Smooth jazz has gotten a bad rap for decades. It’s often associated with background music for elevators or the soundtrack at the dentist office. Smooth jazz is less a genre of music than a highly researched radio format and, although it’s heyday was in the 1990s and it’s mostly associated with Kenny G, its origins go back the mid 1960s when a select few jazz musicians crossed over to pop music and had music purists riling. Artists like Grover Washington Jr. and George Benson took the style to new heights and created the sound that we all know and love.
