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List Of Smooth Jazz Performers
The following artists and bands have performed smooth jazz. Saxophonists Guitarists Pianists/Keyboardists Drummers and other percussionists Bassists Trumpeters / Flugelhornists Flutists Bands/Groups Vocalists Other Instruments Composers Disc jockeys See also * List of jazz fusion artists References {{Reflist 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 19 ... ... [...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] |
George Howard (jazz)
George Howard (September 15, 1956 – March 20, 1998) was an American smooth jazz saxophonist. Music career Howard was born on September 15, 1956, in Philadelphia. He was only six when he began taking music lessons at school on clarinet and bassoon. Influenced by John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter, he later on chose the soprano saxophone, because it resembled the bassoon. By the time he was 15, he began touring the country with notable rhythm-and-blues groups such as Blue Magic, First Choice and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. In the late 1970s, he toured with saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., who was one of his idols. In the early 1980s, Howard started his solo career, and released his first and second studio albums, ''Asphalt Gardens'' in 1982, and '' Steppin' Out'' in 1984. Both albums were well received and ranked high on the ''Billboard'' magazine jazz album charts at No. 25 and 9, respectively. The last track on 'Steppin' Out' is called 'Dream Ride', and features Howar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sade (band)
Sade ( ) are an English band, formed in London in 1982 and named after its lead singer, Sade (singer), Sade Adu. Three of its members were originally from Kingston upon Hull, Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its music features elements of Soul music, soul, quiet storm, smooth jazz and sophisti-pop. All of its albums, including compilations and a live album, have charted in the US Top Ten. The band's debut studio album, ''Diamond Life'' (1984), reached number two on the UK Album Chart, selling over 1.2 million copies and won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 1985. The album was also a hit internationally, reaching number one in several countries and the top ten in the United States, where it has sold four million copies to date. In late 1985, the band released its second studio effort ''Promise (Sade album), Promise'', which peaked at number one in both the United Kingdom and the US. It was certified British Phonographic Industry, double platinum in the UK and RIAA, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Marienthal
Eric Marienthal (born December 19, 1957) is a Grammy Award-nominated Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres. Early life Eric Marienthal was born on December 19, 1957 in Sacramento, California to Robert Marienthal, an insurance salesman, but moved to San Mateo when he was two years old. He has credited his enthusiasm for music on being taught music while in school, and picked up the saxophone in the fourth grade after he thought it looked "pretty cool". Marienthal has also mentioned his father was a fan of music, particularly 1940s and 1950s such as Boots Randolph, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. He initially wanted to pick up the trumpet but a teacher discouraged him because of his braces. As Marienthal progressed, his father bought him a $400 Selmer saxophone and enrolled him in Corona Del Mar High School. Throughout his education, Marienthal also learned to play guitar (in grade school), flute, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Lington
Michael Lington (born June 11, 1969) is a Danish-American contemporary saxophonist, songwriter, producer, recording artist and a purveyor of soul and contemporary jazz. Lington has released 11 solo albums and has 25 singles that have charted on the Billboard and Radio & Records (R&R) contemporary jazz radio charts. Lington has worked with Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, Aaron Neville, Mike Love, Randy Crawford, Bobby Caldwell, Kenny Lattimore, Ryan Shaw, Little Richard, Joan Sebastian, Cristian Castro, Booker T. Jones, The Dap-Kings, Ray Parker, Jr., Taylor Dayne, Brian Culbertson, Chuck Loeb, William Bell, Dave Stewart, Vince Gill, Sheléa Frazier, and many others. Lington has performed at the Royal Wedding of Denmark's future king, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary Donaldson at Fredensborg Castle and has also played numerous other times for the Danish royal family. He is the grandson of Danish composer and band leader Otto Lington. Early life Lington was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Koz
David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologist and Audrey, a pharmacist. Dave has a brother, Jeff, who is also a musician, and a sister, Roberta. Although he is Jewish, Koz plays both Christmas and occasional Hanukkah songs at his concerts. He attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, performing on saxophone as a member of the school jazz band. He later graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician. Career Within weeks of deciding to be a professional musician, he was recruited as a member of Bobby Caldwell's tour. Koz was originally a rock saxophonist before he moved to smooth jazz in 1989. For the rest of the 1980s, Koz served ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaori Kobayashi
