Smooth jazz seemed like it would dominate forever.But then, everything changed.In the early 2000’s Arbitron, the firm that measures audiences, introduced a new technology,The Purple People Eater —I’m sorry I meant to say the “Portable People Meter.”It’s this little beeper — people believe it killed smooth jazz.PPM, which is still in use today – is an electronic beeper that captures audio tones masked inthe signal of radio broadcasts. Basically, it picks up audience listenership automatically.It replaced a decades-long practice of using paper diary entries to measure audiences.“People would write down for a week what they listened to and they would turn it in. Very easy for people to do.”“It went from that to,what we want to ask you to do is wear this on your belt all dayand we want you to do this for a year.”But it often didn’t work with smooth jazz.The format’s soft, ambient sound didn’t allow for the signal to be consistently maskedin the music without being discernable to listeners – if the signal wasn’t embedded,the beeper just couldn’t register it.Polling site Fivethirtyeight tracked the number of six large-market smooth jazz stationsbefore and after PPM – in each instance they either changed formats or shutdown entirely.But it might not have been all PPM’s fault“I think it’s a reflection of what our economy did.Our station went off the air when everything crashed.”Smooth jazz radio was music for ordinary, everyday people trying to get through theirday stress-free.It certainly never cared about critics during its solid 20 year run, and unlikestraight-ahead jazz, it didn’t care so much about challenging the listener either.And it’s why from the 1960s to the ’90sanything written about the music looked like this:But dig deep into smooth jazz’s history and you’ll find some really exciting music.“There was an album Herbie Hancock did call the “New Standard.”“Oh man that was good.I’d come off there talking about that.”“I was like, Oh this is what this is why I’m doing what I’m doing.”Or go even further back to Grover Washington Jr.’s “Winelight.”“And just listen to it as you’re cooking dinner or something.”“It’s just chill, man. And it’ll give you a feeling for why people fell in love with this music.For such a long time.”
The greatest album covers of jazz
Blue Note captured the refined sophistication of jazz during the early 60s, giving it its signature look in the process.
yeah that is dynamite. One of the thingsthat amazed me was what I call thepullback effect. Take Hank Mobley’s noroom for squares. There was a new subwaystation that was built. It was unlike anyother subway stop. It had these metalconcentric circles. Now try to find thefinal album cover there. It is thepullback shows you the whole image andit gives you an insight into the eye ofthe designer that I think is absolutelyamazing
The most feared song in jazz, explained
Making sense of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.”
The secret chord that makes Christmas music sound so Christmassy
Hint: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” uses it. For more about the secret chord, read more from Adam Ragusea here: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/mu…