This could be the stupidest analogy ever, as pertains to Jazz Music, but I can always change it later if it starts to sound absurd to me over time….
….but, the best analogy of the impact of “Mister Magic”, is likened to the what was called the “Christmas Truce” that took place very early in World War I, that first Christmas in 1914.
Basically, the Germans in many sectors of the line, came out of their trenches, and called a truce with their enemies, the French-British Allies. They exchanged German Sausage for French Wine, helped bury each other’s dead, held joint Christmas Church services…
…even spontaneous games of Soccer between the two sides are said to have broken out all over the Western Front that Christmas.
The same effect came from Grover Washington’s classic “Mister Magic”, which dropped a little after Christmas in early 1975…
…as a temporary truce broke out between the forces of “Real Jazz”, and their arch enemy, the forces of the “Smooth Jazz/R&B/Soul” Alliance, and most from both camps stopped and enjoyed the song.
However, some Jazz Loyalists claimed it was a bogus, watered down version of Real Jazz (my father called it “Fake Jazz” though I caught him bobbing his head to it one morning while shaving…go figure).
However, many other pure Jazzists were extremely happily about the money making opportunities and exposure, now that something remotely similar to their art form was on the radio.
Even Grover acknowledges and addresses the tension in the “shooting war” that erupted between the forces of “Real Jazz” and the forces of “Smooth Jazz”.
On the back of the “Mister Magic” album cover, it mentions the now infamous story of a Grover performance at a popular Jazz spot in New York, with a lot of Pop and Crossover material in Grover’s set.
One of the most hard core New York jazz critics came in to listen, scowling all night at the bar at this desecration of, and betrayal to, Real Jazz.
…..but, by the end of the set, even though his scowl remained, that hard core “Pure Jazz” Critic had to concede those now infamous three little words about Grover…..
”Cat Can Play”
The inspiration for my song is actually not Grover, but from Cuban Jazzist Atruro Sandoval (I’ve been enjoying his stuff over the past 4-5 years).
But Sandoval is a classic case of the paradox of the definition of what is Real Jazz. Meaning, the Afro/Cuban, Latin Jazz style of Sandoval has so many components that American Jazz critics shun as not real Jazz.
Meaning, Sandoval often has these heavy, repetitive Latin backbeats, and Latin Grooves that often dominate or play on equal footing with spontaneous jazz solos.
Many of Sandovol’s songs are [arguably] Latin Dance Music, but American Jazz lovers would never see an American Jazz song as “Dance-able”. Check out Sandoval’s “Funky Cha-cha” as my fav’ example.
It’s because of Sandoval that I had to make my final “ride out” solo at the song’s end be a trumpet solo instead of sax solo, I love that high energy trumpet sound.
Sandoval was up here in Seattle at the Dimitrious Jazz Alley and was simply “slaying” it. He finished his set with a high octave, piercing trumpet solo that almost burst every wine glass in the place..
“Cat Can Play” …..
The war between the forces of “Real Jazz” and “Smooth Jazz” never truly ended. Today, it’s more analogous to the Korean conflict, with two sides staring at each other across a heavily fortified border.
Like South Korea, Real Jazz was content with surviving with the integrity of its unique and special art form intact, which, when all was said and done, was the way it should be …..
But, for a brief 5 minutes (9 minutes on the long playing version) in 1975, a little after Christmas, most of us participated in the Real Jazz vs. Smooth Jazz “Christmas Truce”…..
When one song got it right (or as right as you can possibly get it with two arguably incompatible art forms)….
And whether your thing was Jazz, or Blues, or “Smooth Jazz/Crossover Jazz”, or Soul, or R&B, or Funk, or Pop, or even Gospel….
…..most of us stopped and tasted this one sweet piece of fruit that fell off the tree of Black Music, the tree whose roots are grounded in Mother Africa,
…a tree whose branches spread across the Atlantic to the USA, the Caribbean, and Brazil, and beyond.
Me, a.k.a., “The One Man Band” knows how to stay in my lane in my “Jam Session”, let’s call my lane “Contemporary Soul Instrumental, Smoothed Out, on an R&B tip, with Old School Feel, appeal, to it…”
(…that’s in case I get pulled over and harassed by the “Jazz Police” in social media) 🙂
Anyhooze, jumping to yesterday…
…I’m taking my first shower after finishing my video, and as always, my mind, a pretty harsh critic of my own music, is dissecting my just completed “Mister Magic” song note by note as I shower up.
My mind can be viciously harsh one me, it truly hated my first version of my Alicia Keys song to the point where it forced me to do that first song over.
My mind often has to remind me that he is the main audience of my music……
I’m waiting for my mind to say stuff like, “you could have used less treble on that snare drum track, why didn’t you add more reverb on your guitar solo? “ , etc., etc. .
But, my mind surprised me, he didn’t give a long harsh critique as he did on my first 6 songs, he simply game me the ultimate compliment, those infamous three little words…..
“Cat Can Play”…..
How Smooth Jazz Took over the 90’s: Great video on the Smooth Jazz vs. Real Jazz Wars (not just about Kenny G., but how Kenny intersects with Grover, how Grover intersects with Benson, how they all intersect with Miles, VERY interesting!!!)
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Life, just like music, is all about…..
“…finding your ‘Frequency’ “
“…finding your ‘Vibration’ “
“…finding your ‘Wavelength’ “
-Doug Wallace (me)
~stay healthy~
Click here or photo below for all my tracks in….
“Music is the Best Medicine”!!!
(a.k.a., “The Soundtrack of My Life”) 
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