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| Kenny G |
Kenny G made a tour stop here in Miami last week. I tentatively planned on attending but prior responsibilities made it impossible. However, I still think Kenny G is an important artist on the musical landscape, and deserving of this featured post in Weekly Music Commentary. As I prepared for this week, I had a difficult time digesting the fact that Kenny G is approaching birthday number sixty next year. Throughout the 1980’s I always thought of Kenny G as the young guy with the saxophone who played light jazz music. It’s hard to believe that he has parlayed his quick musical start into a career spanning forty years.Maybe the biggest thing I’ve learned musically is that anything is possible. Things can work when maybe they don’t seem like they can. Kenny G
Kenny G has worked his way to the plateau of international
superstar by taking advantage of opportunities to perform for audiences outside
the US. His music is noticeably popular in China. Since 1989, Kenny G's
recording "Going Home" from the Kenny G Live album has become an
unconventional mega-hit throughout China: It has become the unofficial national
closing song for businesses such as food courts, outdoor markets, health clubs,
shopping malls and train stations throughout the country. Many businesses begin
piping the music over their loudspeakers shortly before closing at night.
Television stations also play the song before ending their evening broadcasts
at night. Many Chinese, when asked, say they associate the song with the need
to finish their activity or business and go home (although they may not even
know the name of the song or its artist). We’ll discuss more about China a
little later in the post. Right now we will look at Kenny G’s musical start.
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick was born in Seattle, Washington, June
5, 1956 to Jewish parents (his mother was originally from Saskatchewan, Canada)
and grew up in the city's Seward Park neighborhood, which is a center of the
city's Jewish community. He came into contact with a saxophone when he heard
someone performing with one on The Ed Sullivan Show. He started playing the
saxophone in 1966 when he was 10 years old. He learned how to play under the
direction of local trumpeter Gerald Pfister and by practicing along with
records (mostly of Grover Washington, Jr.), trying to emulate the sounds that
he was hearing. Kenny G's career started with a job as a sideman for Barry
White's Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973 while 17 and still in high school. He
continued to play professionally while studying for a major in accounting at
the University of Washington in Seattle and graduated magna cum laude. He
played with the funk band Cold, Bold and Together before becoming a credited
member of The Jeff Lorber Fusion. He began his solo career after his period
with Lorber.
His start with Barry White and his period with Jeff Lorber
really helped Kenny G shape his own sound, and become the artist that made him
popular to such a large audience. He received success quite early on, with both
G Force and Gravity, his second and third studio albums respectively, achieving
platinum status in the United States. Then came his fourth studio album,
Duotones, which sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. alone. The phenomenal
album included Kenny G's biggest hit: Songbird, with charted within top 5 on
the Billboard Hot 100, at number 04. By this time Kenny G music was entrenched
in popular radio and he quickly became a household name.
Kenny G found his way to accompanying variety of R&B artist
like George Benson, Patti LaBelle, and Aretha Franklin. The 1987 hit-single
Love Power, a Dionne Warwick duet with Jeffrey Osborne, with featured Kenny G
as a guest saxophonist, peaked #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #5 at
R&B/Hip-Hop songs. I always thought of Kenny G at this point as the
consummate accompanying musician. He had established himself as the “must-have”
horn player if you wanted a hit. He just has a way of being there without
dominating. If you need a lesson on how to accompany another artist, Kenny G
wrote the book. On the way, Kenny G was increasingly being identified as a
smooth jazz musician. I remember hearing him state in an interview that he
loved the simple melody. He could improvise well, but the simple song form is
what appealed to him most.
After such a stellar musical career, Kenny G can add international
peacekeeper to his resume. John Oliver recently invited the Grammy® Award winning
saxophonist to perform on “Last Week Tonight,” because of his popularity in
China, and “uncommon ability to make the people of China stop what they’re
doing, and go home to relax.” Kenny performed his mega-hit “Going Home,” or, as
Oliver said, “Kenny G is pouring liquid velvet into your ears right now.”
Kenny G continued on his world tour after his stop here in
South Florida, moving on to the Dominican Republic and other American cities. I
got a chance to look through a montage of old photos and videos as I prepared
for this week. There were quite a few pictures at least thirty years old
showing Kenny G walking into an arena with just an alto saxophone in a case.
Those pictures impressed upon me that Kenny G is just a simple musician with
his horn in hand, ready to play for a waiting audience. True, but the audience
is waiting for this saxophone player in every corner of the world.
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