Easy Listening » Easy Listening » Instrumental Pop

Instrumental Pop is purely an easy listening style, not to be confused with instrumental pop/rock, instrumental R&B, or jazz-pop. It is most often performed by orchestras, which may feature symphonic or big-band-jazz instrumentation, but it may cover anything from small brass ensembles to -- in the case of instrumental pop stalwart Lawrence Welk -- polka groups. Many instrumental pop recordings draw upon an already existing repertoire of traditional pop standards, as well as jazz and rock songs that can be adapted to fit the easy listening style; this approach emphasizes the skills of the conductor and arranger, since the audience will likely be familiar with the melodies. There are many exceptions, however, one of the most immediately identifiable being the recordings of skilled composers like Henry Mancini and Bert Kaempfert, who introduced their own standards into the pop canon. Instrumental pop is sometimes geared to be romantic, sometimes carefree and upbeat, but above all, it's light, soothing, comfortable music.