EXT SRC 16 / Valley View / 05.22.24
My mom requested that I play Jeff Lorber for Mother’s Day, so I built a deep dive into my history with smooth jazz and jazz from the late 70’s to the late 90’s in general. As a teenager, developing my own taste in music, that era of jazz was a blind spot for me. I preferred the organic feel of jazz in the 60’s, or energy of fusion and free jazz in the 70’s. After that I wasn’t very interested in the incorporation of so many synths and electronic drums in the 80’s. Even Miles Davis lost me. But at some point I began digging through my parents record and CD collections and realized I had a nostalgia for this sound.
My dad was a jazz guitarist and my mom was a pianist, so this music was always around. George Benson and Earl Klugh are stuck in the depths of childhood memories, listening while riding through Mill Mountain in a Datsun 300ZX with the windows down, humming the melodies to myself. I also realized that the pipeline from fusion to smooth jazz was common. While I wouldn’t say they were smooth, 80’s offerings by some of my favorites like Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock reached a more radio-friendly state but still clicked with me. So while some smooth jazz is still a bit too clean for me, this set of tracks is me on a mission to find a middle ground between what I enjoy and what my mom enjoys. Maybe this will bring back memories for other people as well.
Show archive
Playlist
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The Rippingtons, “Tropic of Capricorn (feat. Russ Freeman)”
from Welcome to the St. James' Club
GRP - 1990
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George Duke, “Sugar Loaf Mountain”
from Brazilian Love Affair (Expanded Edition)
Legacy Recordings - 1979
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Pat Martino & Joyous Lake, “Mac Tough (feat. Joyous Lake)”
from Stone Blue (feat. Joyous Lake)
Blue Note Records - 1998
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