Smooth Versus Swing

Regarding Don Heckman’s “Smooth Jazz but Bland Radio” (Oct. 28):

As a longtime jazz aficionado, I can hear the difference between Boney James, Richard Elliott, Nelson Rangell, Jeff Kashiwa and Kenny G. I’m not sure if the audiences the stations are so aggressively pursuing can. In the early days of smooth jazz, players and programmers did take more risks, as Heckman correctly noted, and as a result, Gary Bartz, Jon Klemmer, Gato Barbieri and Ronnie Laws were sax players you would not mistake for one another. Jazz was the lone holdout in creative musical expression that did not follow the trends of the demographic number-crunchers.

As a fan, I am not worried about the music losing its urgency. As Heckman pointed out, underneath all the formulaic arrangements and cookie-cutter riffs, players do have a music vocabulary that distinguishes them from one another. The current smooth jazz players are collaborating and guesting with one another more than ever. The music on most of these projects is dynamic, urgent and intricate enough to provide new discoveries with each listening. The Wave also presents programming reminiscent of the early days with its Wave After Dark programming late at night and into the wee hours of the morning.

The big drawback to all this demographic chasing is not the artists who are “overplayed,” but the one who aren’t played at all.

DAVID P. LEWIS

Long Beach

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When KTWV first emerged from the former rock stalwart KMET, it was almost universally reviled as New Age, a yuppie phenomenon. I found it personally to be a more daring and vital musical source than what it is currently.

Talented artists such as Mannheim Steamroller, Meet Danny Wilson, David Sylvian, Peter Davison and Patrick O’Hearn expanded the airwaves with music that was not easily pigeonholed into a simple and definable popular format, thereby causing them to be lumped under the “New Age” banner. The present smooth jazz format is a much more likely soundtrack for corporate yuppie tastes.

Nowadays, because I cannot find any more musical adventure on the radio airwaves, I prefer looking into the 99-cent cutout bins of CD retailers. Sometimes you can find some musical treasures from groups that do not receive heavy radio rotation, or by going by word-of-mouth from friends and others knowledgeable of music beyond the simple Top 40 rotation of any format. Artists such as Negativland, Mollystongue, Jean Michel Jarre, Miranda Sex Garden and Frank Zappa give a far more pleasant and adventurous listening experience than anything I ever find on the radio today. The only thing I now listen to on the radio is Tom Leykis.

As a composer, I find it sad that the vital spark of musical innovation has been taken over by corporate professionalism. Sigh.

TONY GONZALEZ

Gardena

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Thank you, Don Heckman. I love all kinds of jazz and really have enjoyed smooth jazz in the past, but I’ve taken KTWV off my radio. How many times can we listen to Sade? ... Does Michael McDonald belong on a jazz station? The boring repetition and shortage of “new adds” is just the Top 40 programming we all grew up with, translated into another genre.

Always anxious for growth in the jazz community, though, I am grateful that the smooth jazz format is available for people transitioning out of rock and pop.

And while I love Chuck Niles, I do hate hearing him and other pure jazz spokesmen dis smooth jazz. There is a large body of jazz musicians who need new fans to support them. We need to be a happy family.

TOM BIEHN

Huntington Beach

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The lack of any mention of KJAZ-AM (1260) in Heckman’s article on local jazz radio was a glaring omission.

This wonderful commercial jazz station plays a non-repetitive and eclectic blend of jazz standards and vocals, blending the old and the new without crossing over to the bland smooth-jazz sound that has reduced the once innovative KTWV to postmodern Muzak.

STEVE HAMMEL

West Hollywood

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Never mind New York and Symphony Sid. All jazz (real jazz) radio started out here on the commercial FM dial with “The Jazz Knob” (KNOB, Long Beach), created by Sleepy Stein, and Pat Henry’s “K-Jazz” (KJAZ, Alameda).

Both are now Spanish-language stations, but the memories linger on.

THOMAS D. BRATTER

Los Angeles

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Remember Chuck Mangione’s vapid mega-hit “Feels So Good” from the ‘70s? Now, try to imagine a radio station that programs minor variations of that type of song 24/7/365. Now imagine the people who actually enjoy listening to said station on a regular basis.

Yikes.

PAUL GASE

Torrance