Smooth Jazz is great but doesn't seem many Americans listen to it, why?

Question

I keep hearing that hardcore jazz people say it's all fake and not real jazz... then, the rest of the population doesn't even like it. But i don't get why. It's awesome.

And there's real musicians playing it. i had heard about the fact that they use drum machines, but i know real people play the saxes, the flutes, and guitars and basses,,, everything. and maybe sure, they may use drum machines at times for recordings, but the main stuff is played by real people. And when smooth jazz artists play live.. they play everything real. including drums.

smooth jazz is excellent. why don't people like it. ? Do americans prefer songs with a singer singing? Do they not appreciate instumental music, with instruments only?

Answer 1

I think the reason a lot of Americans don't like it is because they use it to numb us in elevators and while we are on hold. So most associate it with being bored and having to wait. It's a conditioning thing.

Answer 2

I have an answer for you.

Smooth jazz is "on the surface". The musicians don't dig in and explore the musical terrain and break rules like real jazz musicians do. Most people are on the surface, and that's where they like their music. Smooth jazz sells more records and makes more money. The smooth players know it.

Plus, smooth jazz musicians are people that could have been real musicians but sold out. I went to a jazz festival last year, and all the bands were real. However, the closing band of the whole festival was Boney James (super huge smooth player). The festival went from a music concert to a stage show. The focus was on pleasing the crowd, not creating art. Chris Botti was there to and talked, very charmingly to the crowd, but his music was not interesting.

To summarize...
Smooth players are middle of the road, trying to give the crowd what they want motivated.
Real jazz is about the musicians playing on stage and working out the music and exploring the possibilities. The process is the important thing, not the result.

I'm not taking sides.

Answer 3

Yep, had 'Watercolors' on Sirius in this morning on a thank you to artwork. stressful to assert, I do like sax, so i assume David Sanborn. I additionally like electric powered bass, Wayman Tisdale is extremely good- RIP.