World of Pageantry

Just to start: Hi my name is Mike and I have been playing the saxophone for about 7 years and and am currently a junior and i am happy to join this community of musicians
On topic: I have asked some friends if they liked Kenny G and they said that he is just a bad musician in general but they really couldnt give me any straight forward reasons. I personally think his music is entertaining and cant find a reason to why people think he is a joke. So as seeing that most of you are musicians, I am curious about your opinion on him and why people see him the way they do.

I'm not a big fan of Kenny G either, but that's because I'm not a big fan of smooth jazz. Why listen to Kenny when you have Sidney Bechet?

Mike_of_Egypt wrote:Just to start: Hi my name is Mike and I have been playing the saxophone for about 7 years and and am currently a junior and i am happy to join this community of musicians
On topic: I have asked some friends if they liked Kenny G and they said that he is just a bad musician in general but they really couldnt give me any straight forward reasons. I personally think his music is entertaining and cant find a reason to why people think he is a joke. So as seeing that most of you are musicians, I am curious about your opinion on him and why people see him the way they do.

Once upon a time, young Kenneth Gorelick played alto saxophone and flute in the University of Washington big band (yeah, Kenny was a Husky---his first wife was a cheerleader, which is another story for another day). He got a gig with Barry White while in college, and then a gig with Jeff Lorber after he got his degree in accounting. This is the Ken I am a fan of; when he became Kenny G, he became this product that I am definitely NOT a fan of. If you want to listen to the real Kenny G, pick up some old Jeff Lorber Fusion albums, or, if you're lucky, an old vinyl copy of the University of Washington Big Band (or cassette). These days, it seems that Kenny is more concerned with improving his golf game than playing anything serious or hip, IMHO. Cat can play; I just don't dig what he's been doin' lately.....

I guess one can criticize Kenny G's "choice" of music (as if he has a say in it...), but you can't criticize was sounds like a good player and the fact he probably makes more money and enjoys a lifestyle that many don't....or can't. I liked it at one point in my life--actually one of this songs was popular when my mom died and it's a "sad" song to me. But...I don't necessarily NEED to hear it....like say, I used to NEED to hear Maynard Ferguson.

I grew out of that too.

Granted, it's been years since I've paid attention to any of his music, but I seem to recall my dislike of him stems from two main points.

(1) Many/most of his songs were gimmicky commercialism; sound bites that didn't require him to use much of his talent.
(2) He was badly over-marketed, and many of his "skills" were overhyped and took advantage of a public that didn't have a lot of technical musical knowledge. I remember watching on TV as they celebrated him holding a note for 5-7 minutes or something. OH WOWS, circular breathing! No one's EVER accomplished that before!


So, to sum up, I guess I dislike him because I remember him becoming more of a P.T. Barnum-styled showman than an outright musician.

As a sax player I personally do not want to listen any of Kenny's stuff. It's not that I think he's a bad player, you can tell he has some skills, it's just that I don't like his style. While he probably makes a lot of money and has world-wide popularity, I just really think he is a sell out.

You can call it smart business planning, which it probably was, but I think musicians should be true to who they are and not have to alter their style because that is what's "popular" or what sells records. Obviously making a living as a musician is what he wanted to do and going the direction he did is probbaly what made it possible, but I just don't care for the style. It has nothing to do with his actual playing, unless you go back to some of his earlier albums where he had some funky fusion stuff with wierd vocals, but that's another topic all together.

Face it...you just can't market a musician with the name of GORELICK. That sounds like a band Kevin would listen to...

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't stand that his tone quality changes completely when he crosses into the 2nd octave on the sax. What's he using, a Rico 1 reed?

Ryan H. Turner wrote:Face it...you just can't market a musician with the name of GORELICK. That sounds like a band Kevin would listen to...

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darn right, that's sounds like an awesome death metal band with a sultry female singer.

Now opening for Lacuna Coil.... GORELICK!

Yes. Make it so.

Chapagne wrote:I can't stand that his tone quality changes completely when he crosses into the 2nd octave on the sax. What's he using, a Rico 1 reed?

Kenny uses Hemke 2+1/2 on his Selmer Mark VI soprano (Dukoff D8 mouthpiece), and now he now endorses his own brand of saxophones made in China, but designed by Rheuben Allen of the Sax Shop---Rheuben now lives in China so he can supervise at the factory.

The mention of "Kenny G" always instantly crystallizes the concept of "selling out" to musicians, right or wrong. He has certainly withstood his share of criticism over the years, not the least of which by the great Pat Metheny - http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

i can recreate his "hits" in a matter of seconds. that's why i hate him.

and he has a stupid hair-style.

Polyband wrote:The mention of "Kenny G" always instantly crystallizes the concept of "selling out" to musicians, right or wrong. He has certainly withstood his share of criticism over the years, not the least of which by the great Pat Metheny - http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

The article is fantastic, but in case you didn't have time to read the Methany article, here's the summation, about KG releasing "What a Wonderful World" with him playing over Louis Armstrong's version:

"But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-***, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, ****** up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, **** all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture - something that we all should be totally embarrassed about - and afraid of. We ignore this, "let it slide", at our own peril."

iono why, but i never liked smooth jazz... closest thing was cool jazz, i'm a big dave brubeck and coltrane listener

thaiguy20fromla wrote:iono why, but i never liked smooth jazz... closest thing was cool jazz, i'm a big dave brubeck and coltrane listener

Good for you! Since you're a bone player, you might like the playing of my late godfather, Frank Rosolino as well as Bill Watrous.