slot
2006-10-23 08:53:39 UTC
It's not easy being G
By SEAN DALY
Published October 19, 2006
Chomp on this, jazz snobs: Miles Davis was a Kenny G fan.
You read that right. One of the most revered trumpeters in jazz history
adored one of the most reviled saxophonists. In the '80s, Mr. G even
opened shows for the famously moody "Prince of Darkness."
"On many occasions, Miles would come into my dressing room and tell me
what I was doing was great," says the 50-year-old Kenneth Gorelick, who
tonight headlines the Clearwater Jazz Holiday in Coachman Park. "If
Miles says I'm doing good, and some critics say I stink, why would I
listen to them?"
Kenny is defending his art as he cruises through Los Angeles. "When you
drive in L.A., you have plenty of time to talk," he laughs. For a guy
who has sold 75-million albums, he's incredibly easy to reach. Mere
seconds after I sent a message to his Blackberry, he called: "Hey, man,
let's chat!"
You gotta love the G Man.
Or not.
It has become fashionable to rip and ridicule the Clearwater Jazz
Holiday for not doing enough to showcase "serious" jazz. But when
organizers announced that this year's main attraction was Kenny G,
whose lazy-river soprano sax style is the very definition of "smooth,"
jazzbos set a new record for vitriol.
Kenny G, the haters cried, is not jazz. He's Mantovani with a perm!
G knows the drill. Great achievement, more jokes. Great achievement,
more jokes.
He's one of the biggest-selling jazz musicians of all time. He's a
punch line in Wayne's World 2. He made the Guinness Book of World
Records in 1997 for longest note recorded on a saxophone (E flat; 45
minutes, 47 seconds). He has inspired a series of demeaning Kenny G
one-liners (Kenny G walks into an elevator and shouts, "Wow! This
rocks!").
"Those comments are meaningless to me," says the star, who grew up in
Seattle and cut his chops playing with such R&B greats as Barry White.
"I'm (playing music) from inside my spirit. It has nothing to do with a
calculated, intellectual decision that says 'I can sell more records if
I play this way.'
"I'm playing from the heart," he adds. "That's the part that people
miss."
G has been a polarizing presence since 1981, when he was discovered by
Arista kingpin Clive Davis. Davis is known for finding vocal talent -
Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and Barry Manilow to name a few - but he
took a chance on signing the instrumentalist. The partnership has been
very challenging - and extremely profitable.
"I've been with Clive Davis for 25 years," says G, whose breakout
album, 1986's Duotones, and its ubiquitous hit Songbird, charted high
on both the jazz and pop charts. "He definitely has a feel for what
will be well-received."
Davis and G "have butted heads on many occasions," the player adds, but
their battles almost always pay off. They famously fought over the
creation of 1994 holiday album Miracles - Davis wanted more vocals,
fewer tracks; G wanted the opposite; so they compromised - "and that
became the most successful holiday record of all time. A few more
holidays, and it will pass the 10-million mark."
A Jewish man with the biggest-selling Christmas album? That's so G:
great achievement, more jokes.
Ask Kenny about his groupies, and he gives you this earnest answer: "I
think my groupies are the college and high school saxophone players.
There's nothing I like to talk about more than technique."
Oh, Kenny.
In an upcoming issue, Golf Digest will name Kenny G one of the greatest
golfing musicians of all time, a field that includes such legendary
duffers as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Alice Cooper. He's a +1 handicap,
good enough to do some damage on the PGA tour.
"I've had daydreams about shooting the lowest score in the history of
golf," G says. "I shot a 49 in my dream."
But whenever he's on the links, all eyes aren't on his swing but rather
on the long ponytail pulled through his baseball cap. Kenny's bouncy,
curly hair - a 'do as dubiously beloved as Michael Bolton's old
receding mullet - should have its own PR agent.
Will Kenny get his locks shorn anytime soon?
"My hair is the way it's been for a long while," he says with a tired
laugh. "I haven't gotten a haircut."
On Nov. 14, G will release his new album, I'm in the Mood for Love: The
Most Romantic Melodies of All Time. Some will say the album is
brilliant; some will say the album is painful. It will sell tons of
copies; it will inspire tons of jokes.
It's all part of the unbearable lightness of G-ing.
"As an artist you're supposed to do your thing just the way you feel
it," he says. "I play saxophone the way I play saxophone. The music
that I play, that's what I feel inside."
