By Michele Kadison

The music you head when you tune in to Smooth Jazz internet radio takes its roots from standard jazz music, with the addition of pop, funk, and R&B influences. One of the trademarks of this new jazz offshoot is down-tempo melodies that incorporate electric guitar and (mostly) soprano saxophone. Smooth Jazz artists are solid jazz musicians exploring an alternative sound that does not require ardent listening, like that of conventional jazz. Whether it remains in the background or is the focus of the listener, Smooth Jazz internet radio creates a calm, romantic atmosphere that appeals to many mature music lovers.

Smooth Jazz: The Early Days

Smooth Jazz was born in the late 1960s when Creed Taylor, a producer working with the famed guitarist Wes Montgomery, released three records containing instrumental versions of various well-known pop songs. As founder of CTI Records, he signed many great artists to his label, including Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, Stanley Turrentine, and George Benson. The music contained beautiful string arrangements and emphasized the importance of melody, which went down very easily with both pop and jazz audiences.

In the 1970s, Smooth Jazz took hold as a radio format, finding its way to what was then called the “Beautiful Music” stations. One could hear the music on radio programs that aired during the weekends or at nights in cities like Atlanta, Miami, and San Antonio. New York’s station, WRVR FM, soon began playing the format full time as demand for artists such as Pat Metheny and George Benson heightened. With Russ Davis in Atlanta, “Sunday Morning Jazz” in Miami, “Lights Out San Diego” with Art Good, Breezin’ 100.7 in Milwaukee, and Los Angeles’ “The Wave” with Frank Cody, the Smooth Jazz that’s now on internet radio began to reach a wider audience. Artists like Grover Washington Jr, Spryo Gyra, Larry Carlton, George Benson, Chuck Mangione, Sergio Mendes, David Sanborn, Bob James, Joe Sample, Tom Scott, and Dave and Don Grusin began getting tremendous airplay, and soprano saxophonist Kenny G became the veritable poster boy for the form.

In the In late 80s “Smooth Jazz” became an official household name after the research firm Cody/Leach confirmed its viability.

Smooth Jazz: The Evolution

As music evolved and radio stations began to play more cross-over artists, Smooth Jazz’s popularity waned a bit. This drove musicians to create more collaborative work, with Bob James, Nathan East, and Dave Koz finding creative liaisons with other established artists. Groups like Pieces of a Dream, Acoustic Alchemy, and Fourplay emerged and female singers like Joyce Cooling, Sade, Pamela Williams, Anita Baker, and Regina Belle began getting more play on Smooth Jazz stations.

Many of Smooth Jazz’s well known musicians became cross-over artists themselves, with Dave Koz, Boney James, Bobby Perry, the Urban Jazz Coalition, Wayman Tisdale, Michael Ligton, Boggy Ricketts, Ken Navarro, Peter White, Brian Bromberg, and David Lanz landing on Urban Contemporary playlists. Smooth Jazz began to find new alliances with electronic music, creating a “chill” sound and expanding the possibility of airplay for both genres.

“The Quiet Storm” became a term that implied a fusion of Smooth Jazz and soft R&B music. Launched in 1998 out of WGDR in Plainfield, Vermont, host Skeeter Sanders stretched the genre farther afield as audiences showed appreciation for the easy, romantic sounds that worked well especially for the over 30 crowd.

Smooth Jazz: Mainstream

Smooth Jazz proved itself to be a successful radio format, growing from a new age type genre to a substantial category of its own. Popular in the United States for its melodic revival of standards, as well as in Europe and Eastern Asia where it is often played in late night cafes and bars, the music has been embraced for its relaxing and romantic effect.

In addition to being played on on-air radio stations throughout the country, this smooth and sassy music found its way into satellite radio when Broadcast Architecture launched its Smooth Jazz Network after the demise of its precursor, Jones Radio Networks. With famous musicians doubling as on-air hosts, artists such as Kenny G, Norman Brown, Dave Koz, Paul Hardcastle, Ramsey Lewis, and Brian Culbertson, more and more listeners began to tune in. Saxophone player Dave Koz is currently one of the most listened to Smooth Jazz hosts in the United States, as well as Ramsey Lewis who has an over 1.5 million listenership weekly. Other popular weekly shows are Art Good’s “Jazztrax” and the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler.

Smooth Jazz Internet Radio: The Current Phenomenon

Challenges face the Smooth Jazz format as listeners become restless with instrumental covers. Due to so many cross-over stations, it is incumbent upon artists interested in maintaining the Smooth Jazz style to come up with new musical ideas. Many Smooth Jazz stations are moving farther away from the jazz roots that were the basis of the form, adding vocalists like Beyonce and Aretha Franklin to their play lists. As a result, many classic Smooth Jazz radio stations are now calling themselves Smooth Adult Contemporary. That being said, there are many new artists on the scene who are bringing a new vitality to Smooth Jazz and reigniting the interest of the listening public. Patrick Yandall, Freddie Fox, Jackiem Joyner, Ty Causey, Peter Belasco, Will Downing, Anton Fig, Nick Colionne, and Joyce Cooling are some of the names that are keeping Smooth Jazz internet radio fans coming back for more.

By Michele Kadison

Radio has come a long way since the days when formats included one genre, limiting the listening public to fans of that particular musical style. As on-air stations began to see artists crossing over from one type of material to another, formatting began to change, expanding listenership and creating more opportunities for what we now call “oldies music” radio to expand. Additionally, as artists began to explore fusions in musical styles while taking greater risks, radio stations began to create alternative formats that allowed new music to flourish and be heard.

Not to be overlooked is how some of the important early live concerts in oldies music have affected this important evolution. These concerts were actually the forerunners of inclusively, bringing a wide variety of artists together onstage and introducing new genres to primed and waiting audiences.

Three Days of Peace and Music

The most seminal concert of this kind was Woodstock. Born from a concept created by four enterprising men (the oldest of whom was 26), the concert was initially formulated to raise money for a recording studio in Woodstock, New York where artists such as Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were looking to hang their hats now and then. The idea was to create a festival called the “Aquarian Exposition”, which took its name from “the age of Aquarius” out of the radical hit musical of the time, “Hair”.

The concert took place on August 15, 1969, officially beginning at 5:07 PM and heralding in what was called “three days of peace and music”. The idea was new and the set-up for artists was unprecedented as well, as the entrepreneurs had to guarantee paychecks to the bands in order to persuade them to play. Woodstock Ventures was thus able to engage some of the biggest acts of the time, including today’s oldies music hits such as the Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Who, Cream, Grateful Dead, and Ravi Shankar. Some of these bands were paid more than they’d ever received for a concert, which ended up costing the entrepreneurs a sum that was considered enormous for the time, a whopping $118,000 for talent alone. Once these big name artists were committed, the festival gained credibility luring more artists to sign up. After all was said and done, Woodstock eventually cost more than 2.4 million dollars.

What’s Going On

The 60′s was a decade that was chock full of political events. Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were assassinated, the war in Vietnam was taking a huge toll on the country and its youth, and racial issues created a mounting pressure cooker. The generation gap that formed due to the draft, political divisions, and new affirmations on questioning authority in every way became a force of nature.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll also defined the generation, separating those “on the bus” from those off the bus. Woodstock and that era of oldies music became the emblem of what was seeded in the 60s and an eventual part of our cultural lexicon as it defined what it was to be a part of the growing protest, which included draft dodgers, black militants, gays and lesbians, and everyone in between.

Hear Me, Film Me

Roughly 500,000 people attended the Woodstock festival. A sound system large enough to accommodate this enormous oldies music audience spread out over a large outdoor space had to be created. This proved to be a challenge that eventually was solved and led the way to big business opportunities in the rock concert scene: the formulation of speaker systems that could handle overwhelming decibels while delivering clear sound to the people.

The festival promoters were smart enough to realize that they needed to chronicle the event, so they hired a cameraman/director of independent films to do so. Michael Wadleigh had never had an assignment quite like this. He got some New York filmmakers to help, including heavyweight director Martin Scorsese, but was still unable to get funding as film executives were gun-shy after the low box office profits from the filming of the Monterey Pop Festival. The deal they finally struck was to pay the filmmakers double or nothing once the film came out. The film, “Woodstock,” directed by Wadleigh and edited by Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature and a nomination for Best Sound. Rock concert documentation suddenly became big business.

Crossing Genres

How the Woodstock festival played out is the stuff of legend and has been documented by many. That it brought together not only so many people, but also so many diverse oldies music sounds – from folk to ballad, Indian to hard driving rock n roll, and more, helped pave the way for crossing genres over the air ways as radio stations saw the huge appeal as well as the revenues to be made from the combination.

The second time around – not necessarily a charm

In the 1990s, impresarios tried to exploit the Woodstock phenomenon again. But the festival lacked the authenticity and soul of the original, proving that if people do not share common beliefs and values, cohesiveness is difficult to achieve. It is rare that a true original can successfully be replicated.

Alternative Sounds Open the Market

Years later another type of revolutionary concert was envisioned and accomplished. The Lollapalooza festival, created in 1991 by Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addition, managed to formulate a workable festival that unlike Woodstock, would bring itself to the people through touring.

Lollapalooza featured artists outside the mainstream such as alternative rock bands, hip hop and punk musicians, new generation artists, as well as dance and comedy performers. The festival exposed bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Souxie & the Banchees, and Hole as well as new and as yet unsigned groups. Grunge was featured as a viable genre, and mosh pits and crowd surfing reached their heights as interactive elements that defined the concert experience beyond its oldies music beginnings.

More people saw and participated in Lollapalooza than any other musical festival to date. Farrell coined the term “Alternative Nation” to describe the musicians and their fans who were the emblem of new music forms bursting the conventional stereotypes. All went well until 1997 when the festival stopped touring. It was revived in 2003, but as with the Woodstock festival of the 1994, it too lacked soul and drove people away due to high ticket prices, a reflection of the big business roots it had grown. In 2005 Farrell partnered with the William Morris Agency to make it a fixed destination in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois where it has taken on a new success.

From the Concert Stage, to the Radio Play

Where we are today musically is due to the contributions of unique and ground-breaking festivals like the original Woodstock and Lollapalooza concerts. They set the stage for opening up the minds not only of people coming to hear the music, but also of studio executives, stadium impresarios, and most importantly, radio station programmers who recognize the importance of delivering the goods that stimulate listeners. As more bands and single artists appear on the stage, it is often through this type of concert exposure that they are able to make radio play; this approach has held true for artists from oldies music to the present. Opening up for a major act on a concert stage is a powerful way to get a record exec’s attention, especially if the fans are in full support. From there, if the radio stations are providing adequate venues to handle burgeoning sounds, everyone benefits.

Cher, the sixty-three year old vocal legend, has announced that she will be coming back out of retirement, and beginning a world tour. The tour will kick off at Caesar’s Palace, in Las Vegas. The songstress is reportedly receiving sixty million dollars for the return. Cher states, “Work helps me a lot. I enjoy the work, but the work keeps you moving as well”.

Cher will be launching her new single, ‘Already Been There’ at the World Music Awards. There are eighteen additional songs to be placed on her deluxe edition album, thereafter.

Cher’s success at Caesar’s Palace began at age sixty-one, when she signed a three-year contract to play two hundred shows. The contract first began in May of 2008. These two hundred shows will conclude with her new tour, at The Coliseum. Cher also claims that she will be starring with singer, Christina Aguilera in an upcoming film entitled, Burlesque.

It’s no surprise that fans are anticipating the return of such a living legend. Cher has been the only female solo artist to stand on the Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 for four consecutive decades. She also holds a record for the ‘longest hit-making career span’. Her last ‘Farewell Tour’, which took place in 2005 was the second most successful tour by any other female artist.

Fans old and young have watched Cher’s successes for a long-running forty years. Seats have been booked months in advance to attend her current show, Cher at the Coliseum. Although, she was first recognized for her seventeen-year-old beginnings with Sonny Bono, her solo career has received much more attention. Cher is the only female solo artist to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in each of the previous four decades. Her single “Believe” was the best selling single of 1999, selling over 10 million copies worldwide. She also holds the Hot 100 record for the longest hit-making career span. Altogether, Cher has sold over 100 million records worldwide.

And this doesn’t even include her acting career. Despite making cameo appearances, she was cast in the movies Come Back To The Five and Dime, Silkwood, Mask, Suspect, The Witches of Eastwick, Moonstruck, Mermaids, and Tea With Mussolini – to name a few. She was given the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in the movie Silkwood, and nominated by the Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in Mask. She won an academy award for best actress and a Golden Globe Award for her role in Moonstruck.

What else makes Cher an icon? Her trendsetting in the fashion industry. Cher popularized long straight hair, bell-bottoms and an exposed midriff. She was noted to be the first female to expose her bellybutton on television. In 1989, she caught the attention of media moguls for her thong and fishnets that she wore during a music video on the U.S. Navy’s USS Missouri. The video was considered so racy; it was banned until after 9 p.m.

Lastly, Cher is known for her many marriages and relationships. Her marriage to Sonny bono lasted from 1964 to 1975. After that, Cher married rock star Gregg Allman, where she had her son Elijah Blue Allman. Cher dated Elvis Presely, Marlon Brando, Gene Simmons, Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Richie Sambora, and Eric Clapton – to name a few.

How will the 63-year-old do during her comeback tour? Most likely, tickets will sell out, as with all of her performances. No matter how many years go by, Cher seems to always stay on top.

Jeff Bachmeier is owner of 977music.com, an online music and online radio station network providing live streaming Internet Radio channels with music from the 50’s thru Today. Users can also choose to create their own customized on demand playlist through their own social media profile. For more information please visit http://www.977music.com.

By Michele Kadison

Considered the Golden Age of pop music, what is known as “Oldies” music includes works created during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The term, “oldies, but goodies” was coined in 1957 by renowned DJ Art Laboe, who kept getting requests to hear songs from the early 50′s on his radio show. The name stuck, even to the point where in 1961, a song by Little Caesar and the Romans hit the charts called, “Those Oldies But Goodies (Remind Me of You).” Laboe eventually put together a compilation of songs from the era called “Oldies But Goodies” that was on the Billboard top 100 chart for over three years and enjoyed 14 sequels to date.

Oldies Music: The Early Days

The Classic Oldies music of the 50s and early 60′s signify music you can to dance to, sing along to, and fall in love to. With their lyric-driven intensity and their melodic sound, this era epitomizes the golden age of pop music. When the 1960′s came into view, the music began to become more complex and the groups became more diverse in their expression. The singer/songwriter was born, with individuals and bands ranging from folk to pop to rock continuing to break all the rules. Additionally we had a phenomenon called the British Invasion, which changed the face of rock n roll forever.

The Oldies Music Evolution

The early 70′s brought a sound that mirrored what was going on in the burgeoning hippie culture of the time. Expressions of world peace, free love, civil rights, and women’s liberation took hold through rock, funk, and reggae sounds that came from both sides of the ocean.

Oldies: A Musical Revolution of the Times

The 50′s

The popularity of the Golden Oldies music came from vitality, innocence, and innovation. Never before had music sounded like this. Emerging from a myriad of musical styles that encompassed post World War II blues, jazz, and hillbilly country, which in turn emerged from the big band era along with boogie woogie, the Golden or Classic Oldies indicated the birth of rock n roll. Right around 1955 doo-wop groups began to form, showing off a rhythmic sound and strong backup vocals, with groups like the Del-Vikings singing “Come Go With Me,” the Marcels singing “Blue Moon,” and the classic romantic doo-wop ballad by the Five Satins, “In the Still of the Night.” At the same time, in 1955, Bill Haley came forward with a song that broke all the rules with “Rock Around the Clock” and the revolution began. When Elvis Presley appeared on the scene, things broke open wide. Even though Jerry Lee Lewis had been around before him with his wild and totally unorthodox performances and lifestyle, Elvis gave rock n roll permission to be sexy. He still exemplifies the apotheosis of the Rock Star, and will forever be referenced in this context. The label Sun Records, which signed Elvis and Jerry Lee, became the number one label for making many singers important stars of the time. Artists like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Ritchie Valens were also shaking up the scene with songs like “Mabelline, “That’ll Be the Day”, “Tutti Frutti,” and “La Bamba” respectively. Here was a whole new sound full of life and rebellion and the kids went wild.

Golden Oldies Music TV

As early as 1952, a local show emerged that featured artists of the time, providing a platform for them to be seen by their fans. In 1956 this little show had a change in hosts, with the young Dick Clark stepping in for Bob Horn and American Bandstand was born. It was picked up by ABC in 1957 and went on to become one of the biggest shows on television for showcasing talent, lasting all the way until 1989.

The 60′s

When Chubby Checker came out with “The Twist,” in 1960, the world was galvanized by the song and the gyrating dance that went with it. Then the early 1960′s brought the revolutionary sound of the Girl Groups. Here we had the sexy Shangra-Las singing “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand) along with the Shirelles, the Ronettes, and the Crystals.. Ike and Tina turner showed up with “River Deep, Mountain High” which featured the avante garde sound of producer Phil Spector and his “wall of sound.” With over 25 top 40 hits between 1960 and 1969, Spector’s creations dominated the charts.

Most of the oldies music songs of this time were written for the artists by a group of savvy songwriters holed up in the famous Brill Building in New York City. Soul singers such as James Brown and Marvin Gaye were very much a part of the time, along with blue-eyed soul artists such as The Righteous Brothers. In 1959, Berry Gordy had founded Motown Records in Detroit and created the Motown sound. Artists like The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and The Supremes are just a few of the heavyweights that made hit after hit at the time. Add to the list Stevie Wonder and The Jackson Five, along with many other famous names, and its easy to see how Motown packed its punch. And then came the Brits! The British invasion began with a historic moment in 1964 when a group called The Beatles debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show. After this, English groups began streaming in as American teens were overcome with Brit-mania. The Dave Clark Five, the Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Herman’s Hermits, Elton John, Petula Clark, and Dusty Springfield represent a mere smattering of the impact that the British invasion had on music of the day.

The 70′s

As the 1970′s approached, classic American rock was hitting its stride in oldies music with The Rascals, the Association, Fleetwood Mac, The Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, The Birds, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, and The Doors. The drug culture was beginning to define rock n roll in the late 60′s, spawning the most famous outdoor rock concert ever: Woodstock. Singers like Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and Papas, The Beach Boys, and the Lovin’ Spoonful added to the mix as singer/songwriters were taking their place in the firmament. Folk artists like Peter, Paul, and Mary, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Judy Collins were already making their mark in the 60′s. Richie Havens, Carly Simon, Carole King, John Denver, Cat Stevens, and James Taylor enriched the time with their pointed and sensitive songs that made listeners think.

Rock kept growing, with more imports from overseas such as Rod Stewart and the Faces, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, and the androgynous David Bowie, who gave us permission to explore a wider range of personal expression. Funk music was another genre that made the 70′s so musically rich and diverse. Here was George Clinton, Parliament, and Funkadelic along with Earth, Wind, and Fire, the Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang, and Bootsy Collins heating up the floor and making way for the disco generation to come. From folk rock to psychedelic rock, soul, the Motown sound, and bubblegum pop, 70′s music reflected what was going on in the culture, which meant revolution and change. As the 70′s moved on, other musical styles similar to oldies music began to take root from these sounds, and the beat moved on.

Natalie Merchant, the once singer-songwriter for the 10,000 Maniacs, who eventually went out on her own as a great success, has now come out with her next album – “Leave Your Sleep”. Nonesuch Records stated the album was released worldwide April 13. Promoting the album, Merchant is performing a series of release parties and concerts in several major American cities.

Natalie Merchant was born in Jamestown, New York. Her mother encouraged her to study music and wouldn’t allow her four children, including Natalie, to watch TV until they were 12. Merchant said they were taken to the symphony often, as her mother loved classical music. Merchant admits she didn’t know much about any other type of music beyond classical and show-tunes, music her mother loved.

In 1981, Merchant started singing for a band called “Still Life”, which later changed their name to “10,000 Maniacs”. In 1993 she left the group to go out on her own. By 1995 she released her album “Tigerlily” which contained the famous single called “I May Know The Word”. The song was to appear on the soundtrack for the movie Philadelphia but was later cut. “Beloved Wife”, another song off of “Tigerlily” was featured in the trailer for the movie Message in a Bottle. The album also contained the song “River”, dedicated to River Phoenix, whom she defend and castigates the media for sensationalizing his death. Tigerlily was a success and pushed her single “Carnival” into the top 40 of singles. The album sold over 5 million copies.

After three years, Merchant released her second album “Ophelia”. This album would contain a lot of symphonic arrangements composed and conducted by British composer Gavin Bryars. Thirty different musicians were featured on the album. The album was meant to describe a series of women throughout time, who dared to question the patriarchal status quo and were often castigated. Merchant described “Ophelia” as being at once a “novice Carmelite”, a “suffragette”, a “circus queen,” a “demigoddess” and a “mafia courtesan.” The first single of the album “Kind and Generous” received massive airplay on VH1. Merchant also joined Sarah McLachlan performing in Lilith Fair, which helped push her album into Platinum status in under a year. Singles “Break Your Heart” and “Life Is Sweet” received only moderate airplay. Merchant made appearances on VH1, PBS and Hard Rock Live that year as well.

Merchant’s third album would be “Motherland”, released in 2001. The album achieved Gold on the Billboard charts with singles “Just Can’t Last, “Build A Levee” and “Tell Yourself”.

After “Motherland”, Merchant did not resign with her record company but released her next album “The House Carpenter’s Daughter” under her own label, Myth America Records. This was in 2003. Merchant later decided to resign with Nonesuch Records and now, in 2010, we see her album “Leave Your Sleep” being released. Financial Times claims “the album is a double album of poems set to music the traverses the whole range of American vernacular, from Bluegrass to Cajon to miniature chamber music, and beyond.”

Jeff Bachmeier is owner of 977music.com, an online music and online radio station network providing live streaming Internet Radio channels with music from the 50’s thru Today. Users can also choose to create their own customized on demand playlist through their own social media profile. For more information please visit http://www.977music.com.