This is a list of songs associated with the
quiet storm
Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''.
The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...
radio format, widely heard in the United States starting in 1976
as a form of early evening/late night
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
music aimed at a sophisticated African American audience.
Quiet storm radio programs thrived in the 1980s, with many stations across the US carrying a quiet storm program at night, and a few stations broadcasting in the format all day long.
The field adapted in the 1990s as new listeners embraced
neo-soul
Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...
experimentation,
hip hop samples and beats, as well as more explicit themes.
Slow jam
A slow jam is music with rhythm and blues and soul influences. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or downtempo songs, and are mostly soft-sounding with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content. The earliest known use of the term is the 1983 ...
s with quiet storm elements continued to be produced through the 2000s and 2010s.
Quiet storm songs are a mix of genres, including
pop,
contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...
,
smooth soul
Smooth soul is a fusion genre of soul music that developed in the early 1970s from soul, funk and pop music in the United States. The fusion genre experienced mainstream success from the time of its development to the late 1970s, before its succe ...
,
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 ...
and
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
– songs having an easy-flowing and romantic character. The format first appeared in 1976 but initially it drew from songs recorded earlier. After the radio format became popular, songs were written to fit the format, and in that manner the radio style became a broad "super-genre" of music.
Songs
See also
*
List of contemporary R&B ballads
*
List of smooth jazz songs
*
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
References
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Quiet storm
Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''.
The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...