[THAY BRAN]

I have been buying into the genre for 10 years now.Alot of people tend to badmouth it here in the U.K. stating that they find it 'tinny' or describe it as Elevator Music. Tinny? that'll be there Hi or lofi's.
Anyhow my favorite 10 tracks are as follows.


Brian Culbertson - Together Tonite
Lin Rountree - Everyday
Jeff Golub - Simple Pleasures
Andre Ward - Utopia
Boney James - I'll be good to ya
Richard Eliott - Q.T.
Rick Braun - Moonshot
Marion Meadows - The Dance
Ronny Jordan - Island Paradise
Jeff Lorber - Uncle Darrows

This was harder than i thought , woulda been easier to list top 100
Bryston...Lehmann...GS1000

 

[Thermionic Dude]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with "Smooth Jazz" as a musical genre, and it has been badmouthed here in the States as long as I can remember!

Jazz happens to be my favorite genre (with 50s-60s Hard Bop and later "Post Bop" being my favorite subgenre) so I think I know where people are coming from when they bash Smooth Jazz. It simply boils down to musical snobbery; Smooth Jazz lacks some of the improvisation and time-signature changes which are essential features of other Jazz subgenres and I don't think purists can get past this (their loss).

A nice bonus is that many Smooth Jazz releases are very well-recorded and take full advantage of the capabilities of high-end gear.

All that being said, here are a few of my faves (which I think you will like given your list):
Fourplay "Fourplay" and "Between the Sheets"
Special EFX "Catwalk"
Yellowjackets "Four Corners"
Spyro Gyra "Love and Other Obsessions"
3rd Force "3rd Force" and "Force of Nature"
Rippingtons "Sahara"
Sade "Love Deluxe"
Frank Gambale "Note Worker" and "Great Explorers" (don't miss out on hearing this guitarist-genuine virtuosity but unfortunately consistently overlooked and underrated)
Peter Cincotti "On The Moon"

 

[cheemo]

"Breezin'" - George Benson
"Wes Bound" - Lee Ritenour
"A Brighter Day" - Ronny Jordan

 

[3DCadman]

I love anything from Yellowjackets!

 

[Spyro]

Here are a couple gems.....

Brian Brombergs "You Know That Feeling"

VIP Club, "Cocconut Kiss"

 

[THAY BRAN]

Thanks for the replies guys , I truly love the genre and agree it is very disrespected.
I tend to now call it Sensual Instrumental so as not to upset the hard jazz fraternity.

 

[buddhashenglong]

Bob James - Nautilus
Grover Washington Jr. - Black Frost

 

[Hettlerr]

These are the songs that have special meaning for me.

"Magnificent Madness" by John Klemmer
"I Never Thought I'd Leave You" by Earl Klugh
"Breezin'" by George Benson
"Touch" by John Klemmer

 

[fatcat28037]

Listen to anything by Fourplay, it's about as smooth as you can get.

 

[JadeEast]

Never was 100% certain about the smooth jazz label for music but I have a number of CTI LPs and just threw Lonnie Liston Smith on the old music spinner. Here is one track that I keep coming back to Gabor Szabo "keep smiling"

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

 

[intoart]

I am an extremely, massively huge fan of smooth jazz.
Naming favorite tracks is difficult, however, since I really don't know the tracks are called unless I am looking at the CD case while listening.

My favorite artists are Spyro Gyra, Lee Ritenour, Mindy Abair, David Sanborn, David Benoit, Jeff Golub, Jeff Lorber, Rick Braun, and Fourplay.

 

[intoart]

Speaking of smooth jazz, I have just learned that Jeff Lorber is playing for free tomorrow night in my local park! I am way excited about seeing that show!

 

[tattoou2]

Breezin' - George Benson
Angela (Theme from Taxi) - Hilary James
101 Eastbound - Fourplay

 

[BobMcN]

A lot of the recent smooth jazz has left me wanting. I really liked the stuff that came out 10 years ago though, and even before that with some of the groups that started the whole genre before it was named "smooth jazz".

Jeff Lorber
Lee Ritenour
Dave Gruisin
early Foreplay
Yellowjackets (I love them, but I personally don't think of them in this category)
Earl Klugh
early Rick Braun
Grover Washington Jr
Crusaders
Ramsey Lewis
Sade
etc.

 

[THAY BRAN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intoart /img/forum/go_quote.gif Speaking of smooth jazz, I have just learned that Jeff Lorber is playing for free tomorrow night in my local park! I am way excited about seeing that show!

Jeff Lorber for free????? you guys stateside get are oh so lucky. I'd pay good money to see that anytime. ' ENJOY'