Who do you think was the first smooth jazz artist ?

[Tommy Alvarado]

I'm leaning towrds Grover Washington Jr. I remember listening to cassettes of him in the 70's.

[CHARLES PARKER SPENCER JR]

SINCE JAZZ HAD A BEGINNING,SHOULD WE OR SHOULD,ND WE GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING TO FIND THE FIRST MENTION OF WHAT JAZZ LOVERS CONSIDERED SMOOTH?SINCE MY UNDERSTANDING THAT JAZZ STARTED OUT IN HOUSES OF ILL REPUTE AND MY EXPERIENCES WITH THEM ARE THAT THEY ARE TERRIBLY LAYED BACK LIKE WORKING IN A LOUNGE PLAYING ELEVATOR MUSIC WHILE PEOPLE ARE EATING WHILE THE MANAGER COMES OUT MOTIONING FOR YOU TO LOWER YOUR VOLUME HELP ME OUT WITH THIS ONE BUT I WOULD VOTE FOR NAT COLE

[Dee_M]

Then again, Jazz is an ever evolving entity...you had Ragtime/dixieland, Big Band, BeBop, Frank Sinatra-style(easy Listening), the Jazz-Funk Fusion of the 60's & 70's-to mid 80's( Miles Davis, weather report, Herbie, Dexter Wansel, Crusaders, Spyro-Gyra, Jeff Lorber Fusion)...from 80 on it was George Benson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bob James's Bands/ensembles, Kenny G & John Tesh( Pop Jazz, ughhh!!), madhouse, Jonathon Butler, Najee, Wayman Tisdale on up to Norman Brown, bela Fleck, Yellowjackets, Alex Bugnon, Victor Wooten, & Paul Taylor, etc.....I guess I'm saying all this to say that every Generation seems to have their own interpretation of what Jazz is...Smooth Jazz is a marketing term; to me it's just Jazz!! It ain't what my Mom used to listen to back in her day ( Like Dizzy, Coltrane, Miriam Makeba, Sarah Vaughn, Les mcCann, Amhad Jamal, etc..)...That's how people look at it today.

[Dee_M]

I'd say Michael Franks or Chuck Mangione( Did I Spell that right?) ...Or you could even include the works of Grp records/ Sadao Watanabe & Dave Grusin....Wilbert Longmire could be thrown in there, too....All of these artists had a nice groove back in that day without sounding MUZAK-ish, you know what I'm saying?

[CHARLES PARKER SPENCER JR]

exactlly my point you have to think of what would be the time frame for your answer cause i been playing for over sikty years and a lot of music went by me and ive have a few smooth periods

[Dark Stranger]

I so agree. It seems that after the so call New Age fad fell apart that the industry lacked an original thought so they started covering older songs. The problem with that is that the remakes were rarely any good and came out sounding exactly like a modern version of MUZAK. Muzak was precisely that. Cheap remakes of good songs. That is what we have to watch out for now. I'm not a snob. I just want a good performance.

[2SweetNSaxy]

But jazz goes back so much further than the 70's. I can mention quite a few musicians my father listened to that I grew up on. Take this clip of Duke Ellington for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GohBkHaHap8&feature=related

Since musicians tend to re-do classics, if one of them redid it today and make it a little more current, what category would it fall under?

[Brent Ward]

That may be so, but I think Spyro Gyra really kicked off the genre with Morning Dance.

[Phil Lackey]

Cannonball

[John Hulaton]

I think Bob James was certainly among the first.

[Imani Zubeh]

I must agree with you my brother, its Grover!!

[Julius "Julio" Veal]

Just a little curious input, the term 'Smooth Jazz'; I'd have to agree that it was an intentional marketing term to push product sales and increase radio revenues. The asertion I'm sure is greatly appreciated but insearch of the roots people like the late Al Hurt, Boots Randolph and even Jr Walker and the allstars come to mind. There seems to have been a period in the industry when acceptance of Jazz musicians performing instrumental cover versions of popular songs was an acceptable idea. Could it be that the artists who first began to do this were the earliest pioneers? Just a curious note from history. Smooth jazz began with the advent of elevator music that didn't have orchestrated strings. Jimmy Smith, Ramsey Lewis (wade in the water '64?) Brasil '66 etc.

[Dwight Williamson]

Personally for me it was Jr. Walker and the all stars with "What Does It Take" that hooked me but I would have to say that Booker T. & The MG's were the first I remember.