Jul. 25, 2025 |
‘Nautilus.’ We set the dials on the time machine for 1974 with a track that helped launch a whole radio format, known as smooth jazz. The keyboardist Bob James had a big hit with this song, even if he later embraced a more classic jazz style. “Nautilus” features a soaring performance on a Fender Rhodes electric piano, laid down in the famous Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. It’s also had a remarkable afterlife, having been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists, including Ultramagnetic MCs in 1986, Run-DMC in ‘88, and Naughty by Nature in ‘91.
Does anyone still listen to smooth jazz?
—Brendan Hasenstab