Yeah James Lloyd is great on keys. He brings more of that gospel flavor into the music. That new "Pillow Talk" album is pretty hot, especially those songs "Forward Emotion", and "Wake up Call". I also liked that song "Night Vision" from their other album "Acquainted with the Night" among others.Originally Posted by Winterpark
Some jazz guys I know also find it hard to appreciate the smooth stuff. They seem to think it's too polished or this and that, but I can appreciate both. I enjoy playing straight ahead jazz and listen to a good amount, but there's something I can relate to with the Smooth stuff. I also listen to some R&B like Luther Vandross, Sade, George Benson, James Ingram, Patti Labelle, Michael McDonald, Will Downing, Anita Baker, Stevie Wonder, etc.
I don't know why but there's something about the richness of the chords and the rhythms which are usually deeper (as compared to straight ahead where there's mostly a swing or a walk and the groove doesn't "dig into the ground" if you will), that invokes reflection and sometimes expresses things that I wouldn't explicitly express otherwise. Especially on the more seductive songs I can relate to the passion and the soul and don't normally express those things outside of music, which is another reason I enjoy actually playing the music on my instruments.
Which just made me realize something else lol. When somebody plays music, people don't usually judge the way the person plays as an indicator of how they act, think, and relate to people in other contexts. I think music brings out something unconscious and something that we don't use in other situations. Maybe my desire for such soulful lines and deep grooves is my attempt to satisfy my Fe hidden agenda and wrap it around my dreamy thinking when listening. (I'm putting out Ne and Ti and getting back Fe and perhaps Si) (Si perhaps because of the way the melodies build on one another and take the song from one place to another over time.).
I think a reason some jazz "purists" have a problem with smooth jazz because some of them are very cerebral and academic. Traditional jazz is very much about being precise and theoretical and even more dissonant. Smooth Jazz invokes more of a "go with the flow" attitude which I think some of them have a problem with.


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