Rediscovering Smooth Jazz Music

A few months ago, my husband gave our daughter a beat up and old clock radio and introduced her to smooth jazz music. To say this has been a huge hit is an understatement! This 8-year-old and her 2-year-old brother have gone crazy for smooth jazz. Music has always filled our house in various forms, and right now smooth jazz is all the rage. My son, who has just learned to put words together, regularly asks me, "Do you want to listen to smooth jazz, Mommy?"

So off we go to listen to smooth jazz artists on a hand-me-down clock radio. In doing so, I've been rediscovering some of my old favorite jazz musicians such as Lee Ritenour, Spyro Gyra, Al Jarreau, Kenny G, Sade, and the Rippingtons. However, listening to smooth jazz music on an old radio leaves a bit to be desired. I had a few choices: dig out my old jazz CDs and play them on my home stereo, tune into the smooth jazz music station offered by my cable company, head online to Pandora for some streaming jazz music, or check out Rhapsody's jazz section. In my quest to rediscover smooth jazz, I did a bit of each.

While it was fun listening to my old jazz CDs, and you can't beat the sound quality of my home stereo, I had the most fun exploring Rhapsody's offerings on my laptop. I have a monthly account where I can download unlimited music to my MP3 player. I can also listen to all of Rhapsody's music selections online. While Rhapsody didn't have a subcategory for smooth jazz, they did have several jazz music categories including: acid jazz, avant garde jazz, big band, blues jazz, bop, cool/west coast jazz, fusion, jazz piano, jazz funk, Latin and world jazz, New Orleans and early jazz, pop jazz, soul jazz, swing, and vocal.

Since I had already enjoyed listening to classic smooth jazz artists on CD, I decided it was time to discover the smooth jazz artists of today. And discover I did! Chris Botti, Norah Jones, and Diana Krall are now on my list of favorite jazz musicians. In addition, other favorite jazz singers, such as Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald, have new albums out.

The sounds of smooth jazz have filled my home over the last few months and I have rediscovered this beautiful genre of music. I owe it all to a beat up old clock radio.