I've struggled to be a pro jazz musician all my life and quite frankly l believe Kenny G's music is extremely popular, he's as technically proficient as you can get, he owns a personal sound (which is what jazz musicians do) plus he's a sweet guy with an open mind and big heart. So give the guy a break and humbly celebrate his sucess. Like they say in the hood "he done did it" and that ain't easy.
Pat Metheny was spot on. Saying his name along with the real greats of Jazz, like John Coltrane is a travesty. He's not Jazz. If you like what he does, have at it. Just know what it is that you're listening to. I call him Tweedle Dee. His stuff is of the lamest kind. It's an insult to all the greats of real Jazz to include it.
Most folks are casual music listeners and Kenny G appeals to that group as do bands like The Eagles who perform their hits the way their audience want to hear them. Don’t love or hate either but respect that we don’t all have the same taste
as a mixed race, jazz standard guitarist, as i play mainly jazz standards i like his playing and i transcribe his pop covers when i need to learn a pop tune. yeah, he is not colleman hawkins nor coltrane and so what?? people just hate what they don't understand. you wanna be famous? play pop tunes....
Look. If you don’t like his style, don’t listen. I have music degrees, secondary sax player (not my main instrument), but I know sax players and traditional jazz pretty well. I don’t listen to Kenny G. except in passing. But he’s an accomplished player, and saying otherwise is dishonest. He’s also a groundbreaker in a branch of sax playing that doesn’t exactly do it for me but he’s revered by millions. That means he’s a great. What he makes or doesn’t make monetarily is irrelevant. I’m embarrassed for the haters.
I have always loved Kenny g music , beautiful , soothing and makes me happy with positive vibes But l never put him on Jazz side , l just listen his music like pop , world music etc ..
This analysis of Kenny G music was better than the documentary that was made a couple years ago. I think the duet he did with Louis Armstrong really sent people over the edge. But i think that standards album was pleasant. That's all
I would put Kenny G in the smooth-jazz drawer, but that´s just my humble opinion. His style and music is nice, so nothing wrong with Kenny G from my perspective. Great video, as always!
Kenny G is very proficient, talented and smooth, much like David Sandborn. They’re not my taste in Jazz as I prefer west coast cool and the likes of Paul Desmond and Stan Getz - but Kenny’s a great player.
With all respect to all jazz players, but it is not Kenny"s fault that talented improvisers are struggling with living. Maybe because its time to accept that all of you are not doing what is yours?. Change your profession. You cant sell your records and earn money, it is Kenny to blame? are you serious?. Same thing happened to Muddy Waters & B.B.King, when Disco stepped to it's era & their career were about to over. B.B. found the way by collaborating with varius different artists, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker & other greats of that era & he also changed his music too. Music is a universal language that speaks to people & people share their emotions with each other by music, just remember that.
Kenny G's music is bland smooth pop with elements of jazz, while real jazz is mostly bland simply because it's intellectual noodling for people who don't care about any other aspect of music other than being 'jazzy' and complicated for no obvious reason.
Lost a lot of respect for Metheny...could be he is jealous because he sells a whole lot more records than him..I'm a guitar player and I don't really dig Metheny although he is good.!
Why when people actually do understand jazz critique the smooth, jazz genre why do they call it hate they’re just being honest, there’s no substance no technicality and they’re trying to fit into a format!
'Whiteness' has nothing to do w/ the criticisms or praise he receives. KG has great technique, his circular breathing thing and all are really impressive - and he did play consistently and considerably more challenging music earlier in his career as a sideman for Jeff Lorber - even if in the so called Crossover camp, Lorber's music even then was more challenging than KG's of today. Another aspect that irks many is even though Kenny himself does not claim to be a 'Jazz' player, his music is often not only taken as such by unsuspecting fans, impressed w/ his speed and high sustained notes, but sort of marketed as such - leaving the impression in many laymen that 'that is what Jazz is'. That might not really be KG's own fault, but a result of record labels sales strategies .... Personally, I fin that even in the Crossover/Smooth niche, there are many player who IMO are vastly more invested in much more melodically interesting and harmonically challenging improvisations, both more interesting in terms of repertoire and as soloists: Grove Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, Najee, Kirk Whalum, Jay Beckstein, Ernie Watts, Eric Marienthal, to name a handful... A more recent episode that IMO has angered many fellow musicians and fans of music alike was the extremely poor taste and rather disrespectful decision to release a version of Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World', w/ Kenny's playing overdubbed over it, an imaginary duet w/ the late great grandfather of Jazz.. To be fair, Louis' Estate must've been involved and had to have given the OK green light for this tasteless project. Larry Coryell made a similar ill advised move some years prior when he released tracks of himself overdubbed over Wes Montgomery recordings. Again, If Kenny only plays this ultra light weight, trite and formulaic Instrumental Pop music is not because of lack of 'talent' - he has the technique and chops, meaning given the time and effort, he could have long since expanded his musical palette and resulting output. The 'problem' is merrily one and only one: Kenny simply lacks the true desire to play more challenging music and doesn't seem to care if he lacks the respect of is truly artistically accomplished peers ...and Kenny also probably does not have the financial incentives to change his formulaic approach.
I don't hate Kenny G. I think his music is vapid and shallow, aimed at commercial success above all, like most pop music, and that's ok. It's his to do what he wants. As Pat Metheny said about Kenny G's music, it isn't jazz. I feel the same way about George Benson. The jazz purists should lighten up. Hate is bad for digestion.
Who cares?! His fans like him. Matheny fans are vastly different than Kenny’s. There are many music genres I don’t care for. Guess what? I don’t listen to them nor do I call out people who listen to them. Enjoy what you listen to - it’s music.
It’s simply smooth jazz.
Thin ice. Don't completely walk away from Jazz.
I've struggled to be a pro jazz musician all my life and quite frankly l believe Kenny G's music is extremely popular, he's as technically proficient as you can get, he owns a personal sound (which is what jazz musicians do) plus he's a sweet guy with an open mind and big heart.
So give the guy a break and humbly celebrate his sucess.
Like they say in the hood "he done did it" and that ain't easy.
An old girlfriend once returned a cd player to me. It had a Kenny G cd in it.
I told her she could keep it.
Pat Metheny was spot on. Saying his name along with the real greats of Jazz, like John Coltrane is a travesty. He's not Jazz. If you like what he does, have at it. Just know what it is that you're listening to. I call him Tweedle Dee. His stuff is of the lamest kind. It's an insult to all the greats of real Jazz to include it.
Kenny G with Vail Johnson on Bass at Montreaux 1988 - that normally shuts the haters down.
lol ok
Most folks are casual music listeners and Kenny G appeals to that group as do bands like The Eagles who perform their hits the way their audience want to hear them. Don’t love or hate either but respect that we don’t all have the same taste
as a mixed race, jazz standard guitarist, as i play mainly jazz standards i like his playing and i transcribe his pop covers when i need to learn a pop tune. yeah, he is not colleman hawkins nor coltrane and so what??
people just hate what they don't understand. you wanna be famous? play pop tunes....
Look. If you don’t like his style, don’t listen. I have music degrees, secondary sax player (not my main instrument), but I know sax players and traditional jazz pretty well. I don’t listen to Kenny G. except in passing. But he’s an accomplished player, and saying otherwise is dishonest. He’s also a groundbreaker in a branch of sax playing that doesn’t exactly do it for me but he’s revered by millions. That means he’s a great. What he makes or doesn’t make monetarily is irrelevant. I’m embarrassed for the haters.
I have always loved Kenny g music , beautiful , soothing and makes me happy with positive vibes But l never put him on Jazz side , l just listen his music like pop , world music etc ..
This analysis of Kenny G music was better than the documentary that was made a couple years ago. I think the duet he did with Louis Armstrong really sent people over the edge. But i think that standards album was pleasant. That's all
I would put Kenny G in the smooth-jazz drawer, but that´s just my humble opinion. His style and music is nice, so nothing wrong with Kenny G from my perspective.
Great video, as always!
Saw Kenny G at Toad's Place in New Haven when he was with The Jeff Lorber Fusion. He was fantastic.
Kenny G is very proficient, talented and smooth, much like David Sandborn. They’re not my taste in Jazz as I prefer west coast cool and the likes of Paul Desmond and Stan Getz - but Kenny’s a great player.
With all respect to all jazz players, but it is not Kenny"s fault that talented improvisers are struggling with living. Maybe because its time to accept that all of you are not doing what is yours?. Change your profession. You cant sell your records and earn money, it is Kenny to blame? are you serious?. Same thing happened to Muddy Waters & B.B.King, when Disco stepped to it's era & their career were about to over. B.B. found the way by collaborating with varius different artists, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker & other greats of that era & he also changed his music too. Music is a universal language that speaks to people & people share their emotions with each other by music, just remember that.
Kenny G's music is bland smooth pop with elements of jazz, while real jazz is mostly bland simply because it's intellectual noodling for people who don't care about any other aspect of music other than being 'jazzy' and complicated for no obvious reason.
Lost a lot of respect for Metheny...could be he is jealous because he sells a whole lot more records than him..I'm a guitar player and I don't really dig Metheny although he is good.!
It is called pop jazz fusion
Why when people actually do understand jazz critique the smooth, jazz genre why do they call it hate they’re just being honest, there’s no substance no technicality and they’re trying to fit into a format!
'Whiteness' has nothing to do w/ the criticisms or praise he receives.
KG has great technique, his circular breathing thing and all are really impressive - and he did play consistently and considerably more challenging music earlier in his career as a sideman for Jeff Lorber - even if in the so called Crossover camp, Lorber's music even then was more challenging than KG's of today.
Another aspect that irks many is even though Kenny himself does not claim to be a 'Jazz' player, his music is often not only taken as such by unsuspecting fans, impressed w/ his speed and high sustained notes, but sort of marketed as such - leaving the impression in many laymen that 'that is what Jazz is'. That might not really be KG's own fault, but a result of record labels sales strategies ....
Personally, I fin that even in the Crossover/Smooth niche, there are many player who IMO are vastly more invested in much more melodically interesting and harmonically challenging improvisations, both more interesting in terms of repertoire and as soloists: Grove Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, Najee, Kirk Whalum, Jay Beckstein, Ernie Watts, Eric Marienthal, to name a handful...
A more recent episode that IMO has angered many fellow musicians and fans of music alike was the extremely poor taste and rather disrespectful decision to release a version of Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World', w/ Kenny's playing overdubbed over it, an imaginary duet w/ the late great grandfather of Jazz.. To be fair, Louis' Estate must've been involved and had to have given the OK green light for this tasteless project. Larry Coryell made a similar ill advised move some years prior when he released tracks of himself overdubbed over Wes Montgomery recordings.
Again, If Kenny only plays this ultra light weight, trite and formulaic Instrumental Pop music is not because of lack of 'talent' - he has the technique and chops, meaning given the time and effort, he could have long since expanded his musical palette and resulting output. The 'problem' is merrily one and only one: Kenny simply lacks the true desire to play more challenging music and doesn't seem to care if he lacks the respect of is truly artistically accomplished peers ...and Kenny also probably does not have the financial incentives to change his formulaic approach.
I don't hate Kenny G. I think his music is vapid and shallow, aimed at commercial success above all, like most pop music, and that's ok. It's his to do what he wants. As Pat Metheny said about Kenny G's music, it isn't jazz. I feel the same way about George Benson.
The jazz purists should lighten up. Hate is bad for digestion.
It bothers him all the way to the bank.
Interesting
Well, he's no Albert Ayler.
Who cares?! His fans like him. Matheny fans are vastly different than Kenny’s. There are many music genres I don’t care for. Guess what? I don’t listen to them nor do I call out people who listen to them. Enjoy what you listen to - it’s music.
Coz maybe Kenny G want make money more but not a real jazz musician!
He is white & has so nice hair - plus nice easy music => success