, is a Japanese jazz saxophonist and flautist. She grew up in Tokyo. Biography Kobayashi was born October 20, 1981 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Her father was a photographer and her mother, a piano teacher. Beginning at a very young age, Kobayashi learned to play the piano. When she was 13 years old she joined a brass band and started to play the flute. Four years later she stopped playing in the band, instead choosing to start a relationship with the saxophone. After that she turned to jazz. After four years, having learned from Bob Zangu how to play the saxophone in a jazz setting, she entered the Senzoku College of Music. After graduating, she got a contract with the label Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ente ... and her first album, ''Solar'', appeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Klemmer
John T. Klemmer (born July 3, 1946) is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, and arranger. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and began playing guitar at the age of five and alto saxophone at the age of 11. His other early interests included graphics and visual art, writing, dance, puppetry, painting, sculpting, and poetry. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and began touring with midwestern "ghost big bands" ( Les Elgart, Woody Herman) as well as playing with small local jazz and rock groups. After switching to tenor saxophone in high school, Klemmer played with commercial small groups and big bands in Chicago while leading his own groups and touring. Biography Klemmer had extensive studies in music, taking private lessons as a youth and in college in piano, conducting, harmony, theory, composition, arranging, clarinet, flute and classical and jazz saxophone. He studied saxophone and jazz improvisation with noted Chicago saxophonist and teacher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grace Kelly (musician)
Grace Kelly (born Grace Chung; May 15, 1992) is an American musician, songwriter, and arranger. Kelly has produced and released recordings of her own, scored soundtracks, and tours with her band. She was named one of ''Glamour'' magazine's Top 10 College Women in 2011; and she has been featured on CNN.com and on the NPR radio shows ''Piano Jazz'' with both Marian McPartland and Jon Weber, as well as on WBGO's ''JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater''. Working professionally since she was a preteen, Kelly was dubbed a prodigy in the jazz world. In 2014, Kelly worked with the producer Stewart Levine on her EP, ''Working for the Dreamers'', which was released in September of that year. She was featured in the December 2015 issue of '' Vanity Fair'' as a significant millennial in the jazz world. Kelly was named "Rising Star – Alto Saxophone" in '' DownBeat''s 2016 Critics Poll. Her ''Trying to Figure It Out'' (2016 PAZZ) release was voted the number-two Jazz Album of the Year in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Kashiwa
Jeff Kashiwa (born 1963) is saxophonist with the jazz fusion band the Rippingtons and one of three with the Sax Pack, as well as having recorded several albums under his own name. Life and career Jeff Kashiwa was born in 1963 in Louisville, Kentucky but moved to Seattle, Washington as a young child. He credits the public school's music program for inspiring his interest in music, along with his father, who died in 1992, who was a fan of jazz music including Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. While attending school, his father gave him an old silver clarinet but, when he later saw a row of saxophones at school, Kashiwa knew he had found the instrument for him. As a local gig musician working small jobs, Kashiwa wanted a more permanent position in a band and, after searching for some time without success, he approached bassist Steve Bailey of the Rippingtons, of whom he was a fan, and hired Bailey to play along with him. He eventually sought an audition for the Rippingtons, one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackiem Joyner
Jackiem Joyner (born February 9, 1980) is a smooth jazz saxophonist and flutist from Norfolk, Virginia, US. Biography Son of Dianne Joyner Terry and Jackie Smith (local bass guitar player known as the raven). Raised by his mother in a single parent home. Family of six, three brothers and one sister. The family moved from Norfolk, Virginia, to Syracuse, New York, when Joyner was a teenager. He began playing saxophone while attending Fowler High School under the leadership of his music teacher and mentor Lou Adams. He competed in the NAACP's youth achievement program "ACT-SO" (geared towards African Americans demonstrating academic, artistic and scientific prowess and expertise) representing the city of Syracuse and won the state competition three years in a row in three different categories: instrumental contemporary, composition, and classical music. After high school, he moved back to Virginia, where Bishop Michael Patterson of the World Harvest Outreach Ministries in Newp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
