Orvil Ivie: Blog

I sometimes use MIDI backing track along with live looping - It’s not cheating! Most people (excluding musicians) love it.
I don't know if it should be part of a blog but....here's an article I came across online:

Rush, ZZ Top, Steve Oliver, Jeff Golub (many others) have been using MIDI backing tracks live pretty much ever since they were invented. Nobody accuses these artists of cheating; using a backing track allows these bands and countless others to enhance the audience experience.
At the other end of the scale are solo musicians and composers who want to get their music heard.
For a solo songwriter or instrumentalist, getting a band together to play your material is a very difficult proposition. You are asking a great deal of your musicians – you are asking them to play difficult material, and just to play the parts you wrote and make you look good. Most musicians' egos won't tolerate that kind of thing for long, unless you pay them, and for most soloists and vocalists playing [...]

Smooth jazz is a musical style that grew out of jazz fusion and is heavily influenced by R&B, funk, rock, blues and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination). Modern derivatives of the genre include the more-recent New Adult Contemporary format of broadcast radio. "Smooth jazz" has been successful as a radio format; however, in 2007, the popularity of the format began to slide. Consequently, it was abandoned by several high-profile radio stations across the U.S.A., perhaps most notably by WQCD (Now WRXP) in New York and KKSF in San Francisco. Many industry insiders have speculated that the smooth jazz format may die out, particularly with many of industry giant Clear Channel Communications' stations dropping the genre. However, smooth jazz concerts, recording sales—as well as increased smooth jazz offerings on the Internet—continue to show strong fan support for the genre.

Just got Steve Oliver’s "one night live" DVD - very inspiring!
He performs as a duo with a percussionist & uses technology a lot like I do for backup and different musical sounds ;-)

Hey everyone,
You may know (or not) that I've played many different styles of music over the years but...there is some about the contemporary (smooth) jazz genre that just kills me!
For the most part, I'm not keen on many other forms of jazz - I just like the soft, cool, non noisy, no nonsense feel of smooth jazz. It’s really not jazz...just contemporary verity music with a jazzy feel.
I'm working hard on booking Vineyards & Wine bars here in Oregon playing YOU GUESSED IT "Contemporary (Smooth) Jazz ;-)