LJC Community Conversation: Smooth Latin Jazz
LJC Community Conversations are designed to explore major ideas in the Latin Jazz world together as a community and inspire conversation through comments. My main motivator here is my belief that LJC readers hold a great deal of knowledge and passion around Latin Jazz, and I think that we can learn something from everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned Latin Jazz performer or a newcomer to the music, leave a comment and let your voice be heard!
This week’s Community Conversation focuses upon the collision of Smooth Jazz and Latin Jazz . . .
Smooth jazz icon Kenny G garnered considerable financial success from his many commercially appealing albums, but he met extensive resistance from the traditional jazz world. The general public responded enthusiastically to Kenny G’s unthreatening and relaxing instrumental pop music, buying his albums by the millions and attending his concerts in hoards. This generation of listeners, raised on pop and rock, couldn’t tell the difference between traditional jazz and Kenny G; to them he represented the new voice of jazz. Many traditional jazz artists, struggling to survive through an economically dry period in jazz history, took offense at the public’s embrace of Kenny G. A bitter battle ensued, where jazz musicians sought to educate the public about “real” jazz and keep the artistic integrity of their artform. While they made minor headway, Kenny G continued to release extremely successful albums, and built an even larger audience. Regardless of Kenny G’s classification within the music world, he completely reshaped the commercial landscape of instrumental music and changed the jazz world forever.
This creates a variety of aesthetic and artistic issues for the Latin Jazz world that will undoubtedly cause ripples for some time. Kenny G’s emphasis upon smooth commercial product undermines the cutting edge work of contemporary Latin Jazz artists like Marlon Simon or Insight. Young musicians inspired by Latin music may follow Kenny G’s path, seeking financial rewards, instead of challenging their musicianship and moving into innovative directions. The history of Latin music in the United States has already been convoluted through generic Latin dance crazes; this new development will most likely confuse people more. The album’s success will most likely spawn a new generation of Smooth Latin Jazz artists, taking album sales away from traditional Latin Jazz artists. In many ways, the Latin Jazz world will feel the impact of Kenny G’s entrance and the market landscape will change.
At the same time, a watered-down version of Latin Jazz that touches a wide audience may help spread the popularity of Latin Jazz. Kenny G has gathered a group of knowledgeable musicians to support him, and they are playing authentic rhythms on the album. This could inspire his listeners to seek more Latin music, leading them to Puente, Machito, and Palmieri. For many young musicians thrilled with rock, fusion became the front door into traditional jazz. Many of these musicians started listening Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane, and seeing the inherent challenge, broadening their musical abilities. Latin Jazz might experience the same trend; potentially, a flood of new musicians could bring unique influences into Latin Jazz. While it’s easy to see the negative impacts of Kenny G’s Latin Jazz album, the increased exposure for Latin Jazz could create positive results.
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on Kenny G’s entrance into the Latin Jazz arena, and your general opinions about Smooth Latin Jazz. The floor is open for discussion; LEAVE A COMMENT and make your voice heard. I’ve considered a few questions about the issue:
*Do you think that Kenny G’s Rhythm and Romance
*Do you think that the Kenny G album will serve as a gateway to Latin Jazz for new listeners?
*What do you think that Smooth Latin Jazz has to offer?
Before making any comments, I’d encourage you to head over to the Amazon page for this album and listen to the sound samples. We should definitely stand up for our beliefs, and speak against or in support of this album. Let’s make informed statements though, not base our opinion upon Kenny G’s past recordings.
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Leave a comment below with your thoughts - should we be concerned about Kenny G’s interpretation of Latin Jazz? Should we just ignore it? Whatever your opinion, share it! I want every voice to be heard - your comment will be appreciated!
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I promised to give away two Latin Jazz CDs to the reader that left the most insightful comments on the first two Community Conversation posts. The response is a bit slow at this point, but fortunately, we’ve got CHAZRO putting in some good thoughts. He left thoughtful comments over the past two weeks, giving us a lot to consider. Thanks Chazro, I appreciate the input . . . and the CDs will be in the mail this week!
