Kenny G: A Brief History Of Jazz
April 21, 2011
Kenny G
In the history of Jazz, musicians have always found ways to come up with new groundbreaking ideas that cause Jazz to evolve and ultimately increase in complexity. However, not many musicians took the simple, listener friendly approach. Kenny G was one of the few musicians who took this approach. His style has caused for much controversy between other Jazz artists, but in the end, he is still looked upon as one of the most successful Jazz musicians in the world.
Kenny G, (Kenneth Gorelick) was born on June 5 1956, in Seattle, Washington. His first encounter with a saxophone came when he heard a performance from “The Ed Sullivan Show.” His teacher was a local trumpet player named Gerald Pfister. Along with Pfister, …show more content…
Kenny practiced along with records such as Grover Washington Jr. Kenny has not always been successful in his music. During high school, his application for the jazz band was denied, but was accepted later the next year, not knowing that the young man would one day become one of the most popular saxophone players in the world.
Kenny’s musical career started at age 17 when he became a saxophone soloist for Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973. During this time, Kenny was studying accounting at the University of Washington, after being rejected again as a music major from the University of Central Washington. During his college stint he played with a funk band called Cold, Bold, and Together, and “The Jeff Lorber Fusion” of which he was a credited member.
Soon after playing with the two college bands Kenny began his solo career, signing with Arista Records in 1982. His fame drastically rose as he started to release solo albums, and worked with many well-known artists such as Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Dudley Moore, Michael Bolton, and Aretha Franklin. He achieved almost instant fame as his second and third albums (G Force, and Gravity) both achieved platinum status in the United States. Those were then topped by his fourth album (Duotones). This album sold over 5 million copies on U.S. soil. He then broke the record for most copies sold for his Christmas album labeled (Miracles), selling over 13 million copies. However, Kenny’s playing style that created his overwhelming success started to cause some controversy among the other hardcore Jazz musicians.
The conflict started in 1999 when he produced the single “What a Wonderful World”, which was a tribute to one of Louis Armstrong’s classic recordings. Many people thought that since Armstrong was known mostly for his improvisation skills that the record should not be changed. Pat Matheny, Kenny’s biggest, and most critical critique said, “With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can’t use at all- as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music.”1 Some people especially Kenny G fans would disagree with this. The reason this was such a big deal is because Kenny G does not play a lot of improvisation. Jazz is characterized by syncopated rhythms and improvisation. So the fact many people who are not educated in jazz history call Kenny G a true Jazz artist, upsets many musicians.
It is easy to go along with Metheny’s take on Kenny G and say he is not a jazz musician, but I think a big reason why he is so critizized is because of his outstanding wealth and success. Some people see Kenny as an innovator, and I agree. He has literally opened a whole new genre of music. It is a genre that really appeals to the people, and not the other jazz musicians, which if someone is looking to make a living playing music, then that is the way to go. Kenny says in an interview “I wasn’t trying to lighten up jazz; I was just trying to play my way. I have a sense of melody that I always wanted to put out there, and that’s what I do.”2 Kenny G’s new approach is what ultimately caused the rise of Smooth Jazz.
Smooth Jazz is a musical style that grew out of fusion jazz, and is heavily influenced by pop, rock, funk and R&B.
In general smooth jazz is down tempo, and does not require your full attention to be able to understand it. It is a genre that is “easy to listen to.” Even though Kenny G re-structured smooth jazz in the 80’s and 90’s, it can actually be traced all the way back to the 60’s. Wes Montgomery who was an innovator as well with his electric guitar recorded three records that had some smooth jazz incorporated into them including A Day in the Life and Down Here on the Ground and 1968 's Road Song. What separated these into a different category was the fact that he got away from the complex improvisation. Like Kenny, Wes found much success with this listener friendly music. Smooth jazz groups or recording artists such as Kenny G and Wes Montgomery did in his 3 records tend to play their instruments in a melodic fashion so that they are recognizable within just a few measures. Recently there has been a decline in popularity of smooth jazz. Some people believe that it is because there is a lack of new music. Also there has been a reduction in artists recording tracks, which could in a way correlate to the first factor. However Kenny G even today is still producing quality …show more content…
music.
Just one year ago, Kenny G came out with his 13th studio album.
It was called Heart and Soul, and was nominated for a Grammy award and many songs were on the Jazz billboard top 200 songs. He is currently still touring the United States and is selling out almost everywhere that he goes. This Just goes to show that if you give the people what they want and you will receive as Kenny G has.
Kenny G is currently 54 years old. He resides near Seattle currently and is married to Lyndie Benson. They have 2 children (Max 13, and Noah 9). Along with his record breaking album sales, Kenny also owns a world record. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone. He successfully held an E flat for forty five minutes and twelve seconds.
Kenny may not be the most exciting saxophone player, but he brings to the table something that many Jazz musicians rarely possess and that is the ability to appeal to the general population, and do it for as long as he has been able to do it. However, his success will always be overshadowed by the critiques that deemed him as “not a musician.” When it all comes down to it, Kenny is just like any other musician. He enjoys what he does, and as the numbers show he does it very
well.
