Jazz Styles by Mark Gridley: The Soul Saxes and "Contemporary Jazz"

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

An 11th edition of Mark Gridley’s Jazz Styles is due out in December 2022, but in the meantime, this feature will provide you with a sample of what’s on offer in this informative and instructive book.

If you want to learn more about how the music is actually made, you may wish to check out a copy of Mark Gridley’s wonderful history and analysis which comes with a double CD full of examples so you can read the narrative and listen to an audio of what’s under discussion.

I decided to keep these references in the quoted text in case you’d like to sample the titles on YouTube.

Here’s a sample from Chapter 17 - 1980 to the Present.

“THE SOUL SAXES AND "CONTEMPORARY JAZZ"

The 1980s and 1990s saw the wide acceptance of a long tradition in funky, soulful saxophone styles. Jazz that emphasized grit more than melodic or harmonic complexity became immensely popular. These saxophone playing styles emulated singing and gospel singing by using short, simple phrases and voice-like cries, wails, and moans. The tone qualities were not the light-weight, dry, pale timbres associated with cool jazz saxophonists Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, or Paul Desmond. Nor were they the rich, lush, smooth timbres of swing era saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter. 

Instead, they were coarse, and were delivered with a hard-edged insistence. Their accompaniment sounds were rough, too, stressing granite stability, not the elasticity, variety, and surprises that typified bop-influenced approaches.

 

They established a groove and stuck with it. Usually electric instruments supplied these back-ups-organ, guitar, electric piano were common — and drummers played patterns more common to funk and soul music than bop traditions. Their models were the accompanists for singers James Brown and Sly Stone, and Latin American music. (For an example of the style, though not done by a player commonly identified with it, listen to Bennie Maupin's solo in Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," JCCD3 Track 7.)

Roots for the funky, soulful traditions had been evident during the 1940s with Earl Bostic and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. The most-used models became available during the 1950s and 1960s in the playing of several saxophonists from the American South, particularly Texas. Most had roots in bop, though often they simplified so much that bop character was not easily detected. (1) A prototype for this style was Fort Worth-born King Curtis (1934-1971), a tenor saxophonist on many New York recording sessions and a regular with the rock group called The Coasters, the singer Aretha Franklin, and the rock band led by Duane Eddy. (2) Another was Arkansas-born Junior Walker (1931-1995), the tenor saxophonist on Motown recordings with his own band, The All-Stars. (3) A number of these saxophonists had been with the band of singer Ray Charles during the  1950s and  1960s: Memphis-born Hank Crawford, Dallas-born David "Fathead" Newman,and Dallas-born James Clay. (4) Houston-born Wilton Felder" achieved considerable exposure when recording with pianist Joe Sample and the Jazz Crusaders, beginning in 1961. Interestingly, the Jazz Crusaders maintained popularity through to 1983 by changing their name to The Crusaders, decreasing jazz improvisation, and substituting funk-style accompaniment for bop-style accompaniment. (5) The style of North Carolina-born alto saxophonist Maceo Parker personifies the searing tone, insistent delivery, short, clipped phrases, and gospel singing-like exclamations that became popular somewhat later through David Sanborn and his disciples. Parker was heard often with singer James Brown.

In all the sounds of these saxophonists there was a "twang" that had not been present in the traditional jazz saxes, even those coming from the American South and Southwest: Lester Young, Ben Webster, Ike Quebec, Herschel Evans, or Charlie Parker. A quicker, steadier vibrato combined with an extra emphasis on scoops of pitch beginning important notes also helps distinguish the style from most hard bop and cool sax styles.  It is this characteristic, in addition to the striving for simplicity, that sets the soul saxes apart from the main stream of jazz saxophone sounds. After a period in which vibrato was slow, this soul sax style speeded it up.

Not all of the important roots for the soul saxes of the 1980s and 1990s came from the American South. (6) Pittsburgh-born Stanley Turrentine (1934-2000) had pioneered these traits during the 1960s, after first beginning his career in hard bop, then crafting an individual approach that emphasized simplicity and a very funky flavor. He devised an exceptionally melodic manner, far more concise than other hard bop styles. Quite significant in Turrentine's sound is a characteristic "twang" that was not common to hard bop but became essential to the soul saxes heard on smooth jazz radio. Turrentine preceded the (7) more influential Buffalo-born Grover Washington, Jr. (1943-2001) and may well be the stylistic grandfather of many soul saxes who are now classified as part of the "smooth jazz" idiom described next.

During the 1980s, these soul/funk influences were manifested in at least three different branches: (1) a refined "smooth jazz" style, (2) a rough, raw style, and (3) a more complicated, jazz-oriented style. Though the so-called "smooth" variant still had the edginess of its models' sound and retained the insistent, shouting quality that characterized its roots, this variant serenaded more than it exhorted. The style drew partly from the alto saxophone and soprano saxophone playing of Grover Washington, Jr., whose Winelight album sold over a million copies during the 1980s. Washington was not only an influence but also a successful example himself until his death in 2001. Washington was more widely known than his models Hank Crawford and David "Fathead" Newman (whose "Hard Times" recording significantly influenced Washington). Then Najee, Boney James, Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, and others crafted their own versions of this approach and attained prominence during the 1990s. By 2005, James and Koz were immensely popular and influencing disciples of their own. Koz even had his own radio show.

