Any Smooth Jazz Listeners?
 

As one of the side effects of being around my father when I was younger I find myself getting into smooth jazz lately when I need a break from Rap or R&B. Currently I have a lot of Boney James and Wayman Tisdale on my mp3 player with a little Najee thrown in as well. I've always liked Alex Bugnon but Ive yet to purchase any of his albums. Does anyone else like smooth Jazz and maybe have some suggestions?

I find smooth jazz pretty tedious personally. Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock is where it's at.

smooooth jaazzzzz....veeeee ninety-eight point seven...

tanglewood for some reason I find old school jazz unlistenable

In what way? For a start 'old school jazz' is a dangerously generalised term, considering the breadth and diversity within the catalogue of a Miles Davis or a Herbie Hancock before we even start comparing them with other 'old school' artists. One thing that those two, along with Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Sun Ra and the other jazz pioneers of the 50s-70s is their genius (I do not use the term lightly) makes their works challenging to listen to. I find it just so rewarding to listen to Coltrane's insane riffing in his divinely-possesed-crack-addict way and try to unscramble the layers of rhythm, follow the paths the 'melody' takes, connect the dots between the notes if you will. When listening to a record like Bitches Brew (unquestionably the best jazz record ever, probably greatest regardles of genre too) I am immersed in unpeeling the layers of guitar, bass, percussion, sax, alto, trumpet, piano and god knows what else is thrown into the murk. I guess that for me listening to a killer jazz record is almost an intellectual exercise, which is I guess exacly what you are trying to get away from by sticking on some 'smooth' jazz.

Btw, I've never heard of Wayman Tisdale before. I just checked out four or five 30 second clips of him on Allmusic, and I don't find it attractive at all. Just seems like Muzak-lite to me *shrug*.

I had no idea that Wayman Tisdale was making music now. Pretty cool.

Rap, R&B, and smooth jazz? If you add Hawk Harrelson, I think that's called Hell.