Black Artists Bemoan Whitewashing Of Smooth Jazz

Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 15:00:40 +0900
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http://www.kccall.com/News/2003/0404/Entertainment/012.html
Black Artists Bemoan Whitewashing Of Smooth Jazz
By Nisa Islam Muhammad
Special to the NNPA
The Final Call
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the world of smooth jazz, there are those who sell
records and those records that get played on the radio. Typically, in other
genres, the artists who sell the most records are the ones that get airplay.
Not so with smooth jazz and the artists are crying foul.
"There is a serious lack of black participation on smooth jazz radio
stations," said Marcus Johnson, an accomplished jazz pianist and the head of
Three Keys Music.
"Smooth jazz radio stations are blocking black people out of the market."
Johnson has the only 100 percent black-owned company that is charting music
on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts. His partner is Robert L. Johnson,
founder of Black Entertainment Television and the first black billionaire.
Together they have such notable artists as Bobby Lyle and Alyson Williams.
Despite the success of the company, they have experienced huge problems in
getting black artists airtime on the predominately white-owned smooth jazz
stations.
Their white artists, Michael Lington and Jaared, get a lot of airtime but
don't sell records. Bobby Lyle and Johnson sell records despite the lack of
radio play.
There seems to be a real "whitewash" of music in the jazz format, with black
artists seemingly relegated to limbo, explained Johnson. "I need my artists
played in Chicago, New York and D.C. where I get an automatic 'No' and we're
shut out," he said.
Lyle sees the issue as just a continuation of a historical problem.
"The attempt to bring white performers to the forefront is nothing new. It's
typical of what goes on in the music industry. Michael Lington's getting the
stations but not the retail sales that I get. It's a closed fraternity that'
s not beneficial to the music or the artists," he said.
"It happened in 1920 when Paul Whiteman was called the king of jazz while
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were more popular. For rock and roll, it
was the promotion of Elvis Presley as the king, when Little Richard and
Chuck Berry were popular," he told The Final Call.
Ken Tobin, a radio consultant and the operations director at WJZF, Atlanta's
first Smooth Jazz station, said it's about control.
"There is one entity that controls what gets heard in smooth jazz. That's
Broadcast Architecture, a consultancy firm. The reason they have so much
control is that they've managed to consult and control the major market
smooth jazz stations," Tobin said.
"They're all about research. That's their claim to the industry. They've
developed systems to help stations that have been successful. With that kind
of influence, other radio stations just play follow the leader," Tobin said.
In the early 1990s, smooth jazz emerged as a combination of jazz, rock, pop
and rhythm and blues. It's considered easy listening music with a
contemporary flair.
"This type of music won't disturb the politics of the office," said Final
Call White House correspondent Askia Muhammad, who also is a jazz historian
and radio personality at Pacifica's Washington, D.C., station WPFW.
"As a radio format, it competes with soft rock and other office music. The
obvious symbol of smooth jazz is Kenny G. The advertising and promotion of
it is him," Muhammad said. "The black artists that have had success with
smooth jazz are the established artists who had audiences of their own who
brought a strong following to the station in exchange for additional success
and popularity.
"With the help of Broadcast Architecture, 'the Smooth Jazz' format has shown
amazing growth over the past seven years. Its ability to bring ratings
success in key adult demos is unsurpassed. With core artists like Kenny G,
George Benson, Sade and Anita Baker, Smooth Jazz appeals to multi-cultural
listeners."
According to Broadcast Architecture, since 1994, it has assisted more than
20 stations in format flips to smooth jazz. In addition to their ongoing
relationships with existing smooth jazz stations, Broadcast Architecture
provides a foundation for introducing smooth jazz to new markets.
"Broadcast Architecture is so powerful that they mandate the sound. Their
word influences the top markets and the artists' handlers are eager to
respond to the manipulation by Broadcast Architecture. In order to get
heard, the artists must provide what Broadcast Architecture is looking for,"
said Tobin.
"They also influence what artists get paid, concerts and jazz festivals. The
concept behind smooth jazz is to have relaxing music. It has to be laid
back, relaxing and non-offensive. They'd rather have a non-offensive tune
than one that some like and others don't. This is wallpaper music,
background sounds. It works for them but not the artists."
Artists who follow the formula provided by Broadcast Architecture are
rewarded with airtime explained Tobin. "Airplay is most important, sales are
after the fact."
In the hip hop world, artists such as Master P, Cash Money and 50 Cent
decided to avoid those control issues.
"Those folks came along and said we're not going to play that game of
control. We're going to play outside of the gym," said Tobin.
These artists began to sell, distribute and promote their own music.
Thousands of records were sold literally out of the trunks of their cars.
"They get 100 percent of the profits and not the very small percentage that
other artists get from their label," said Tobin. "These artists own their
publishing rights, they distribute their own music and the radio stations
are coming to them for promotion."