?

How can we encourage our artists to find or re-find their own voices and not be afraid to be as exciting in the studio as they are onstage? Standing ovations are always a good thing, especially since you usually have to buy a ticket to see them. So are comments at the autograph table and messages on the networking sites about how much you enjoy the energy they bring to live performances. For music media it is going to mean not necessarily focusing on the industry-oriented “single” and digging into the CD to find the strongest songs. That takes guts because it is a departure from the way things have always been done but when the audience responds to these tracks it will encourage the artists to deliver more of them. This doesn't mean every artist has to move away from smooth. For some it is the way they genuinely want to play. The idea is to bring back the diversity and excitement this music had before the homogenization began. Those of us who were around before the smoothing out began know that it can be done, and the music was a lot healthier when it was being done. It's not a matter of bringing it back. The musicians all have it in them, It's a matter of creating a support system allows them to attain success by being who they are and playing for you, the audience. After all, that's what it comes down to. Their artistry is a gift to us all and that gift should not be kept under wraps.

Check out the music on Nicolosi Productions' website: www.nicolosiproductions.com
Deodato and Al Jarreau's “Double Face” is available on iTunes

For more about Hello Tomorrow visit the Dave Koz website: www.davekoz.com