Bibliography
http://947thewave.radio.com/2011/02/10/kenny-g-charms-pat-kim-with-sax-talk/. http://jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Kenneth-Gorelick/biography. http://activemusicians.com/Kenny-G-Biography-t8i1780
Kenny G
In the history of Jazz, musicians have always found ways to come up with new groundbreaking ideas that cause Jazz to evolve and ultimately increase in complexity. However, not many musicians took the simple, listener friendly approach. Kenny G was one of the few musicians who took this approach. His style has caused for much controversy between other Jazz artists, but in the end, he is still looked upon as one of the most successful Jazz musicians in the world.
Kenny G, (Kenneth Gorelick) was born on June 5 1956, in Seattle, Washington. His first encounter with a saxophone came when he heard a performance from “The Ed Sullivan Show.” His teacher was a local trumpet player named Gerald Pfister. Along with Pfister, …show more content…
Kenny practiced along with records such as Grover Washington Jr. Kenny has not always been successful in his music. During high school, his application for the jazz band was denied, but was accepted later the next year, not knowing that the young man would one day become one of the most popular saxophone players in the world.
Kenny’s musical career started at age 17 when he became a saxophone soloist for Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973. During this time, Kenny was studying accounting at the University of Washington, after being rejected again as a music major from the University of Central Washington. During his college stint he played with a funk band called Cold, Bold, and Together, and “The Jeff Lorber Fusion” of which he was a credited member.
Soon after playing with the two college bands Kenny began his solo career, signing with Arista Records in 1982. His fame drastically rose as he started to release solo albums, and worked with many well-known artists such as Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Dudley Moore, Michael Bolton, and Aretha Franklin. He achieved almost instant fame as his second and third albums (G Force, and Gravity) both achieved platinum status in the United States. Those were then topped by his fourth album (Duotones). This album sold over 5 million copies on U.S. soil. He then broke the record for most copies sold for his Christmas album labeled (Miracles), selling over 13 million copies. However, Kenny’s playing style that created his overwhelming success started to cause some controversy among the other hardcore Jazz musicians.
The conflict started in 1999 when he produced the single “What a Wonderful World”, which was a tribute to one of Louis Armstrong’s classic recordings. Many people thought that since Armstrong was known mostly for his improvisation skills that the record should not be changed. Pat Matheny, Kenny’s biggest, and most critical critique said, “With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can’t use at all- as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music.”1 Some people especially Kenny G fans would disagree with this. The reason this was such a big deal is because Kenny G does not play a lot of improvisation. Jazz is characterized by syncopated rhythms and improvisation. So the fact many people who are not educated in jazz history call Kenny G a true Jazz artist, upsets many musicians.
It is easy to go along with Metheny’s take on Kenny G and say he is not a jazz musician, but I think a big reason why he is so critizized is because of his outstanding wealth and success. Some people see Kenny as an innovator, and I agree. He has literally opened a whole new genre of music. It is a genre that really appeals to the people, and not the other jazz musicians, which if someone is looking to make a living playing music, then that is the way to go. Kenny says in an interview “I wasn’t trying to lighten up jazz; I was just trying to play my way. I have a sense of melody that I always wanted to put out there, and that’s what I do.”2 Kenny G’s new approach is what ultimately caused the rise of Smooth Jazz.
Smooth Jazz is a musical style that grew out of fusion jazz, and is heavily influenced by pop, rock, funk and R&B.
In general smooth jazz is down tempo, and does not require your full attention to be able to understand it. It is a genre that is “easy to listen to.” Even though Kenny G re-structured smooth jazz in the 80’s and 90’s, it can actually be traced all the way back to the 60’s. Wes Montgomery who was an innovator as well with his electric guitar recorded three records that had some smooth jazz incorporated into them including A Day in the Life and Down Here on the Ground and 1968 's Road Song. What separated these into a different category was the fact that he got away from the complex improvisation. Like Kenny, Wes found much success with this listener friendly music. Smooth jazz groups or recording artists such as Kenny G and Wes Montgomery did in his 3 records tend to play their instruments in a melodic fashion so that they are recognizable within just a few measures. Recently there has been a decline in popularity of smooth jazz. Some people believe that it is because there is a lack of new music. Also there has been a reduction in artists recording tracks, which could in a way correlate to the first factor. However Kenny G even today is still producing quality …show more content…
music.
Just one year ago, Kenny G came out with his 13th studio album.
It was called Heart and Soul, and was nominated for a Grammy award and many songs were on the Jazz billboard top 200 songs. He is currently still touring the United States and is selling out almost everywhere that he goes. This Just goes to show that if you give the people what they want and you will receive as Kenny G has.
Kenny G is currently 54 years old. He resides near Seattle currently and is married to Lyndie Benson. They have 2 children (Max 13, and Noah 9). Along with his record breaking album sales, Kenny also owns a world record. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone. He successfully held an E flat for forty five minutes and twelve seconds.
Kenny may not be the most exciting saxophone player, but he brings to the table something that many Jazz musicians rarely possess and that is the ability to appeal to the general population, and do it for as long as he has been able to do it. However, his success will always be overshadowed by the critiques that deemed him as “not a musician.” When it all comes down to it, Kenny is just like any other musician. He enjoys what he does, and as the numbers show he does it very
well.
Bibliography
http://947thewave.radio.com/2011/02/10/kenny-g-charms-pat-kim-with-sax-talk/. http://jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/Kenneth-Gorelick/biography. http://activemusicians.com/Kenny-G-Biography-t8i1780