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Smooth Move
www.kenford.net
Ken Ford
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Published: May 8, 2008
Updated: 05/07/2008 07:45 pm
Everybody responds differently when their "G spot" is hit.
Settle down; not that "G-spot." The "G-spot" in question is somewhere between the ears and the digestive tract, and it is activated when one hears the dulcet music of saxophonist Kenny G, the undisputed -- and some say wholly despicable -- king of smooth jazz.
When people hear G play, the reaction is either love or hate. There's not much middle ground.
"I don't like Kenny G," said a laughing/moaning Tucker Tharpe, the events director of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, when asked about him last week. "But don't hold that against me."
Carl Denerson, the president of Post Entertainment, a local music-promotion agency that specializes in bringing smooth-jazz performers to Winston-Salem, just laughed as he bobbed and weaved around the question, which was put to him in a number of ways.
Smart man.
The point is this: Kenny G is not without talent, far from it, and he has sold millions of albums. Smooth jazz -- a more embraceable, melodic and less frenetic form of jazz -- has become practically synonymous with G's sound.
And that can be a problem if you are Tharpe and Denerson, who, this year, have united to promote seven smooth-jazz concerts -- four of which feature nationally popular performers -- under the moniker of Downtown Jazz, formerly Fourth Street Jazz & Blues. It will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on select Friday evenings at Corpening Plaza.
Downtown Jazz is part of the annual Downtown Summer Music series, which also includes Alive After Five on Thursdays at Corpening Plaza and Summer On Trade on Saturdays at Sixth and Trade streets. The series begins today.
"There is definitely a misperception about what constitutes ‘smooth jazz' -- I certainly had preconceptions about it," Tharpe said. "But last year, we did a show, with the help of Carl, and it was the most popular event we did.
"I've since gone on and listened to a lot of these performers who are called smooth jazz, and I have changed my opinion about a whole lot of it."
Denerson understands Tharpe's observation; he's been there. Denerson has loved jazz music since he was young, starting with traditional jazz -- Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and so on. As he became an adult in Atlanta, he started going to jazz clubs to hear young contemporary jazz musicians, as Atlanta is considered a hotbed for contemporary jazz players.
"I just looked at the performer, looked at the quality of what he or she was doing, weighed the quality of the improvisation, and I was amazed at the quality of what I was hearing," he said. "The difference is that the music played by these younger musicians really gave you a melody you could hang on to. They each gave it a personal twist, but it was more acceptable to the ear of an uninitiated listener.
"When people think of jazz, they think of this fast, complicated music that is above their heads. But the very nature of jazz is thinking outside the box. And that is what smooth jazz, at its best, really is doing. It's a different take on quality playing that people can understand."
Denerson has been promoting smooth-jazz concerts in Winston-Salem since moving here three years ago. His shows -- usually done at the Arts Council Theatre -- are essentially a labor of love, as he makes his living working for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
His said that his shows have steadily grown in popularity as people have moved beyond the aural-wallpower stigma attached to smooth jazz.
"It's true that for years the term smooth jazz carried a bad connotation -- but I'm not gonna point fingers," he said, chuckling. "But things are changing as more and more young musicians are combining the timing and the improvisational aspects of jazz within songs that set and create moods."
He pointed to electric violinist Ken Ford, who will perform at Downtown Jazz on Friday, as an example of a musician who can play with orchestral beauty, then get fiery and funky within furious solos.
"Ford is going way out on a limb within the definition of smooth jazz," Denerson said. "His music is deep, it is felt, but at the same time, you don't have to figure it out. It can be enjoyed on many levels."
Tharpe agrees. "I've heard all the performers that we are bringing in, and I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked all of it," he said. "You can tell that you are listening to high-caliber music the minute you hear it. Some of it is relaxing, but some of it makes you dance. There is a lot of flexibility in it."
Denerson is just happy to get the chance to share the music he loves with the community -- for free. "In big cities, the cheapest ticket you will find for any of the people we are bringing in -- Ken Ford, Marcus Johnson, Dee Lucas and Joey Summerville -- would be $25," he said.
"From my standpoint as a promoter, this is a great way to get people to come and hear this music," he said. "I feel like I was meant to go on this journey, to help people find this music, and there is no better way to get people to try something new than to give it to them for free."
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