Smooth jazz was a tough sell to European record executives in the mid-1980s. That's when Acoustic Alchemy was just emerging, and the England-based band was a lukewarm commodity. It took a trip ...

Back in 1981, Nick Webb and Simon James, two enterprising British music school students, decided to start an instrumental acoustic jazz band focused on dueling steel- and nylon-string guitars. Mind ...

Drake Allen is known for bringing his smooth acoustic sound across the Valley. His influences include a wide range of genres from rock, blues, pop, soul, funk, country. “I am also influenced by singer ...

Those who crowd into the Hollywood Bowl for the JVC Jazz Festival know what to expect: a marathon injection of so-called smooth jazz. And with one refreshing exception during this edition, there was a ...

Greg Carmichael never really wanted to be a solo performer. “Didn’t think I had the personality or desire to do it. I was more interested in playing in a band. It was more fun to be part of a team,” ...

Guitarist David Rogers. Photo by Christopher Briscoe. Listen to a night full of smooth jazz, Brazilian choro and Baroque music played on a keyboard, double bass and guitar. Choro is an instrumental ...

Saxophonist David Sanborn, asked how he thinks listeners will react to Quartette Humaine, is frankly stumped. "It's always a mystery to me, what people are going to like or not like," he says, over ...

Take an ophthalmologist called Claudio Allia. Team him with a sound engineer who goes by the name of Riccardo Samperi. Add some red wine and zen. The setup is complete for the duo (of men) who go as ...