More on the origins of smooth

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 21:59:32 +0900
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
Size: 814 bytes

Ealier this week there was some discussion about the origins of smooth jazz
and how it is related to fusion.
Just ran across an interview with Kirk Whalum, whom some of you will
recognize as one of the giants of the smooth jazz idiom. He had this to say
about his own music and where it came from, ca. early '80's:
"Our music grew out of the Crusaders, David Sanborn and Grover Washington,
Spyro Gyra and the Yellowjackets," he notes. "We were all listening to CTI
and Bob James."
Drawing the line further back, he says of himself:
"I feel myself connected to the Lester Youngs and Dexter Gordons," he says.
"I don't want to be discussed apart from them. Jazz is always reinventing
itself."
The artilce appears only in it's cahced form at:
http://216.239.41.100/search?q=cache:3Y95h9jE71EJ:www.jimnewsom.com/