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/19/Floridian/It_s_not_easy_being_G.shtml
By SEAN DALY
Published October 19, 2006
Chomp on this, jazz snobs: Miles Davis was a Kenny G fan.
You read that right. One of the most revered trumpeters in jazz history
adored one of the most reviled saxophonists. In the '80s, Mr. G even
opened shows for the famously moody "Prince of Darkness."
"On many occasions, Miles would come into my dressing room and tell me
what I was doing was great," says the 50-year-old Kenneth Gorelick, who
tonight headlines the Clearwater Jazz Holiday in Coachman Park. "If
Miles says I'm doing good, and some critics say I stink, why would I
listen to them?"
Kenny is defending his art as he cruises through Los Angeles. "When you
drive in L.A., you have plenty of time to talk," he laughs. For a guy
who has sold 75-million albums, he's incredibly easy to reach. Mere
seconds after I sent a message to his Blackberry, he called: "Hey, man,
let's chat!"
You gotta love the G Man.
Or not.
It has become fashionable to rip and ridicule the Clearwater Jazz
Holiday for not doing enough to showcase "serious" jazz. But when
organizers announced that this year's main attraction was Kenny G,
whose lazy-river soprano sax style is the very definition of "smooth,"
jazzbos set a new record for vitriol.
Kenny G, the haters cried, is not jazz. He's Mantovani with a perm!
G knows the drill. Great achievement, more jokes. Great achievement,
more jokes.
He's one of the biggest-selling jazz musicians of all time. He's a
punch line in Wayne's World 2. He made the Guinness Book of World
Records in 1997 for longest note recorded on a saxophone (E flat; 45
minutes, 47 seconds). He has inspired a series of demeaning Kenny G
one-liners (Kenny G walks into an elevator and shouts, "Wow! This
rocks!").
"Those comments are meaningless to me," says the star, who grew up in
Seattle and cut his chops playing with such R&B greats as Barry White.
"I'm (playing music) from inside my spirit. It has nothing to do with a
calculated, intellectual decision that says 'I can sell more records if
I play this way.'
"I'm playing from the heart," he adds. "That's the part that people
miss."
G has been a polarizing presence since 1981, when he was discovered by
Arista kingpin Clive Davis. Davis is known for finding vocal talent -
Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and Barry Manilow to name a few - but he
took a chance on signing the instrumentalist. The partnership has been
very challenging - and extremely profitable.
"I've been with Clive Davis for 25 years," says G, whose breakout
album, 1986's Duotones, and its ubiquitous hit Songbird, charted high
on both the jazz and pop charts. "He definitely has a feel for what
will be well-received."
Davis and G "have butted heads on many occasions," the player adds, but
their battles almost always pay off. They famously fought over the
creation of 1994 holiday album Miracles - Davis wanted more vocals,
fewer tracks; G wanted the opposite; so they compromised - "and that
became the most successful holiday record of all time. A few more
holidays, and it will pass the 10-million mark."
A Jewish man with the biggest-selling Christmas album? That's so G:
great achievement, more jokes.
Ask Kenny about his groupies, and he gives you this earnest answer: "I
think my groupies are the college and high school saxophone players.
There's nothing I like to talk about more than technique."
Oh, Kenny.
In an upcoming issue, Golf Digest will name Kenny G one of the greatest
golfing musicians of all time, a field that includes such legendary
duffers as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Alice Cooper. He's a +1 handicap,
good enough to do some damage on the PGA tour.
"I've had daydreams about shooting the lowest score in the history of
golf," G says. "I shot a 49 in my dream."
But whenever he's on the links, all eyes aren't on his swing but rather
on the long ponytail pulled through his baseball cap. Kenny's bouncy,
curly hair - a 'do as dubiously beloved as Michael Bolton's old
receding mullet - should have its own PR agent.
Will Kenny get his locks shorn anytime soon?
"My hair is the way it's been for a long while," he says with a tired
laugh. "I haven't gotten a haircut."
On Nov. 14, G will release his new album, I'm in the Mood for Love: The
Most Romantic Melodies of All Time. Some will say the album is
brilliant; some will say the album is painful. It will sell tons of
copies; it will inspire tons of jokes.
It's all part of the unbearable lightness of G-ing.
"As an artist you're supposed to do your thing just the way you feel
it," he says. "I play saxophone the way I play saxophone. The music
that I play, that's what I feel inside."
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/19/Floridian/It_s_not_easy_being_G.shtml