Duking It Out With Smooth Jazz

Because my wife listens to my 1000 song ipod nano more than I do, I've tailored it more for here tastes than mine. I've got my own 5000 song ipod for my eclectic tastes. What this means is that I've had to skip my own choices for some of hers. She loves R&B (as much as me), but she also likes smooth jazz. I've had a hit or miss with this format for decades. I like George Benson's R&B stuff but not his instrumentals. But my search for good smooth jazz songs to add to the nano always means checking out Radio & Records smooth jazz chart. I wasn't surprised to find that it included a lot of covers, but most of the stuff sounded too similar to make an impact. The genre has stuck because it makes for good backgound music. People tell me that there's good stuff to be found, and I'm still looking. But even though my own Ipod has a Chuck Mangione track doesn't mean that I'll always be skeptical of smooth jazz's merits.