What’s Up With All The Smooth Jazz Hate?

A stock photo of a man really laying into the saxophone.

“Smooth jazz is neither smooth, nor jazz,” is a phrase my father would utter every time the subgenre came up in conversation, no matter the context. A large portion of the jazz community shares the same sentiment as my father and I’ve always wondered why. So, after doing a little bit of research on the topic and combing internet forums for public opinions, I’ve found the reason why this subgenre is so controversial. In this short article, I hope to cover the brief history of smooth jazz, its reception, and if the hate is deserved or not. Be warned, due to the controversy of the topic, I’m going to be using quotation marks a lot.

From humble beginnings…

The foundations for smooth jazz were created from the coattails of jazz fusion. Jazz fusion became popular in the in the early 70s with the incorporation of electric instruments. The subgenre of jazz fusion is very broad and for the sake of time, I will refrain from getting into the specifics of what that incorporates. All you need to know is that smooth jazz was born from jazz fusion in the late 70s.

So what was the purpose of smooth jazz? Easy listening. The concept of jazz music that was easy to listen to wasn't new to people (bossa nova immediately comes to mind), smooth jazz was just the latest iteration of it. Smooth jazz soared in popularity in the 80s…