As the old saying goes, "You have to go back before you can go forward." And that means you should learn the tradition of the instrument to gain greater knowledge and bring more depth to your playing.

CALL HIM POP. Call him jazz. Call him, if you must, a smooth operator. But whatever you do, don’t call the music that trumpeter Chris Botti makes smooth jazz. “We’re not smooth jazz,” Botti says, ...

Former Earth, Wind and Fire multi octave head liner, Philip Bailey, continues to put the ingredients of both smooth jazz and soul into a shaker, giving it a vigorous churn, then pouring out his own ...