Pop Jazz

For terms of definition within our jazz world here we have chosen to limit the Pop Jazz category to a more jazz based form of "pop tunes" generally played by jazz artists throughout the late 70's and into the current time frame. This music tends to be either vocal-based simplified jazz songs or orchestrated (often string backed) jazz targeted toward a broader based popular audience than the formal jazz idiom tends to hit.

This style was often driven by recording companies in the 70's to provide a more marketable approach for jazz to counteract the decline in sales of jazz albums. Strong hard bop artists from the 60's such as Wes Montgomery and Grant Green unfortunately made some of their last recordings in the format. Some other examples include George Benson's famous recording "Weekend in LA" as well as Chuck Mangione's mid-70's recordings such as "Land of Make-Believe". The 80's and 90's has shown some cross-over interest in this format but with the strong resurgence of Bop and Swing during this time there has been less of a drive.