(1) The biggest seller among the smooth variant of soul saxes was Kenny G (b. 1959). By the mid-1980s he had already attained top-seller status. Building upon the 1960s style of Wilton Felder and 1970s style of Grover Washington, Jr., Kenny G softened their manners and simplified their tendencies toward melodic development. He stressed ornamentation more than generating new melodic ideas. The instrument heard most on his hits is the soprano saxophone, but he also plays the other saxophones. For example, his alto and tenor playing are prominent on the Silhouette album, allowing us to better detect his Washington and Felder roots, respectively. The music does not swing in the manner of 1930s jazz or the bop patterns of subsequent styles, but Kenny G does improvise. Moreover, he derives his music from the jazz tradition, which is obvious in his work with the Jeff Lorber Fusion band of the 1970s. No matter how they are classified by most jazz musicians or purist jazz fans, his CDs remain in the jazz racks of music stores, not in the rock, pop, or classical racks. Furthermore, his music is heard primarily on "jazz" radio, not on "classical" or "rock" radio.

To put Kenny G's success in perspective, we need to keep in mind that (a) selling 7,000 copies would be deemed a successful sales run for albums by most non-smooth jazz musicians, but (b) most failed to surpass 3,000, and (c) many excellent jazz albums sell in the hundreds, not the thousands. (By 2003, the average sales run for a good jazz album produced by an independent label, not by one of the big four conglomerates, was 500-800 copies.) Charlie Parker never had a gold record (500,000 copies), and John Coltrane only had one (A Love Supreme). By contrast, however, Kenny d's albums not only went gold, but usually multi-platinum (several million copies). His Silhouette sold more than four million copies, his Duotones album with the hit "Songbird" sold more than six million copies, and his Breathless sold more than 12 million copies. A pervasive part of the auditory landscape for about 20 years, his music is so common that millions of people hear it all the time, recognize that it is familiar, but don't know that it is Kenny G making the sound. With sales exceeding 50 million albums, he is the most popular saxophonist in jazz history and the top selling instrumentalist in music history as a whole, not just jazz.

(2) A second branch of the third generation of soul saxes is the rough, raw style that is extremely aggressive, almost scorching in its intensity. It is exemplified by alto saxophonist David Sanborn (b. 1945) and his disciples. Influenced in part by Maceo Parker and Hank Crawford, his alto sax presence was popular with a broad base of listeners for its very hot brand of funky playing. Almost untouched by bop, his style was fluent, bursting with energy, and densely packed with soulful phrases. It is distinguished by the immediate, emotional cry that characterized Hank Crawford's manner. 

Having toured with the Paul Butterfield Blues Rand and Motown singer Stevie Wonder during the 1970s, Sanborn was already an established voice in the hard-edged, soulful blues approach by the time he achieved the widest exposure during the 1980s on television. He appeared in his own television series, titled Night Music, and he frequently appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. His sound was also heard with such pop singing groups as the Rolling Stones, The Eagles, and David Bowie, among others. Sanborn was second only to Kenny G as the most widely heard saxophonist since 1986. Though hardly smooth, his playing could be heard frequently on "smooth jazz" radio. By 2002, he had sold about seven million albums world-wide. Seven of his albums sold more than 500,000 copies apiece. During the 1980s and 1990s, Sanborn continued to have significant influence on young, still-developing saxophonists, such as Dave Koz.

(3) A more complicated, more jazz-oriented branch of the soul sax tree emerged in the style of Michael Brecker (1949-2007). Beginning in 1970, he became a major force in saxophone styles, possibly more influential among non-smooth jazz saxophonists than anyone aside from Coltrane and Joe Henderson. Brecker invented a new approach by mixing the methods of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Stanley Turrentine with his own original ideas and the King Curtis/Junior Walker funky styles. Brecker's approach had its own vocabulary and became the most imitated jazz tenor sax style of the 1970s and 1980s. He emphasized virtuosity. Impressive speed and agility are hallmarks of his style; Brecker filled almost every moment with rapid-fire, multi-noted exclamations. It was as though he was racing all the time. (Listen to "Above and Below" from The Return of the Brecker Brothers  on JCCD3 Track 8.) His lines were packed with his own original patterns, often played in quadruple-time, and all delivered with a very hot, funky expression. He played with an intensity that never let up, even for a moment.

Brecker, like King Curtis, was known primarily as a sideman, though he was also involved as co-leader in bands called Dreams, The Brecker Brothers, and Steps Ahead- Hundreds of recording sessions employed him when a hot, fluid, funky flavoring was desired. His playing is heard on more than 900 albums. His sound was on recordings by Paul Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Richard Tee, and Steely Dan, to name just a few of the pop stars he accompanied. Not limited to the commercial funk role, Brecker also had been in demand for more straight-ahead, post-hard bop situations, as when he toured with Horace Silver and Herbie Hancock or recorded with McCoy Tyner. During the late 1980s, when he began making a new string of albums as a leader, he became better known than when he had served primarily as a sideman. By 2001, he had six albums out as a bandleader for the same company and had mounted several tours fronting his own groups.