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Saxophone Player Mitch Frohman
If I hadn’t been around the block more than once,I would say that this was a bad April Fool’s Joke,but this isn’t the first time someone has tried to “smooth” down latin Jazz.
Gato Barbieri did this on some of his albums for A & M in the late 70’s-Luckily,it did not stick
To answer Chip’s questions:
1-I don’t think it will have any impact on the Latin Jazz world-Kenny G has NO credibility on the real jazz audience,Latin or not.
2-I doubt it,but I hope i am wrong.
3-Nothing
If only it was April . . . I’d probably feel a whole lot better about this whole thing!
That’s a really good point; Barbieri did some frightenly blatant reaches for a mass market with those A & M albums and they just disappeared from sight. My concern is that Kenny G’s mass audience will have a bigger impact upon the public’s perception of Latin Jazz. I don’t think that the established Latin Jazz audience will be buying this album, but I think that the general public will. Then, as a result, millions of people could potentially crown Kenny G as the “King of Latin Jazz.” (Ouch, that’s hard to type.) If that were to happen, I think that more adventurous Latin Jazz artists would have a hard time finding support for their work.
Our savior will most likely be the niche quality of today’s music market. When Kenny G first hit the market, he was sold as a jazz artist and he resultantly stole the public’s attention. Today’s public attention is so divided that no one will really be watching Kenny G except the people that already love Kenny G. Most likely, these tracks will be squeezed between other Smooth Jazz tracks on some Smooth Jazz satellite radio station, helping people get through the ride home. When someone looks for Latin Jazz, they probably won’t find this album.
I tend to agree that Smooth Jazz doesn’t offer much to the Latin Jazz world, but I will be watching . . . and hoping that this approach doesn’t become a trend!
Wazzup Chip! 1st off, thx for the cd’s! I’m looking forward to them, BTW, I picked up the Marlon Simon and it’s truly killa, definetely on my top 5 of the year list.
Regarding Smooth Latin Jazz, it’s been done before and barely caused a ripple. Gato went commercial decades ago and comparatively speaking, compared to some of the more recent examples of Smooth Latin Jazz, Gato’s work practically sound cutting edge, not really but I’m trying to make a point;) A few recent examples artists going smooth would include work by Roy Obeido, Pete AND Shiela Escovedo’s more recent recordings, but the most flagrant example, to me, is Nestor Torres. His last few records are just SO sweet, I can’t take it. The thing is these artists have true skills but Smooth is all about the MO-NAY. Even Kenny G used to play his ass off back in the day when he was part of Jeff Lorber’s Fusion unit and was called Kenny Gorelick. Truthfully, as much as I skeeve the Smooth genre, it’s hard for me to begrudge ANY musician that’s trying to get paid! That said, I don’t even think of that genre as Jazz, it’s just instrumental Pop music, Smooth Jazz is just a marketing term created in a boardroom. As far as KG’s potential impact, if it even sparks the interest of ONE listener it shouldn’t be considered a bad thing. My prediction is that this will be his least-selling record, although his numbers’ll probably still dwarf ALL other Latin Jazz releases. Kinda sad and frustrating when you think about it but I choose to remain upbeat and positive about nuestra musica querida!!;)
Wow, I feel so much better. I just listened to the samples on amazon. What is the big fuss about.
Latin jazz has definitely nothing to be afraid of. Us latin jazz fans know better. If anybody wants to believe this is the real latin jazz, good for them, the sameway they thought kenny g. was a jazz player. Jazz did not die after kenny g.
Nobody in his right mind will think this is latin jazz. It might appeal to a few latin jazz fans just because some tunes are maybe nice “boleros” I guess , but that’s about it. I am sure latin pop fans will love it, The kind that like Gloria Estefan, Nestor Torres etc… Will they appreciate “Simpatico” of Eddie Palmieri / Brian Lynch, certainly not. And so much the better. Again let’s not mix up genres. Latin pop (aka smooth latin jazz) is latin pop, latin jazz is latin jazz.
Thanks.
reginald
Chazro - Congrats on the CDs - e-mail me with your address & I’ll send them out right away. Thanks for your comments. The Marlon Simon album is a heavy Latin Jazz disc! His new one just came out, I’m looking forward to hearing it.
You’ve got a good list of smooth latin jazz; it’s funny, I cringe when I hear these recordings, but I forget about them pretty quick. There’s just not a whole lot of meat there to really pull you in. I guess that’s what happens when, as you pointed out, artists focus more on selling albums than on making memorable music. I kind of understand this approach in yesterday’s music world, it was about the only way to reach a significant audience. Today’s market is so much broader though, it’s really possible to make a musically intense album and then find your audience without a label. There are people looking for great Latin Jazz, and they’re willing to pay for it. Why make sappy commercial Latin Jazz?
I’ve never those old Jeff Lorber recordings, although I’ve heard them mentioned often. I’ll have to hunt something down . . .
Reginald - I think you make a great point about keeping genres straight. This album belongs in the Latin pop department, and it will most likely sell to that audience exclusively. I’m not even sure if those boleros will get Latin Jazz fans listening. Kenny G has done pop versions of some classic jazz tunes, and he didn’t really make any new fans. In fact, he infuriated a lot of jazz lovers. His version of “What A Wonderful World” included a digitally enhanced version of Louis Armstrong singing along with Mr. G’s soprano sax. That set people of fire! Pat Metheny wrote a particularly nasty public letter about that recording. I guess we’ll just have to hope that we don’t hear Kenny G playing over an old Tito Puente recording on the next album!
Is it me or there has not been any (good) cd productions in the past two or three months ? In ‘07 I would buy 2-3-4 cds every month, but lately nothing. My last one was Nils Fischer’s Timbazo. I have not received it yet, but the samples on cd baby were convincing enough. I like that group of latin / latin jazz players from the netherlands (Nueva Manteca, Cubop City Big Band, and now Timbazo). Any suggestions?
Reginald - I would recommend the recent albums from Cacao Musica. They released three Latin Jazz albums at the end of November from Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Changuito, and Alfredo Naranjo. Changuito’s album creeps into timba at times and Alfredo Naranjo’s album has a definite salsa element. The Hernandez album stays pretty set in Latin Jazz, although it borders on fusion at times. All three albums are great listens though. You’ve got to check out the packaging too - each CD comes with a detailed (all three are over 50 pages!) book that talks about the project, the artist, and the sidemen. They contain the liner notes that I wish every album had! You can check out my review of the Alfredo Naranjo album HERE and an article on Cacao Musica HERE.
Let me know what you think of that Nils Fischer album; I haven’t heard it yet, but I do like Nueva Manteca.
Is it me? I feel that both of Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez’s records, while having a few moments, are generally on the weak side. Italuba (his band), while being skilled, just don’t seem to match his skill level. Understand that, IMHO, El Negro’s one of the top 10 drummers on the PLANET!! When he plays with other “giants” he always rises to the occasion. His work with Eddie Palmieri, Michel Camilo, and Hilario Duran comes to mind, outstanding work and wonderful music. I always worry about what I (respectfully) call, “The Billy Cobham Syndrome”. I’ve been a huge BC fan ever since the 1st Dreams record. For awhile there, during the 70’s, his discography just exploded, he was playing on so many A-list recordings with so many A-list musicians that it was getting hard to keep up with his output. Then he became a solo artist and slowly but surely he drifted away from playing with his peers. IMO his work and career suffered because of it. Kinda/sorta the same thing’s happened with Dave Weckl and Dennis Chambers. I dig Horacio’s playing so much, I hope I’m completely wrong about all this!
Checkout this site http://www.jazz.com, they are having a “spotlight on latin jazz” header, with an interesting interview of el Maestro Eddie Palmieri and Brian Lynch. They have as well a “dozen best” latin jazz tunes.
Again we go back to square one: I was not comfortable when I saw that they included 2 or three Bossa novas among the twelve best “latin jazz” tunes. I think definitely, we should stop talking about LATIN JAZZ, let’s say cuban or afro cuban, brazilian or porto-rican, peruvian jazz etcc….