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Jay Soto
Jay Soto (born 1972) is an American smooth jazz guitarist. Biography At age 5, Soto began studying drums, followed by classical piano at age 7, then guitar at age 12. In 2004, Soto won the local, district and regional rounds in Guitar Center's Guitarmageddon competition. This lead him to the finals at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar festival in Dallas, Texas where he finished as one of the top guitarists in the nation. Also in 2004, Soto sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for President George W. Bush at the Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2005, Soto released his first album, ''Long Time Coming'', and two years later signed with the smooth jazz label, Nu Groove. His self-produced debut led to his meeting producers Jeff Lorber and Paul Brown, who helped produce Soto's second album, ''Stay Awhile''. Soto's 2007 single, "Slammin", was listed in the top 5 on Radio and Records's Smooth Jazz Chart. He has had song placements in HBO's ''Sex and the City'' and The Weather Cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 1980s, displacing the more venturesome jazz fusion from which it emerged. It avoids the improvisational "risk-taking" of jazz fusion, emphasizing melodic form and much of the music was initially "a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B". During the mid-1970s in the United States it was known as "smooth radio", and was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s. Notable artists The mid- to late-1970s included songs “Breezin'" as performed by another smooth jazz pioneer, guitarist George Benson in 1976, the instrumental composition " Feels So Good" by flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, in 1978, " What You Won't Do for Love" by Bobby Caldwell along with his debut album was released the same year, jazz fusion gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |