Jazz Fusion is Not Smooth Jazz

Given it's Jazz Fusion Week here on Rock Revival I thought it would be important to make a clear distinction between Jazz Fusion and Smooth Jazz, given the terms are often mixed up.

Smooth Jazz is massively popular in the United States to this date. It's also known as 'West Coast' and certainly as 'elevator music and broke out in the 80's as did so many commercialised and over-produced forms of music

The ultimate travesty is Kenny G, a man that couldnt be more different from Miles's fusion project or Mahivishnu if you tried.

Pierro Scaruffi rightly calls smooth jazz "...mellow, bland, romantic music" made by "mediocre musicians" and "derivative bands." Al Jarreau, Randy Brecker, Lee Retinour, Earl Klugh are all guilty of this.

So read on over the next few days and we'll continue to demonstrate that Fusion is not Smooth Jazz.