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Smooth Jazz Songs
The ''Billboard'' Smooth Jazz Airplay chart measures airplay spins on 15 smooth jazz radio stations in the United States. Chart history Artists with most number-one hits ;Artists with most Smooth Jazz Airplay No. 1s ''(as of May 31, 2025)'' :21 – Boney James :15 – Gerald Albright :14 – Richard Elliot :12 – Brian Culbertson :11 – Rick Braun :11 – Paul Brown :11 – Paul Hardcastle :11 – Dave Koz :11 – Cindy Bradley :11 – Vincent Ingala :10 – Nick Colionne :10 – Euge Groove :10 – Chris Standring :10 – Adam Hawley Songs at number-one for at least five weeks Women with number-ones ''(Debut date precedes name)'' * 2007 Mar 03 – Mindi Abair * 2007 Dec 08 – Candy Dulfer * 2008 May 24 – Jessy J * 2010 Feb 13 – Sade (singer), Sade * 2011 Sep 10 – Cindy Bradley * 2013 Jun 15 – Althea Rene * 2016 Feb 27 – Lindsey Webster * 2017 Apr 08 – Kayla Waters * 2018 Jun 09 – Magdalena Chovancova * 2018 Jul 21 – Ragan Whiteside * 2019 Apr 27 – Keiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smooth Jazz
Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to easy listening music on radio station programming from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz may be thought of as commercially-oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 1980s, displacing the more venturesome jazz fusion from which it emerged. It avoids the improvisational "risk-taking" of jazz fusion, emphasizing melodic form, and much of the music was initially "a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B." During the mid-1970s in the United States, it was known as "smooth radio"; the genre was not termed "smooth jazz" until the 1980s. The term itself seems to have been birthed directly out of radio marketing efforts. In an industry focus group in the late 1980s, one pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Braun
Rick Braun (born July 6, 1955) is an American smooth jazz trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and keyboards player, vocalist, composer, and record producer. Early life and education Braun was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dieruff High School. His mother was a self-taught pianist and banjoist. Braun played drums at Dieruff High School, and followed his brother in playing trumpet. In the 1970s, while attending the Eastman School of Music, he became a member of a jazz-fusion band, Auracle, along with, amongst others, keyboards player John Serry, saxophone and flute player Steve Kujala and vibes player Steve Rehbein (later Steve Raybine). The band worked with producer Teo Macero and Braun co-produced the second album City Slickers (minus John Serry and Steve Kujala). Career In the 1980s, Braun entered the pop music world, releasing an album in Japan as a singer. He then worked as a songwriter for Lorimar, writing the song "Here with Me" with REO Speedwagon which became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Culbertson
Brian Culbertson (born January 12, 1973) is an American smooth jazz/ R&B/funk musician and producer. His instruments include the synthesizer, piano and trombone. Early life and career Culbertson was born in Decatur, Illinois. As a child, he was musically skilled, having started playing piano at age eight, drums at nine, trombone at ten, bass in seventh grade, and euphonium in high school. Growing up, he listened to Sting, The Yellowjackets, George Duke, David Foster, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn, Chicago, and Earth, Wind and Fire. He attended and graduated MacArthur High School, where his father was a music teacher. He then moved to Chicago where he attended DePaul University. It was in college that he actually started working on a CD, gathering a group of musicians, recording a demo tape and sending it to the only person he knew in Los Angeles, Bud Harner, who would get him his first record deal. He is married to Michelle Culbertson, also known by her stage name Micaela H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is an American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for '' Summer Horns''. Biography Early life Elliot was born in the Scottish Highlands, but moved to Los Angeles, California with his family at the age of three. There, he became smitten with the R&B sound, particularly that of Motown. Career Elliot started out as a member of the jazz-rock unit, KittyHawk, playing lyricon (a wind synthesizer) and saxophone, and recording several albums with them. He then became a member of the funk band Tower of Power, playing tenor sax for five years during the 1980s. He also did a stint as a member of the Yellowjackets. He also worked on Stacy Lattisaw's 1986 album ''Take Me All the Way''. His solo career took off when he remade the Percy Sledge classic "When a Man Loves a Woman", which had also been remade by Michael Bolton. Other well-known songs include "In the Groo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Albright
Gerald Albright (born August 30, 1957) is an American jazz saxophonist. He earned Grammys for the albums ''24/7 (Gerald Albright and Norman Brown album), 24/7'' in 2012 and ''Slam Dunk'' in 2014 and was nominated for ''New Beginnings (Gerald Albright album), New Beginnings'' in 2008 and for ''Sax for Stax'' in 2009. Biography Albright began piano lessons at an early age, although he professed no interest in the instrument. His love of music picked up when he was given a saxophone that belonged to his piano teacher. It further reinforced when he attended Locke High School. After high school, he attended the University of Redlands where he was initiated into the Iota Chi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha and received a degree in business management with a minor concentration on music. He switched to bass guitar after he saw Louis Johnson (bassist), Louis Johnson in concert. After college, Albright worked as a studio musician in the 1980s for Anita Baker, Ray Parker Jr., Olivia Newton-Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boney James
Boney James (born James Oppenheim September 1, 1961) is an American saxophonist, recording artist, songwriter and record producer. He is a four-time Grammy Award nominee (Best Pop Instrumental Album, 2001, 2004, 2014 and Best Traditional R&B Performance, 2009) and a Soul Train Award winner (Best Jazz Album 1998). He has also received three NAACP Image Award nominations for Best Jazz Album. James has sold over four million albums, and has accumulated four RIAA Certified Gold Records. In 2009, ''Billboard'' magazine named James one of the Top 3 ''Billboard'' Contemporary Jazz Artists of the Decade. In 2024 James became the first artist to notch twenty #1 singles on the ''Billboard'' magazine SJ Chart. Biography James took up the clarinet at the age of eight, switching to sax when he was ten having spent his early teen years in New Rochelle, New York. He became musically influenced by the R&B Motown genre and saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. When he was fourteen his family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |