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"Listening to Kenny G" (DOCUMENTARY DISCUSSION)

19K views 169 replies 59 participants last post by  Vino  
#1 ·
#5 ·
Dunno how this turned into another thread about how everyone feels about Kenny G within 60 seconds :LOL:

I'll probably watch the documentary. Seems like it could be interesting, and I'm intrigued to see if they have some opinion from other professional saxophonists.

Or maybe it's just a collage video of @Dave Pollack raving about the chosen one ;)
 
#12 ·
Dunno how this turned into another thread about how everyone feels about Kenny G within 60 seconds :LOL:
Push-button, click-bait world. Some folks just read titles these days.

But this documentary is bound to bring about a ruckus. I mean... Kenny's gonna splice himself into a duet with Stan Getz. You know... like he did with Armstrong. But as for Armstrong, I have no doubt that if he were alive today, he'd be doing Christmas specials with Kenny G. Jazz police be damned...
 
#6 ·
Long ago, in the late 80s I think when he was Kenny Gorelick, I heard him with Jeff Lorber and he tore the place up. He really can play. I often wondered why he didn't put at least one or two hot tunes on his albums once he became more established, or find some other outlet for that side of his playing. Maybe this show will give some explanation.
 
#16 ·
Regardless of what you think of his music, one interesting aspect of the sociology of this is the extent to which jazz and jazz-adjacent horn players get judged much more harshly on this score than do "rhythm section" players.

For example, it seems to me that jazz cats like George Benson, Earl Klugh, Larry Carlton, Bob James, Stanley Clarke, etc. who have sometimes ventured in a similar direction get a lot more leeway in terms of critical reputation and the ability to weave back and forth between the "serious jazz" world and the more pop-inflected stuff. It seems to be the horn players like Kenny (see also Chuck Mangione, Chris Botti, etc.) that become punchlines and get most of the critical flack.
 
#34 ·
Regardless of what you think of his music, one interesting aspect of the sociology of this is the extent to which jazz and jazz-adjacent horn players get judged much more harshly on this score than do "rhythm section" players.
I imagine it's because guitar/ bass players tend more towards the "instrument owner" end of the spectrum, and horn players are more in the "industrious academic" category, and see the G Man as a traitor to their ascetic monasticism.

Although there are some jazz guitar players that bag on the popsters now and then.
 
#20 ·
I listen to Kenny once in a while. Once I got over myself, and started laughing to the elitist ways of some of my music buddies, I could actually stop and listen without bias.

However, it seems that his most famous tunes are the ones I really dislike. I can't stand songbird and that nasal soprano sound.

I will look forward to the documentary. Seeing the jazz community get their knickers in a twist over Kenny G's success is always hilarious.
 
#37 ·
I don't care much about "authenticity" in this context. I'm not sure what being "inauthentic" would look like - maybe if Kenny G pretended he was Coltrane. I haven't seen that, he seems to have an ego to some extent but not a misplaced idea of his own artistic work.

As far as I'm concerned he's as authentic, if not more so, than many players who just play the bebop style correctly. I would say he has his own style and sound.

I would watch this but I'm really not willing to deal with the whole HBO thing. Maybe when I see my brother who has an HBO subscription.