The NEW Adult Contemporary format...Smooth AC

[cklw800]

With vocals on by The Pussycat Dolls, John Legend, Kelly Sweet, Robin Thicke, Corinne Bailey Rae, Michael Buble, Babyface (doing James Taylor's "Fire And Rain"), new Chaka Khan (a remake of "You Belong To Me") along with instrumental remakes by Dave Koz (Pink Panther), U-Nam (Street Life), Kirk Whalum remaking his own "The Wave", Jeff Golub/Richard Elliot doing "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I Got)" you basically are forming a new format, with help from the artists---SMOOTH AC. At the R&R convention, a panelist suggested taking the "jazz" out of the format name. Smart. Some others have stated that the "jazz" word in the format name seriously violates listener expectations. Criticism of the format would virtually disappear by taking the word out. Look for the increased amount of remakes on new releases. Even songwriter Babyface gave up writing for his new CD "Playlist" doing songs by James Taylor, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. An R&B artist! So everyone's catching on that the format as it is has got to go. R&B and pop artists will do remakes along with even alternative and rock artists softening up their sound for a song or two with remakes for SMOOTH AC. And the instrumental artists will survive. They will add vocalists more and more to their music with remakes. I look for this to happen in a big way in 2008. SMOOTH AC is basically in its infancy right now.

 

[hieroglyph]

You call the term "Smooth AC" smart? No disrespect but the this is one of the primary reasons why the jazz as we know it is in danger of suffering more woes these days. It's enough that entities like Broadcast Architecture is killing the format slowly but IMHO I think that redefining smooth jazz as smooth AC will just not fit. I understand that there are various artists that are crossing over in the genre but why reinvent the wheel? What are you going to call the artists that used to make old school R&B or rock-n-roll who are recording "standards" or "straight ahead" jazz? As a programmer myself, I'm faced with the everyday challenges of either playing certain material or just toss it away like a frisbee. A lot of the projects out right now are not jazz or smooth jazz. To a certain degree we have forgotten what jazz is and if the people who have an impact on regulating on the criteria of the smooth jazz format continue to have their way, what's left of the term that we know as jazz will face sure extinction.

 

[1316wwood]

I love smooth jazz and the artists but - the format is becoming the new Easy Listening don't you think? It's all covers.

 

[AnotherCat]

I never been a fan of using the word "jazz" because it scares people and it shifts their perception of the music coming in. If you just play the song they love it, if you tell them it's "jazz" the barriers come in perceptually and they are less open to it. Coming out of a CHR/AC background and doing brunch shows on that type of stations I have always presented this music as pop instrumental music, not "jazz." If you look back to the time when instrumentals were crossing over never used the word 'jazz" to refer to them. When we played songs like "Songbird" "Lily Was Here" or "You Make Me Smile" on our regular A/C airshifts we treated them like any other song on the playlist, they were great songs that just happeed to not have a singer in front. I rarely used the word 'jazz' on my brunch shows and I just demoed one that has a title that refers to the coastal location of the station and I don't use the word 'jazz' but once an hour buried in a sweeper.

That being said (and this is critical). There is a big difference between not using the word "jazz" but stil playing a lot of pop instrumental music and smooth A/C wich is an easy listening format that will only rarely be using pop instrumental music by this time next year. But then nature abhors a vacuum...so this may not be a bad thing evolution wise.

The format has become in some cases easy listening and in other cases a rather bizarre eclectic mix (Fergie into Brubeck on the Baltimore station) Also it has become an outlet for marginal A/C vocals because it is cheaper to promote a song SJ which has only 25 or so significant stations and one company controlling their playlists than it is to promote to A/C which has multiple consultants and a lot of influential stations. Razor and Tie seems to have had good luck with this tactic as both Ryan Shaw and Kelly Sweet are not very strong compared to the currents that real A/C stations are playing, and what Babyface did to James Taylor is just absolutely brutal. I found it interesting that BA is hyping this song so strongly and it was the lowest scoring vocal on the Jones music test when they tested it. A good illustration of the difference between industry culture acceptance and actual audience acceptance.

 

[AnotherCat]

one more question

Is there really a place for Smooth A/C in any market that already has several quality A/C outlets or one dominant one and could not demographically support an oldies station? What we are looking at here is basically an oldies format targeting 45-64 which doesn't exactly put you on the agency buyers hot list. The heritage stations with large default listenerships will do fine, people are creatures of habit and if they have listened to KKSF, WNUA, or the Wave for the last 15 years they will continue to do so regardless of format modifications because it is a habit and it still better serves them than anything else on dial, especially if there is no oldies station or the oldies station is more high energy. But will it fly as a startup? Find a site that shows the ratings and check out the BA affiliate in Jacksonville. That's pretty reflective of the impact of Smooth A/C in a market that skews young (avg age about 35) and has a strong heritage A/C station in place.