In the 1980s in jazz, the jazz community shrank dramatically and split. A mainly older audience retained an interest in traditional and straight-ahead jazz styles. Wynton Marsalis strove to create music within what he believed was the tradition, creating extensions of small and large forms initially pioneered by such artists as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called pop fusion or "smooth jazz" became successful and garnered significant radio airplay. Smooth jazz saxophonists include Grover Washington Jr., Kenny G, Kirk Whalum, Boney James, and David Sanborn. Smooth jazz received frequent airplay with more straight-ahead jazz in "quiet storm" time slots at radio stations in urban markets across the U.S., helping to establish or bolster the careers of vocalists including Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, and Sade. In this same time period Chaka Khan released Echoes of an Era, which featured Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. She also released the song "And the Melody Still Lingers On (Night in Tunisia)" with Dizzy Gillespie reviving the solo break from "Night in Tunisia".
According to Robert Christgau, in the 1980s Miles Davis capitalized on the popularity of the electric fusion style he had pioneered in the 1970s.[1] In the Newsweek article "The Problem With Jazz Criticism",[2] Stanley Crouch considered Davis' playing of fusion as a turning point that led to smooth jazz. In Aaron J. West's introduction to his analysis of smooth jazz, "Caught Between Jazz and Pop" he states, "I challenge the prevalent marginalization and malignment of smooth jazz in the standard jazz narrative. Furthermore, I question the assumption that smooth jazz is an unfortunate and unwelcomed evolutionary outcome of the jazz-fusion era. Instead, I argue that smooth jazz is a long-lived musical style that merits multi-disciplinary analyses of its origins, critical dialogues, performance practice, and reception."[3]
Acid jazz developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and was influenced by jazz-funk and electronic dance music. Vibraphonist Roy Ayers is considered a forerunner of acid jazz.[4] Although acid jazz often contains electronic composition (sometimes including sampling or live DJ cutting and scratching), it is just as likely to be played live by musicians who showcase jazz interpretation as part of their performance. Nu jazz is influenced by jazz harmony and melodies. There are usually no improvisational aspects. It ranges from combining live instrumentation with beats of jazz house, exemplified by St Germain, Jazzanova, and Fila Brazillia, to more band-based improvised jazz with electronic elements such as that of The Cinematic Orchestra, Kobol, and the Norwegian "future jazz" style pioneered by Bugge Wesseltoft, Jaga Jazzist, Nils Petter Molvær, and others. Nu jazz can be very experimental in nature and can vary widely in sound and concept.
Jazz rap developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and incorporates jazz influence into hip hop. In 1988, Gang Starr released the debut single "Words I Manifest", sampling Dizzy Gillespie's 1962 "Night in Tunisia", and Stetsasonic released "Talkin' All That Jazz", sampling Lonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starr's debut LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy (Wild Pitch, 1989), and their track "Jazz Thing" (CBS, 1990) for the soundtrack of Mo' Better Blues, sampling Charlie Parker and Ramsey Lewis. Gang Starr also collaborated with Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. Groups making up the collective known as the Native Tongues Posse tended towards jazzy releases; these include the Jungle Brothers' debut Straight Out the Jungle (Warlock, 1988) and A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (Jive, 1990) and The Low End Theory (Jive, 1991).
In 1987, the US House of Representatives and Senate passed a resolution proposed by Democratic Representative John Conyers Jr. to define jazz as a unique form of American music stating, among other things, "...that jazz is hereby designated as a rare and valuable national American treasure to which we should devote our attention, support and resources to make certain it is preserved, understood and promulgated."[5]
See main article: article and 1980 in jazz.
Invisible Frames
Cerberus
As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls
Changing Seasons
Free Mammals
Film Noir
Step by Step
Double Indemnity
Underneath It All
Callings
Are You Glad to Be in America?
All Out
Eye on You
See main article: article and 1981 in jazz.
Episteme (1981)
Topology (1981)
Psalm (1981)
As Was (1981)
Spirit Music (1981)
Blues Forever (1981)
Aloha (1981)
The Ways of Freedom (1981)
Terrain (1981)
Home (1981)
Skizoke (1981)
In Holland (1981)
Nasty (1981)
Rainbow Gladiator (1981)
Black Paladins (1981)
Heart's Song (1981)
Word of Mouth (1981)
Special Identity (1981)
NRG Ensemble (1981)
The Angels of Atlanta (1981)
Paths Prints (1981)
Nigerian Marketplace (1981)
Aisha (1981)
Street Priest (1981)
Rainbow Suite (1981)
Eyewitness (1981)
Wynton Marsalis (1981)
Mujician (1981)
See main article: article and 1982 in jazz.
See main article: article and 1983 in jazz.
See main article: article and 1984 in jazz.
See main article: article and 1985 in jazz.
Current Trends In Racism (1985)
Bump The Renaissance (1985)
The African Game (1985)
Crowd (1985)
Lyle Mays (1985)
The Loneliness Of A Long-Distance Runner (1985)
Water Mystery (1985)
Transparency (1985)
Best Laid Plans (1985)
Borbeto Jam (1985)
Wun Wun (1985)
Vertical Currency (1985)
Ancient Dreams (1985)
Sixth Sense (1985)
Castles of Ghana (1985)
Outerbridge Crossing (1985)
Clairvoyant (1985)
Bass Desires (1985)
Chasers (1985)
Moon Alley (1985)
Black Codes (1985)
J Mood (1985)
Canyon (1985)
Civilization (1985)
Alien (1985)
Village Life (1985)
Vocalese (1985)
See main article: article and 1986 in jazz.
Cobra (1986)
Atlanta (1986)
Bospaadje Konijnehol I (1986)
16-17 (1986)
On the Edge Of Tomorrow (1986)
Outings (1986)
Mumbo Jumbo (1986)
Romance and Revolution (1986)
Fulton Street Maul (1986)
For Olim (1986)
Last Exit (1986)
In Suspect Terrain (1986)
Spice Of Life (1986)
Lyle Mays (1986)
Trespass (1986)
Guitar (1986)
The Snake Decides (1986)
Journey to the Urge Within (1986)
You Know the Number (1986)
Koln (1986)
Dance of Love Ghosts (1986)
Duotones (1986)
Synthesis (1986)
Short Life of Barbara Monk (1986)
Love Remains (1986)
Red Twist and Tuned Arrow (1986)
Tumbaito (1986)
See main article: article and 1987 in jazz.
See main article: article and 1988 in jazz.
Before We Were Born (1988)
Rag Bush And All (1988)
Turtle Island String Quartet (1988)
Street Dreams (1988)
Triplicate (1988)
Dynasty (1988)
Fields (1988)
Secrets (1988)
Beauty Based on Science (1988)
Music Revelation Ensemble (1988)
Psalm 122 (1988)
Fire and Ice (1988)
Usfret (1988)
Claude's Late Morning (1988)
Lookout for Hope (1988)
Impromptus (1988)
Truth is Spoken Here (1988)
Passage To Music (1988)
Trio + One (1988)
Stardust (1988)
Code Violations (1988)
El Camino (1988)
Evolution (1988)
Rejuvenate (1988)
See main article: article and 1989 in jazz.
Traveller's Tale
Fractured Fairy Tales
When All Else Fails
Worlds
Nimal
Stiletto
Phoenix
Re-Marrying For Money
Big Picture
Cantabile
Many Bobbing Heads
Let Them Say
This Lost Leg
Shadows on a Wall
Triangular
Blues Bred
Binaurality
Diamond in the Rough