Why Doesn't Contemporary Jazz Get Any Respect?


I am a huge fan of Peter White,Kirk Whalum,Dave Koz,Warren Hill,etc.I have never understood why this flavor of music gets no respect.Not only is it musically appealing,but in most cases its very well recorded.Any comparisons to old jazz(Miles Davis etc.) are ludicrous.Its like comparing apples and oranges.Can anyone shed some light on this?Any contemporary(smooth)Jazz out there?I would love to hear from you. Thanks John
krelldog
Low exposure ? After 6 or 7 tunes, smooth jazz is predictable. Have you heard the Riita Paakki Trio from Finland ;Christoph Spendel Trio, Germany; Gregg Karukas, USA;
Incognito, UK -- the MP3 only combo on Tupelo Records.
"Almost all of the real jazz artist are long dead."
Rok2id

Spoken like a card carrying member of the Dead Poet's Society.

My listening room walls are laced with wall hangings of a few of the greats. Miles, Trane, Gillespie, Gordon, Parker, Peterson, Montgomery...I've run out of wall space and have a ton of wall hangings boxed in the garage.

It sets a certain mood while sitting amidst visual reminders of these 'dead poets'...each of them a poet in his/her own right.

It's enjoyable to revisit this thread on an annual basis. Happy New Year 2 All!
Comtemporary in a musical sense could be defined as 'an imitation of the original. All things go through natural trajectories. Right now technology and medicine etc... are going up at an amazing speed, while music, literature, social cohesion and many other things are heading downward at an even greater speed. Nothing stays great forever. If you are a musician and you play in a 'comtemporary' genre, that means you are just a pale imitation of the original. It would be more accurate, and perhaps kinder, just to 'retire' the genre at a certain point. There are just a few still worthy of the name Jazz player or bluesman. Once they pass on, that's it folks. We can all snooze then. And don't get me started on gospel, R&B or country.