By Jan Waring
 Mixing early day jazz with the musical influences of todays popular music creates a diverse, sophisticated and vibrant blend referred to as Contemporary jazz music. This metamorphosis has been taking place over the past four decades where each decade has blended the previous evolution with current styles, music and instrumentation.
The rationale for this creation was to appeal to the new generation of listeners with modifications and improvements in every aspect of the genre.
Contemporary jazz musicians have their own unique style, yet endeavor to maintain the integrity of the origins of American jazz. Contemporary jazz music focuses on the rhythms and does not incorporate the spontaneity of early day jazz performers.
History
Contemporary jazz music began in the late 1960s with early attempts to fuse together pop music and jazz. Trying to meld the two genres together, bands incorporated electrical instruments such as the guitar, bass guitar and electric piano. Eventually, electric synthesizers were added, which resulted in blending the sounds of jazz with pop music.
Contemporary jazz music continued to progress in
the early 1970s and further blended the different qualities found in the music of the day. This process was called fusion. Fusion was simply a merging of jazz with rock, funk, R&B, electronic music and world music. Jazz musicians married the forms and styles of jazz with electronic rock instruments and the rhythms of African-American music. This transformation created a new sound that appealed to the younger generation and held the interest of the older. It took on quite a following.
Soft Jazz
Contemporary jazz music continued its metamorphosis and eventually transformed into smooth jazz in the 1990s. Smooth jazz embodied the softer side of the saxophone, the muted expressions of the trumpet, calming timbre of the guitar, the steady beat of the bass and the constant tempo of the drums. These hallmark features of contemporary jazz music provided the background entertainment to conversation, romance and even aided students in providing an atmosphere for studies. This style of contemporary jazz music known as smooth or soft jazz followed closely on the heels of the New Age musical movement. This was a natural progression in incorporating the modified sounds of jazz with the popular New Age genre.
Jan Waring is an avid Jazz Music fan and writes many articles on the subject. Read more at Jazz 411.
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