I was pleased , yet somewhat surprised, to see Herbie Hancock on "The View" this morning. Joined by Luciano Souza (three-time Grammy nominee), who performed the title tune of his most recent Grammy award, "River," it was a delight to see JAZZ on a major television show. They pointed out that the CD was #28 on Amazon.com but after the Grammy's it shot up to #1. I can only say that I am delighted that a major jazz artist has won that coveted award! Let's hope we won't have to wait for another 43 years to go by before this happens again.
Excepts from the music review: Upholding the Standards of Smooth Jazz Purists
Does anyone agree with what was written below? Did anyone go to Kenny Gorelick's (aka Kenny G) concert this past week? In his review of that concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ben Ratliff wrote the following:
Poor smooth jazz, besieged by haters. Being righteous about what’s called traditional jazz is easy. Being righteous about smooth jazz is much more difficult. It is a commercial construct, a radio format more than a style of music. For 20 years it has appealed across race and class and gender, partly because it asks so little. It is a physical presence but an intellectual absence. It is an unverified claim.
It lost ground last week when WQCD-FM, the New York radio station known as CD101.9 and the station with smooth jazz’s biggest market share in the country, went off the air, replaced at 101.9 by the rock format WRXP. In related news, the saxophonist Kenny G — the regent of the smoothiverse, a man who at his height moved 15 million copies of just one album (“Breathless,” from 1992) — has been selling fewer records lately. Well, so has everyone. But as a consequence he now plays where actual jazz performers play, like the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he appeared on Tuesday...
His new album, “Rhythm & Romance” — released by Concord Records and Starbucks — is his first Latin record, with traces of bossa nova, samba, salsa and Peruvian lando. You can’t really fault him for exoticism. That’s for adults. His show seemed more aimed at children...
Does Kenny's seemingly feeble attempt to return to jazz confirmation that "Smooth Jazz" is indeed dead and that it has finally bored one of its biggest stars? I will be watching to see how many CD's he sells.
The demise of CD 101.9 Continued:
From David Hinckley of the Daily News:
"I lament that jazz, either straight or cool, is treated as a stepchild of modern music," writes Ed Nickens. "I've been a listener since Billy Taylor was on WLIB-AM, and have had to change the dial every 10 years or so, because it's convenient to bump the jazz slot.
"But more than jazz and blues lovers lose. With the saturation of rock formats in the area, AM and FM has become a monolith.
"When the PPMs [Personal People Meters] track for the Arbitrons, the overpopulated rock formats will lose out; they will be too fractured to make an impact. I can only say thank goodness for WBGO, Phil Schaap and WKCR, et al., for their jazz slots. Without them the spectrum would be a very boring place."
You can discuss this further on this blog or continue the discussion on the Daily News blog. Cephas Bowles, WBGO General Manager did. He wrote:
Before writing off the entire NYC radio market, please listen to WBGO at 88.3 FM or online at WBGO.ORG. It's a good station that plays real jazz, blues and R&B. After listening to the non-commercial presentations of these music forms, many people actually like it. And, believe it or not, WQCD andWQXR listeners also spent and spend time listening to WBGO. Check it out!
Let me hear from you...especially if you are a person who found WBGO and/or WKCR after WQCD went off the air.
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