I took a class called listening to jazz this past semester because I needed the credit. When it came to smooth jazz this was the example the teacher played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOO4ROO_sPM
Everyone was immediately ripping on Kenny G. Saying stuff like "I feel like I've been on hold for the past 5 minutes" or "This sounds like elevator music".
Honestly this was one of my favorite things we listened to the entire semester. It's seriously beautiful music and I don't understand why it gets so much hate.
Does anyone here like my man Kenny G?
your classmates were right
>>61202983
I think the main reason people hate it is that it really can't be considered jazz at all. Don't get me wrong, I think it's trash either way, but branding it as jazz honestly just makes the music worse in context.
didn't this goober hold a saxophone note for like 2 weeks straight or something?
>>61202983
what uni did you take this at? i had a similar experience (except I don't like Kenny G)
>>61202983
Last year it was a meme to praise this album as one of the greatest albums of all time .
Chuck Mangione > Kenny G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDSBV0vTfTo
breathless is an apropos title as kenny g is literally the death of jazz
>>61203097
UofH.
>>61203112
Did not know that. Haven't been on /mu/ for a while.
>>61203009
>>61203138
So do people hate it because it got lumped in with Jazz? We listened to a ton of stuff that I wouldn't really consider Jazz in my class. We listened to A Tribe because apparently that is "Acid Jazz". They stretched the Jazz genre insanely far.
I took a class called listening to contemporary piano led symphonic compositions this past semester because I needed the credit. When it came to smooth contemporary piano led symphonic compositions this was the example the teacher played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfsgXJQ0ebU
Everyone was immediately ripping on Richard C. Saying stuff like "I feel like I've been rubbing my nipples in the apple store" or "This sounds like lubricant for having anal sex with Elton John".
Honestly this was one of my favorite things we listened to the entire semester. It's seriously beautiful music and I don't understand why it gets so much hate.
Does anyone here like my man Richard Claydermann ?
>>61203555
this is pretty good
>>61203208
Well, for one, it's entirely too "smooth" and blase to really be considered great by any standard, but I feel that it being lumped in with jazz, a genre based entirely around improvisation and the stretching of the boundaries of conventional standard structure just made the situation worse. It's just inoffensive pop music with a clarinet, but its association with a genre with such a history of creativity and innovation definitely doesn't help
Also:
>A Tribe Called Quest
>Acid Jazz
I'm not entirely sure if your professor was well-versed enough in his topic
Maybe I just need context, but A Tribe was just hip-hop with a jazz influence, not actual jazz
Just my two cents
>>61203612
yeah right ? i'd kiss that nigga right on his cheekbones and caress his ass while he strumming the keyboard. I Aint gay dawg, you see, no homo, just gotta be comfortable with yo feelings dawg. Do you need a couch from craiglist ?
I took a class called listening to punk this past semester because I needed the credit. When it came to smooth punk this was the example the teacher played.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKqKM-gvK_w
Everyone was immediately ripping on Jamie R. Saying stuff like "I feel like he's trying to sing while taking a dump" or "Blink-182 rip-off".
Honestly this was one of my favorite things we listened to the entire semester. It's seriously beautiful music and I don't understand why it gets so much hate.
Does anyone here like my man Jamie Rhoden?
>>61203615
Its a sax, abelian kun
>>61203615
>clarinet
It's a soprano sax.
My teacher said he did have an improvisational style based on ornamentation of the melody, which is true and apparent if you listen to his music.
Also, A Tribe (along with other hip hop acts with heavy jazz sampling and influence) are considered Acid Jazz. My professor was very knowledgeable, but the biggest problem I had with the whole class was how it basically took anything with even the slightest jazz influence and put it in a jazz subgenre. I actually wrote my final essay about how the genre of jazz was way too broad for the word jazz to actually have any significant meaning. What I got from that class was that pretty much anything with a trumpet, sax, and some sort of improvisation of syncopation is jazz.
It was like jazz wanted to take credit for everything. Sort of annoying.
>>61203062
dead
>>61203805
Oh fuck sorry I'm tired
Don't know why I fucked that up
>>61203811
>My teacher said he did have an improvisational style based on ornamentation of the melody, which is true and apparent if you listen to his music.
It's true, but it'd be a stretch to say his playing is at all imaginative. He always stays within the bounds of the harmony, and from piece to piece, a lot of his melodies blend into one another.
Maybe that's just me. Also, funny story: One of my bandleaders from the jazz orchestra I was in apparently had several jam sessions with Kenny in the early 90s, and apparently all the musicians in Portland hated his guts because they thought he was a terrible soloist.
Just thought that was kind of funny, if somewhat impertinent
>Also, A Tribe (along with other hip hop acts with heavy jazz sampling and influence) are considered Acid Jazz
Alright. That can honestly be argued, because the acid jazz movement had a myriad of different influences to draw from, but you're not necessarily wrong so I'll just let it slide
I also agree with your point about "jazz" as a whole being entirely too broad and unspecific to convey any particular sound
>>61203208
Wouldn't say lumping Tribe in with acid jazz is stretching Jazz insanely far... they do sample jazz in just about every single instrumental.
And Kenny G doesn't get hate because he's lumped in with jazz (although that does fuel the fire a bit because people think of generic smooth jazz when they think of jazz), he gets hate because he puts out extremely formulaic smooth jazz with a quantity over quality mindset. Maybe you just dig the formula, but listen to his music for a while and I think even you will start to notice how fucking homogenized and bland his songwriting techniques are.
>>61202983
your teacher is shit
i bet its a community college
>>61203811
maybe jazz "wants to take credit for everything" because its influence is so heavily ingrained into american music. jazz has been an important element in the development of everything from vocal pop music to hip-hop to electronic/dance music... it's not surprising the music you heard was diverse.
>>61203947
listen to his music for a while and I think even you will start to notice how fucking homogenized and bland his songwriting techniques are.
I definitely notice that. I definitely do like the formula. It's very pleasant. I guess because it's not challenging(like at all), people write it off. I see what it is (formulaic, pop, unchallenging, etc.), I just like it too.
>>61204013
Yeah I agree. I honestly didn't really like a lot of what we listened to in that class but it was super interesting learning about the development of jazz and it's off shoots. I just don't think a lot of what we listened to was actually Jazz. just jazz influenced. I don't doubt it's influence at all.
>>61204044
And that's understandable, I wasn't trying to be condescending, I just think Kenny G takes those concepts to an extreme. I think his music has good sampling potential / can most definitely be pleasant. I personally haven't gone out of my way to listen to him TOO much but I've also spent hours listening to Bitches Brew so I kinda passed that phase of jazz listening I suppose.
i can dig it op fuck yeah i can dig it
in small occasional doses
>>61202983
your teacher is a pleb
have some patrician smooth jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By_clrkw9C8
>>61203681
>whirr
Just passing to say that people critizing a piece of music by saying "it sounds like elevator music" belongs in the trash bin
