Forget Everything You Know About Kenny G
Kenny G – he’s the most commercially successful sax player of all time, so of course, folks are going to hate on him.
Pat Metheny is going to criticize his intonation.
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College music students will burn his effigy.
But to all of you haters out there, I think it’s about time that you enjoyed a healthy dose of humble pie…
Sit back, open your minds, and behold the G-man like you’ve never seen him before! *
* For the record, Best. Saxophone. Website. Ever. is not here to cut anyone down, but I would venture to guess that even Kenny G himself would find this amusing. :)
December 15, 2010 @ 10:49 am
There’s something fundamentally wrong about that, and not because Kenny G happens to be the saxophonist in the video.
He’s an easy target for many, as you stated — so let’s not go there. Despite what other will say, I think that Kenny G has done good in terms bringing wider awareness of “jazzy” instrumental music, and the saxophone in particular.
But, about this vid…
December 15, 2010 @ 10:57 am
Oh yeah, I agree, that’s why I put the disclaimer. For Kenny, that’s the music that speaks to him, as there’s no way that he would have gotten to where he is by playing music he hates and is only doing for the money. I know a lot of people who are sincerely moved by his playing, so right there he’s doing something that a lot of “jazz geniuses” are unable to do.
December 15, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Still not quite in the same category as Coltrane, but here’s evidence that he is (or at least was) capable of more than one style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqoA3O5hZ4E
I have to admit, I would steal some of those licks. I never would have guessed the guy playing the lick at 3:45 was the same guy who recorded “Songbird.”
Incidentally, I was in Beijing, China a couple of years ago and met some saxophonists from the band at Tsingua University. (There isn’t a music department there–I think they were engineering students.) I asked what saxophonists they like, and they immediately said Kenny G. I asked who else, and they couldn’t name any others.
December 15, 2010 @ 3:52 pm
I think this is faked. What the drummer is hitting is not what I hear……and kenny’s hands don’t match what he’s playing.
December 15, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
Actually, most the YouTube comments say that this is Trane……and that the video is actually some other song. It’s like the Smooth Jazz version of Enter Sandman that is out on the net showing Metallica shredding some smooth jazz….
December 15, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
Ummm…guys, this IS totally a joke. It’s edited video of a Kenny G gig with the original audio replaced by a Coltrane album.
@Bret, that video is pretty impressive. Kenny is definitely in a class of his own when it comes to the smooth jazz style of playing.
Sorry if I disappointed everyone about it really being Kenny on the video! :)
December 31, 2010 @ 7:02 pm
Well, this clearly wasn’t Mr. Garelick. Almost like trying to pass off Benny Golson as Wayne Shorter. (private joke).
January 1, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
Hmm, Benny Golson for Wayne Shorter, or Kenny G for Coltrane…I think that Kenny and Coltrane make for a bigger stretch… ;)